Urban Lessons from Hong Kong and Tokyo
One of the best things is strolling across cities around the world. They're all different, yet remarkably similar. It's the perfect opportunity for reflecting how your own city or cities compare. Two places I've recently had the pleasure of exploring are Hong Kong and Tokyo.
These Far East mega-cities may seem an odd couple at first, but there's a key theme they share: they've been built over and over again. Hardcore redevelopment is part of their DNA.
Tokyo has been destroyed many times by war and other disasters. More recently it has been changing under the pressure of a back-to-the-city movement, especially around brownfield areas. Hong Kong has also gone through hard times, but here the primary force driving urban change has been quick population growth in a geographically limited area and the city's strategy to generate fiscal revenue via land sales.
I found Hong Kong and Tokyo fascinating and want to share some of my experiences as inspiration and reflection for cities in Finland and elsewhere in the world. Even if the duo undeniably would deserve their own in-depth posts.
On with the lessons and experiences!
1. The cities are a reminder that quality urbanism isn't limited to historic neighborhoods
In Finland, the only places you'll find some traces of urban vibrancy and street life are the historic cores of cities. Anywhere more modern, forget about it.
The same can't be said about Hong Kong and Tokyo. Despite having close to zero buildings that date from before World War II, their streets are so busy with people and activities that it can even get overwhelming. The beauty of it is that there's economic activity of all kinds mixed into a huge web of enterprises ranging from street vendors to small businesses and global corporations.
The vibrant urban life in both cities is obviously powered by high-density living and an efficient public transportation system. But the key factor I want to stress is design. Hong Kong and Tokyo are largely fine-grained cities. Meaning that each city block consists of many buildings. Most buildings don't stand out as architectural masterpieces, but the fine-grained structure enables an interesting mix of everything. And the buildings are designed to have very human-friendly and diverse street fronts leading to endless to enjoy. A word that often came to my mind to describe these areas is "complex".
In Tokyo, much of the urban fabric is made up of buildings that are quite small (sometimes really tiny), narrow and diverse. There's a certain hierarchy, too. Bigger buildings cluster along main avenues and behind them you'll find lengthy networks of narrow, alley-like streets.
In Hong Kong buildings across the city tend to be much larger and also a lot taller than in Tokyo. The street network is also more grid-like but there are plenty of smaller streets and alleys to go around, too. These alleys usually accommodate market stalls of all sorts.
2. The global "super mixed use" is something to watch out for
Suburban sprawl has been the urbanists' archenemy since the 20th century. Following a shift towards a rediscovery of city centers and backed up by intensified globalization, a new villain has emerged in the 21st century: the "super mixed-use" real estate (re)development model.
While investment in the inner city is a good thing, the "super mixed use" is basically a mutation of the modernist urban project that's feeding on today's more city-friendly aspirations. The model incorporates offices, commerce and/or apartments into one giant complex. Part of the catch is that it's sold as something intrinsically urban. Yet the ways the "super mixed use" materializes is gradually doing away with the complexity of urban neighborhoods with universalizing giant malls and towers.
A grand example of this type of a redevelopment process is showcased in Hong Kong's 2030+ vision, where the Kwun Tong Town center gets demolished under the goals for achieving a "high-density livable city". The replacement, a monstrous megastructure, will "adopt best practice planning and design concepts, including compact rail-based development, a good mix of daily convenience, urban living close to nature, and smart, green and resilient districts, etc."
In Tokyo, some prominent example projects include Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Skytree Town which have both landed like alien spacecraft in the middle of otherwise highly fine-grained neighborhoods. But if you want to see what the dystopic city preferred by this type of development philosophy looks like, go visit Odaiba Island. It's supersized mallscape is the complete antithesis of the walkable, human-scaled Tokyo.
3. Redevelopment and the global-local nexus
Yes, I'm in love with redevelopment. It's clear that there's a task for urban policy to come up with a model that supports the cities' (or any city's) valuable legacy of fine-grained structures (and economies) but also answers to the realities of global investment circuits and people's lifestyle demands.
An observation from Hong Kong. Unlike the more affluent Tokyo, Hong Kong is a city driven by strong social mobility. In the more traditional neighborhoods, you can easily follow how the new urban class and their consumption patterns are taking over the city. Gentrification obviously is associated with problems that deserve a discussion of its own, but what I want to highlight is that the intense urban change within the "older" neighborhoods tells a compelling story about the adaptability/flexibility of the fine-grained city and traditional urban block to accommodate the pressures of modern lifestyle aspirations.
An observation from Tokyo. I came across interesting prototypes of new development that don't necessarily kill the foundations for vibrant street life and are also clearly interesting for investors. For example, many global fashion brands have set up shop in their own new buildings on the main streets in Harajuku and Ginza. This "fashion architecture" is often human-friendly and permeable at the street level. These examples from Tokyo don't necessarily represent local capital or local character style-wise, but they nonetheless embrace the structure of the fine-grained city that is the foundation for a fine-grained and more resilient economy.
The point: it's evidently also possible to build and develop viable cities in our time without the "super mixed use" monoliths.
4. A city can also work vertically
An interesting feature in Tokyo and Hong Kong is that many buildings have functions and activities also in the upper (and basement) floors. And not just upstairs from the street level but really on any floor.
For a European, the vertical setup is quite puzzling because we're used to interacting with commercial spaces at the street level. It's difficult to get a grip of the possibilities on the upper or lower floors. Is there anyone in the restaurant? Who are the clientele and is the interior appealing?
There are any number of reasons for the vertical setups – the prices of on-street retail space in a bustling city not being the lightest – but there's one that could have significance for other continents as well.
In Tokyo at least, "it has to do with curated lives" Greg Dvorak told me over lunch. He is a long-time resident and connoisseur of urban life in Tokyo – and especially the local bathscape which he's written about in Tokyo Totem. What he means is that in a fractured, postmodern city with countless lifestyles and endless offerings "you create your own Tokyo and know exactly where to go".
Indeed, perhaps Tokyo is an already existing expression of the hyper-connected urban world and it's spatial service arrangement that other cities will confront sometime in the future.
5. Make the most out of whatever space you have
In the high-density environment, the struggle for space is fierce. For directly fiscally "unproductive" public spaces and green spaces, this means good negotiation skills and creative solutions.
Especially in Hong Kong, there are cool examples of how to fit in small plazas, small parks, and other green structures wherever there's space. Although overall the city isn't very green – Singapore apparently being the Asian metropolis to benchmark in this respect. But then again that's compensated by vast nature areas just a stone's throw away from the city.
Tokyo, on the other hand, has even fewer green spaces. And not too many public plazas either for that matter. Just try to find a bench to sit on. But the city offers many other inspiring ideas for smart use of space. Take for example the city's parking facilities that often feature a "turntable" so you don't need to turn your car around. Or the various robot car parks across the city. Another, rather surprising, idea is to integrate train stations literally seamlessly into neighborhoods.
6. Small things can make density more livable
Hong Kong and Tokyo have both culturally formed around a necessity of working together, sharing and getting along. Even if cities in Finland are less cramped, here are some ideas worth considering stealing to make urban life more comfortable now or in the future.
The well-known example from metro stations is staff that will help you fit into trains at rush hours. But at stations, you'll also appreciate the super clear signage for e.g. helping you find the right exit. At least in Tokyo at some busy stations, they've also made sure everyone gets to plan their trip properly by having taped a queuing system on the floor in front of the train information boards. And all in all, in both cities you'll discover queuing to be well organized wherever you go.
In Tokyo, they also care about your pedestrian experience. At the entrances to bigger car parks, you'll meet guards that control the flow of pedestrians on the sidewalk and cars trying to get in or out. The same applies to any construction site. There will be someone to see you won't have any trouble passing by.
When heading out to eat, in Hong Kong you might easily get seated at a table with strangers to make sure everyone can come in. Following a similar thought, in Tokyo, you might come across restaurants with standing tables. The concept is supposedly invented to cut costs for people to eat out in an era of economic hardship. Most Tokyo restaurants will also offer convenient small baskets for you to store your jacket or bag. Got an umbrella? No worries, establishments in Tokyo have wonderful ways of making sure you don't have any inconvenience taking one with you.
Another cool thing is how they handle deliveries for businesses in dense and complex urban environments. In Hong Kong, you'll be amazed how they keep the city running with small push carts. In Tokyo, you'll see fewer carts, but at the world's largest wholesale fish market they run the show with fascinating small electric vehicles that look a bit like R2D2.
As a final thought, I must say that Hong Kong and Tokyo are actually more similar than different from Helsinki or any city. We often tend to think ideas and examples from other cities will not transfer to cities in our country. But it's not true. Many urban problems and solutions are universal.
The stereotypical Finnish dream is to have your own house in the middle of the city and by the water. Excluding the water, Tokyo's small-scale development model has made this a normal way of living right in the middle of the world's largest metropolitan area. How cool is that?