Tokyo Suburbia; Again

This thesis is set within the shrinking regions of Tokyo's suburbia. When the world’s largest megacity will finally begin to contract, these intermediate landscapes between expiring rural and wealthy megalopolis will become probing sites of osmosis. As architects and urbanists there is not only the task of building or unbuilding these suburbs but by constructing narratives to comprehend their states of existence.

Rapid time cycles of growth and renewal define a resilience impelled by cultural rituals and identity. Yet the post-growth insecurities of economic stagnation and declining demographics impress a future that is somewhat linear and finite, symbolised with the country’s diminishing urbanism.

This thesis intends to subvert the predicted conclusions of Japan’s future, and instead accept inevitable change by diving into the notions of ritual, narrative and cyclical time in Tokyo Suburbia.