tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post3619262871725628631..comments2024-03-18T16:22:10.302-04:00Comments on Urban kchoze: Sapporo: a relevant Japanese model for North Americasimval84http://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-33494279972475618342014-06-18T20:39:26.838-04:002014-06-18T20:39:26.838-04:00True, there are few buildings in Tokyo that have b...True, there are few buildings in Tokyo that have been around more than 50 years. However, I should have clarified that even when buildings change, there are things in cities that tend to change little over the years, the street grid is one of them. Many a street in European and Asian cities has existed for a millenia or more, and areas that used to be mixed commercial tend to remain mixed commercial unless "urban renewal" policies consciously choose to change it. Each generation tends to replicate the patterns of the generation that preceded them. Cities maintain surprising continuity over time in these elements. So Tokyo's very small blocks and narrow alleys are an inheritance from earlier iterations of the city.<br /><br />Parking is a crucial element indeed. Sapporo does have the same "proof of parking" system and ban on overnight off-street parking as most (all?) of Japan does. The Japanese do not obsess over free parking, especially not in cities, though malls and stores in areas far from transit stations do offer free parking, plenty of it. It seems to me that the Japanese find it normal to pay for parking in a way North Americans don't (some act as if "free parking" is in the bill of rights or the charter), and there is a strong market for private parking spots where demand exists for it. But regulations don't force them to build parking where there is little demand for it.simval84https://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-49256335640381518322014-06-18T18:43:24.623-04:002014-06-18T18:43:24.623-04:001. Tokyo itself is no more ancient than Montreal o...1. Tokyo itself is no more ancient than Montreal or Sendai, being no more than a small town in 1603 when the Tokugawa moved the capital there. And it was burned to the ground in 1945, with very few buildings standing. Almost all of Tokyo was built after 1945 and it still looks like Tokyo, so there is no inherent problem in building a decent city after the 19th century.<br /><br />2. How large a role does it look like parking is playing in keeping Sapporo less nasty than modern Canadian and American cities? Japanese rules require little or no parking and certainly do not aim to keep parking free like CA and US do. Few of the streets in Sapporo look like they're built with an on-street parking lane. Are car owners required to prove a leased stall as they are in Tokyo?<br /><br />Your review of how zoning and building practices lead to different results even in a less distinctly Japanese city like Sapporo is fascinating. Thanks for this post.El Gringohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04445984552616680278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-60630638923528517302014-06-18T17:51:18.429-04:002014-06-18T17:51:18.429-04:00I have heard of the sidewalk shaving. Overall, I t...I have heard of the sidewalk shaving. Overall, I think it's symptomatic of the fact that we tend not to respect pedestrian space in North America. Check out those pictures from large sidewalks in North America, it is quite clear, even in the construction of the sidewalk, that the actual pedestrian walking corridor is the same 4-5 feet as anywhere else, anything extra is actually just a buffer waiting for something else, used for poles, trees and meters. The idea, I guess, is that pedestrians don't "need" more than that. Maybe not, but cars don't need 12-foot lanes either, they don't need shoulders, they don't need a lot of the space they have, yet we give it to them nonetheless, because that's the default: if you have space left over, give it to cars.<br /><br />In Sapporo, and Japan in general, it seems to me that they go the other way, they default to giving leftover space to pedestrians and cyclists, and give almost only the strict minimum to cars. And when they have to put stuff on the sidewalks, they're careful of putting them in a way to deprive pedestrians of as little space as possible (at least, on arterial streets). They respect pedestrian space.simval84https://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-51768791599388339262014-06-18T12:56:10.280-04:002014-06-18T12:56:10.280-04:00The sad thing about New York City (the hypertrophi...The sad thing about New York City (the hypertrophic city at its best and most hypertrophic) is that many of their generous sidewalks were severely shaved back in the 1950s and 1960s to provide more room for on-street parking. Jane Jacobs even lamented and fought against that very thing when writing "Death and Life." Imagine what you could do with an extra 9 or 10 feet of sidewalk on top of what's there now. Jeffrey Jakucykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04092631645389171565noreply@blogger.com