We finally launched the website of our Architectural Guide Yangon. Herewith some notes on the production process and ideas behind it.
This is where I think in public — about urbanism, political economy, and often just the view from wherever I happen to be standing. New here? The reading guides below are the best way in. Otherwise, scroll down for the latest blog posts.
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Yangon in November
I ventured on a short trip to Yangon last week to launch the website to our book, now online at www.yangongui.de. Manu lovingly and painstakingly put it together over the last couple of months. Go check it out, it’s beautiful (and worthy a separate forthcoming post). Herewith a quick write-up for my records.
The Japanese House after 1945
A major exhibition on Japanese single family homes is still on for a few days here in Tokyo. I did not manage to see the same show’s version on in London (nor Rome) a few months back, but bought both catalogues to compare.
Inside shot from the MOMAT exhibition
Five-year anniversary
It’s been five years to the day that I started writing this blog, in Tokyo. Herewith a look back at some of the highlights and ideas for the future. Some of it may come across as a big tap on my own shoulder, so read on being warned.
Tokyo as a slum, continued
A few weeks ago I discussed the concept of “Tokyo as a slum” and how apt it is to describe living conditions in the postwar period. This is important if we are to glean how useful Tokyo’s experience is to today’s emerging megacities. A more fitting description, I found, may be that of “shared space poverty”. I took a good look at the 1963 Housing Survey for data to support that line of thinking.
1963 construction on the Metropolitan Expressway (photo source)
What is wrong with our real estate obsession?
We are obsessed with real estate. Dinner parties in big cities in the West are often dominated by talk of a new house, an old one that was just sold, or another one that somehow, sadly, fell through.
Tokyo public finance
I have been wading through historical budget data for the 23 wards here in Tokyo. To many, nothing could be more dry. However, I think that understanding public finance in the first megacity holds an important key in explaining the city’s success.
Tokyo as seen from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
London social housing
I spent most of August in Europe. This included two weeks in London, where I stayed with my in-laws in the southeast as usual. This time I managed to get off the DLR and walked past two of the most important postwar social housing projects. These two are the Balfron Tower and Robin Hood Gardens.
Robin Hood Gardens
UR Research Institute
My university, as part of their fantastic summer program, kindly organized a tour to the Urban Renaissance Agency Technology Research Institute the other day. The most relevant aspect to my research was the Housing Apartment History Hall. Here, some landmark apartments from what to most appear like faceless concrete blocks have been lovingly rebuilt.
Inside Maekawa’s Harumi Apartments
Greenwashing?
I attended a short event at UNU here in Tokyo yesterday. Erik Solheim, head of the UN’s Environmental Programme, conversed with the audience. I couldn’t but feel a little exasperated upon leaving.
For lack of a better photo, this scene from rural Burma