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Front to Rear: Architecture and Planning during World War II, March 7-8, 2009 >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30290
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| Title: | City and War: Foreign Influences, the Pacific War, and the Japanese City
between 1937 and 1945 |
| Authors: | Hein, Carola |
| Keywords: | architecture
Japan
World War II
Hideaki, Ishikawa
urban planning |
| Issue Date: | 23-Sep-2011 |
| Abstract: | In 1942, Ishikawa Hideaki published a book entitled 'War and the City'
('Sensoo to Toshi') in which he examined foreign planning concepts and
laid out the basics for a master plan for the Imperial Capital Tokyo. In
the book, Ishikawa refers to numerous foreign examples, including
notably German planners such as Paul Wolf and Walter Christaller. This
publication provided a detailed approach on the theme of planning for
defense, and built on earlier works by Ishikawa and notably his 1941
textbook on urban and regional planning in which he had already proposed
his own regional planning ideas. Ishikawa's proposal for Tokyo divided
the city into multiple small units and strongly influenced Ishikawa's
postwar reconstruction plan. Ishikawa's career with the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government spans the war and postwar period from 1933 to
1955. His work in Tokyo and in the colonies, in conjunction with that of
other prominent planners and architects of the time, provides room for a
two-pronged analysis of war and the Japanese city. In a first part, the
paper therefore analyzes urban design for colonial areas, where military
structures facilitated the application of Japanese planning concepts.
For Japanese planners the colonies were an important study ground of
foreign planning concepts (German, Russian, etc.) as well as an
opportunity to develop and try out their own design concepts. Among the
examples to be discussed are Ishikawa's experiences in Shanghai, Tange
Kenzo's proposal for the Japanese Cultural Center in Bangkok (1942) and
his 1942 entry in the Greater East Asia competition, as well as the
urban project for Datong by a group of planners including Uchida Shozo
and Takayama Eika for Datong. In a second part, the paper examines
instances in which the war context facilitated planning in Japan, As the
government and notably the military prepared the Japanese mainland for a
possible future defense, their support allowed planners to realize
proposals for decentralization planners had discussed for several years,
but that had not found support. The construction of decentralized
military towns such as Sagamihara Military City in 1940, or the decision
on the construction of a green belt in 1939 are evidence of the urban
transformation that took place during the war years. In conclusion,
the paper argues that Japanese architecture and planning between 1937
and 1945 were characterized by a conscious borrowing of foreign urban
planning and design ideas both in order to demonstrate Japanese
architectural and urban design skills in the colonies and in order to
transform and defend the urban spaces on the Japanese islands. War and
defense preparation led to an acceleration of urban development that is
visible both in planning examples in the colonies as well as in Japan. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/30290 |
| Appears in Collections: | Front to Rear: Architecture and Planning during World War II, March 7-8, 2009
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