New York City seems to be a pretty segmented city, as if it has very extensive and pervasive zoning laws. As you can see it has an enormous array of sky scrapers in a densely packed area in the center city. But surrounding the central high rises are tons of crowded low rise dwellings. They reach as far as the eye can see! By poking around the internet and viewing various images, New York and Chicago and Philadelphia all kind of look the same. It seems to be distinct of American cities to have such a dense concentration of high rises in one central area of the city and have surrounding neighborhoods outside of that circle. The aspect of shiny bright sky scrapers really showcases the city in a glamorous light almost as if to say “this is what we have to offer.” This could also help to minimize focusing on the inner city slum areas. Society prospers in these districts and this is possibly why they are the most refined looking and hence better functioning parts of the city.
In contrast Tokyo, Japan looks as if high rises and low rises are all jumbled together in a super-tightly packed metropolis. I read an interesting article about the planning of Tokyo and found out that Tokyo’s design is basically a redevelopment. Since Tokyo was heavily destroyed in WWII, it was built essentially on top of those ruins. I also learned, and after looking at the picture it is clear, that Tokyo has a mixed-use zoning pattern that allows it to look like an urban mess but function like a continually changing and adaptive city. In a place that boasts the title of the world’s most populated metropolitan area, Tokyo needs this adaptability to take on the demands of so many people. Tokyo utilizes this mixed-use zoning to keep in place the culturally important family businesses and small-scale industry. Because of this, Tokyo keeps its important sense of culture and avoids the social segregation that is SO apparent in American cities. Tokyo maintains social cohesion by “mixing” upper and lower classes fairly seamlessly in the same areas whereas in America these classes are separated by different segments of the city making it harder for different classes to mesh together.
-Article where I got info about Tokyo and its urban planning--http://www.urbanology.org/dharavi/The_Tokyo_Model_of_Urban_Development_Echanove_1.7.07.pdf
Photos are from wikipedia.org
Really interesting comments about the social functions of zoning. Japan is also very resistant to incorporating foreign cultures into Japan. Ethnically it's unusually homogeneous, also a social policy. I wonder if tjere's a connection between the two policies, perhaps one "allowing" the other.
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