Learning from the Japanese City: West Meets East in Urban Design

by Barrie Shelton

[Please note a second edition of this title was published in 2012] Japan is the first modern 'free world' superpower with a non-Western culture; its prominence in the world grows day by day. As a result, there is a burgeoning interest in the West in all aspects of Japanese culture.
Japanese gardens and buildings have received considerable exposure recently but this timely publication is the first exposition of the Japanese city. It covers the form, character and organization of the buildings and spaces in Japanese cities and particularly the relationships between the buildings, squares and streets.
The author provides a historical overview of Western attitudes to Japanese built-form and contrasts these relationships in Japan with those of the West and explores the very different ways of thinking about space and time that underpin these contrasts in city form and organizations.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cities, Japan, Architecture, Urban Planning, Urbanism

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 1999

Reviews

[Powersamurai · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long time resident of Japan, I've often wondered about the ad hoc cityscape in Japan but just accepted it as it was over the years. Shelton has helped me connect the dots and put some order to what most of us Westerners think is a mess. It's really not a mess at all. A bit expensive for a casual read, but well worth it for those with a deep interest in the whys of Japan's town planning.

[Yalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work of Shelton is one I have read closely with interest and with great ease. His dissection and discussion of the Japanese urban landscape - over about 170 pages - reads in a way I would not have expected from a scholarly work. It is not littered with jargon and boring in depth discussion of minute details that end up not mattering, but rather it is a creative and intriguing whole which is colored by the addition of Shelton's personal recollections and observations about the Japanese urban landscape. It is a great look into what makes the Japanese urban structures and landscapes so unique and interesting as an object of study, and as a living and evolving structure. It is a great work and a wonderful read - which I would recommend to beginners and enthusiasts of the subject of Japanese urbanism/urban studies.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, overflowing with ideas. Shelton approaches his analysis from unlikely angles, considering Japanese writing systems, the design of children’s magazine covers, the terraforming of land, and use of sidewalks. I learned a ton. It’s not terribly easy to read but accessible to a non-academic.

[Showering · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my Master study, it's pretty interesting.