In the post-war years, the Metabolists made big plans for Tokyo Bay to relieve the pressure on the Japanese capital. Now there's another plan, called Next Tokyo 2045. Herbert Wright explains that these have not been the only visionary proposals. In reality, the city has been gradually encroaching on the Bay for centuries, and the big plans that materialise are mainly infrastructure.
Asit K. Biswas and Kris Hartley discuss how secondary cities in New Zealand might retain their relevance in a spatially imbalanced economy.
Marco Picardi reflects on the transformation of Matera from an impoverished city where people lived in caves a generation ago to Italy’s next European City of Culture
As Asian countries join together to build "smart" urban developments, Kris Hartley explains why planners should heed the lessons of colonial history when it comes to such projects.
Frances Brill wonders whether the plans to deliberately gentrify the areas most affected by London's riots will target investment to the creation of badly needed jobs.
With investment capital scarce after the global financial crisis, the UK's localism agenda is starting to look unaffordable, with campaigns to make all sorts of projects look like NSIPs to attract funding.
A visit to the community that is challenging the Rio government's redevelopment plans for the Olympic Park site with its own People's Plan that promises to be more cost effective.
Kris Hartley is an independent consultant and researcher focusing on economic policy, urban planning, and governance innovation in Asia.
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
