Introduction to Tokyo "hike-ability"

Welcome to my blog which will cover the process of my Diploma Project in the Master Course of Architecture at NTNU, Norway. The research period is from August 2012 untill late December 2012, with the final critic in January 2013

My Diploma Project is based on my experiences from my one year stay in Japan in 2010/2011. The context for my project will be Tokyo, dealing with the issues that highly dense cities causes. Tokyo is a city that allows experimenting and is far much easier to touch, than for instance classical European cities in my opinion.

During my exchange stay at Tokyo Institute of Technology, I encountered the term "hike-ability" during a Tokyo-based workshop with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto from Atelier Bow-wow and Minsuk Cho from MASS studies.  
"Hike-ability" derives from from the more popular term "walk-ability", the measure of how suitable an area is to walking for pedestrians. "Hike-ability" seeks to further investigate the potential of vertical and diagonal movement to gain health, economic and environmental benefits in dense urban contexts. I wish to investigate how one can improve dense urban areas by using the approach of "hike-ability" as a method.
The main factors that have contributed to the development of cities from the 20th century is the invention of the automobile (horizontal expansion) and the elevator (vertical expansion). "Hike-ability" seeks to challenge and redefine our building boundaries.

Introduction to Tokyo
The Government of Japan has had a strong, centralized policy, controlling much of urban growth in the Rapid Economic Growth period in the post-WW2 years, developing Tokyo into the largest urban metropolis in the world. Since the focus has mainly been on economic growth, the quality of public spaces have not been for the sake of its inhabitants, as Tokyo does not have many of the classical urban spaces such as the Western plaza or the piazza. Therefore the behaviour in urban spaces is different from we know as the sensitive, Nordic Jan Gehl tradition or the lively Italian Piazza.

The traditional urban space called meisho can be characterized as a historically important and beloved space, and can be found in historic cities such as Kyoto or Kanazawa, but seldom in Tokyo. Tokyo is a brand new city, as Botond Bogdar describes it. It has been devestated and rebuilt numerous of times during the past.

Parks in Tokyo has not only the purpose of leisure and green space, but are also designated evacuation areas and fire breaks in case of disaster. Since lots are so expensive in Tokyo, Tokyoites utilize every inch of their "yards" to arrange potted plants or have roof gardens.

Tokyo is a very dense city with high speed, and much of the public space in the city are optimalized for transportation and movement. In hotspots such as Shibuya or Shinjuku, means of crowd control are vital parts of the urban design. There are signs showing you at what side to walk, and elevated highways draws much of the vehiclar traffic away from the streets. Despite the high tempo, Tokyo is also a quiet, but lively city inbetween the hotspots in the urban villages.