One of the unused datasets from the Cities article was on average taxable income per capita across the 23 wards between 1985 and 2022 (kindly provided by the authors of this great article).

For the period I worked on for my PhD (1950/55-1975), this data was not available so I had to look at proxy indicators, primarily living space per capita. This came with its own limitations but provided opportunities to transcend a purely economic measurement of living standards.

My analysis found a compression in inter-ward inequalities between the 1950s and 1970s. What happened since then?

I am putting up a few posts on Tokyo in the coming days. They are about my recent work on residential redevelopments outside of the yamanote ring that I have carried out with Jessica Illunga and Jorge Almazan of Keio University.

It’s a tad ironic that I have become so engaged in this contemporary urban development issue. My first home in Tokyo was ARK Hills in Roppongi 1-chome, where we lived for half a year between 2012-13. ARK Hills opened its gates in the 1980s and is arguably the ground zero of neoliberal Tokyo.

Until ten or so years ago, these massive mixed-use developments still had a relatively unique aura. They were concentrated in the center and lured their well-heeled inhabitants with distinct architecture, upscale dining and retail, as well as cultural venues. This is the Mori Tokyo.

I put up quite a few Instagram posts back in 2012 (which, the Luddite I am, was the only time I really used the platform) and paste some below, with a few other reflections, for nostalgic reference.