When people often think about a city that exemplifies “walkable life” they often
think of Tokyo.
How did the Japanese government manage to make the city so livable?
As someone who has a passion for urban planning, I thought I’d look into how they managed
to build such a walkable metropolis.
I won’t act like Japan is unique in managing to pull this off, the methods and strategies
can be repeated in any large enough American or Canadian city.
These regulations can be implemented across North America with enough political will,
and as we will soon see they are not that complicated.
Let’s start by looking at the typical North American town to get a baseline.
As we can see, there’s the typical suburban developments with sprawling roads, little
to no public spaces, rows upon rows of single family homes with the nearest shop a 5-10
minute drive away.
Walking out of one of these developments is about the last thing you should think to do.
Hundreds of thousands of people live in these developments or own property here because
it is seen as a safe investment, a nest egg.
Is this in California?
Is it in Ohio?
Who knows, they are basically interchangeable.
North American cities have practiced Euclidean Zoning for decades.
In simple terms this is where a particular piece of land is zoned for one specific use
like single family housing, low density commercial properties, or industrial zones, nothing else.
You may have a zone type for apartments, but little to no land is allowed those zoning
permissions.
Oftentimes this is due to local leaders thinking their real estate investment will be worth
less if housing stock increases.
In large parts of the United States then, you either have high density residential areas
not always with public transport available, or suburban sprawl with a car-centric lifestyle.
For those Americans and Canadians with disabilities who can’t drive, often we are forced to
rely on family, ridesharing apps, or live in one of the few major cities that has reliable
public transit.
I love living in major cities, but I shouldn’t have to live in the center to live free of
owning a car.
For those in the comments who say “Oh but you can just use Uber or Lyft!”
I did that for months when I was living around DC because the Metro wasn’t very convenient.
Many weeks the bill ended up being over $300, and eventually I stopped using the apps for
all but necessities like going to the grocery.
Unlike the United States, Japanese regulations are handled at the national level, not by
a local municipal body.
Cities like Tokyo, Sapporo, and Yokohama can definitely have their own interpretations
- but they must respect the national law.
To put it in relatively simple terms the business of “where” zoning goes is generally left
up to the municipalities, the business of “how” to categorize different types of
buildings is a national matter.
There is also a philosophical difference in the impact of building categories that we’ll
see later on.
There are 12 types of zoning that cities are permitted to choose from with slight variation.
As we can see on this comprehensive chart from the Japanese government, low-rise residential
zones are permitted everywhere along with schools, small shops, and shrines until you
get into the zones that deal with industrial uses.
At a glance we can see that the philosophy isn’t about separating out multi-family
and single family homes but looking at the density and how each area should be utilized
by the public.
While You can’t have a large block of apartments in Exclusively Residential neighborhoods,
you can have a small storefront like a neighborhood bakery or convenience store.
This provides not just neighborhood character but reduces the amount of times you may need
to take to grab a meal on the way home from work.
As you get into the “Commercial Zoning” areas further to the right, we can see that
everything except for factories is open to be authorized.
In North America, zoning areas are designed for a single purpose, as illustrated with
this diagram.
One zone, one use case.
Given the variations by municipality there are bound to be hundreds of zoning designations
nationally, but only those that correspond to the most basic “single family home”
get used.
Japanese houses are not as commodified as those in the United States, the value is in
the land underneath.
They are more of a place to live, less of an investment opportunity.
Japan has a large number of single family homes, as this photo illustrates they don’t
give off the typical North American “suburbia” feeling.
While I can’t show you precise lot measurements, it’s clear to me that they have maximized
the space available.
There are shops, public transit, and other amenities within walking or biking distance.
North American homes in contrast often feature a large plot of land with comparatively smaller
houses.
In some cities zoning restricts lot size usage to 20-30% of the actual land on the property.
This one-track mindset of single family homes has led to a natural lack of supply in homes,
and a feeling by many that the traditional signs of “making it” in North America
need to change.
In a future video I may discuss the role of the Japanese government in organizing a place
like Tokyo beyond zoning, or the role of the metro system, but that is for another time.
The philosophy of Japanese urban planners is to zone for public transit and less reliance
on the car.
When Japan built out many towns after the 2nd World War, they built train lines first,
making it a necessity for public transit to have more consideration on urban design.
The philosophy in North America by contrast has largely been built around driving a car
and the single family home since the same time period.
There was little space for public transit - Los Angeles was forced to get rid of an
expansive street car network.
For those of us without use of a car in North America, whether by fact or preference, it’s
often a game of meticulously choosing where to live.
Japan’s zoning laws are far more liberal than anything much of North America can implement
immediately.
More and more these mixed use zones are what people are starting to want, but building
from the current foundation will take time..
Liberalizing zoning laws by allowing for a mix of shops and apartments nearby, something
between categories 1 and 3 on the Japanese government’s chart, could do some good as
a first step.
Allowing a small shop to open up in a residential area can provide not only economic opportunities,
but it can also reduce the amount of times people need to go fill up their car with gas
during the week and provide a sense of community.
If you can walk to the grocery store or bike, it’s likely you’ll use your car less and
save money.
I find urban planning fascinating.
It’s something we all interact with but often don’t actively think about from the
perspective of how to design the spaces where we live.
If Japan as a nation can simplify and liberalize zoning at the national level, US and Canadian
city planners should have the capability to get regulations changed locally- smaller lot
sizes or allowing more use of the land on the lot, reductions in the number of minimum
parking spaces in commercial areas, etc.
This isn’t impossible to do, it just takes a bit of rethinking on how our spaces are
used.
The US will get there, it may take decades, but still.
What changes do you think should be made?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to hear from you.