The traditional shopping street in tokyo as a culturally sustainable and ageing friendly community

Journal of Urban Design ISSN: 1357-4809 (Print) 1469-9664 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjud20 The traditional shopping street in Tokyo as a culturally sustainable and ageing-friendly community Kien To & Keng Hua Chong To cite this article: Kien To & Keng Hua Chong (2017): The traditional shopping street in Tokyo as a culturally sustainable and ageing-friendly community, Journal of Urban Design, DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2017.1281734 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2017.1281734 Published online: 08 May 2017 Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjud20 Download by: [210.154.184.151] Date: 08 May 2017, At: 19:55 Journal of urban Design, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2017.1281734 The traditional shopping street in Tokyo as a culturally sustainable and ageing-friendly community Kien To and Keng Hua Chong architecture and sustainable Design (asD), singapore university of Technology and Design, singapore ABSTRACT This paper reviews the cultural sustainability discourse and discusses how community culture, community cultural capital and the elderly play a key role in helping communities sustain themselves over time It argues that the elderly are resources, transmitters and multipliers of culture and a key driver in promoting ‘ageing-friendly’ cities In particular, it investigates how creative, bottom-up urban design and place-making initiatives by the elderly take shape in diverse urban contexts It takes two traditional shopping streets (shotengai) in Tokyo as case studies and seeks to clarify in the highly-developed, high-density, high-rise, large-scale urban context, how the two lowrise, small-scale shotengai have been sustainable and thriving over centuries; and how community culture and the elderly have played a role in developing and sustaining them Through urban historical study, site surveys and street interviews, the paper addresses these enquiries and suggests ways to achieve a more ageing-friendly community in an Asian context aiming towards social and cultural sustainability Introduction Background and research interest Population ageing, coupled with urbanization, has become one of the greatest global challenges in the twenty-irst century This ageing trend1 began in the mid-twentieth century and since then has been intensifying and expanding worldwide It is projected that senior citizens will make up 21.1% of the world population by 2050 (UN DESA 2013) Asian countries are at diferent points in the demographic transition East Asia began earlier and is farther along, foremost Japan, while the trend in South and Southeast Asian countries started later and they are currently at a middle stage (Mason, Lee, and Lee 2010) Figure shows the age-dependency ratio2 in East, Southeast and South Asian countries, which are divided into three groups according to the timing, level and speed of their ageing The fastest ageing group includes Japan, Korea and Singapore, where the ratio of the older population (65 and over) compared with the working-age population (15–64) will be between 58 and 70% by 2050 (Chomik and Piggott 2013) CONTACT Kien To tokien@sutd.edu.sg, tokien98@yahoo.com © 2017 informa uK limited, trading as Taylor & francis group K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 1. age-dependency ratio in asian countries source: Chomik and Piggott (2013) Japan has been the world’s fastest ageing country for a number of years (UN DESA 2013) As of October 2012, the number of people aged 65 and above was 30.79 million, accounting for 24.1% of the total population Moreover, Japan has a low fertility rate and a relatively small percentage (13%) of juvenile (aged 14 or under) population It is projected that by 2060 the percentage of the ageing population will reach 39.9% Currently, households with elderly people comprise 40% of the total Japanese elders like group activities, with approximately 60% ‘actually participating’ and 70% ‘wishing to participate’ (Japanese Cabinet Oice 2013) Japan has taken a nation-scale, top-down approach with a number of measures to address various ageing issues, such as a structural reform of the social security (pension) and tax systems, promotion of more employment, social activities (voluntary work) and the continuing learning opportunities suitable for the elderly (Japanese Cabinet Oice 2012) Given such backdrops, this paper seeks to observe and assess cultural sustainability in urban communities, and explores what role the elderly play in cultural sustainability To answer these questions, besides a comprehensive literature review, evidence will be primarily sought from two selected case studies in Japan Previous studies have shown that some developed cities in Asia have begun to incorporate ‘age-friendly city’ ideals and approaches in their urban planning and design (World Health Organization (WHO) 2007) However, it is argued that institutional implementation based on globally mobilized policies and discourses might not have fully captured how each city interprets and deals with ageing issues at the local level It is essential to consider the role of small-scale, socio-culturally and spatially contextualized urban design and place-making initiatives at the grassroots level, particularly those taken by the elderly to adapt to their changing needs There has been a common opinion that the elderly are generally unproductive and thus are considered as a great dependency, a challenge or even a ‘burden’ in an ageing society (see e.g Cutler et al 1990) Nevertheless, recent perspectives have shifted towards ‘productive ageing’ in which the elderly can actually be a supportive force for society, and the elderly living together with younger generations in the community can be an advantage (Morrow-Howell, Hinterlong, and Sherraden 2001) Beyond social sustainability, this JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN paper posits the importance of culture that arises from a strong network of community ‒ the community culture and the special role of the elderly in sustaining the traditional environment that ultimately contributes to the cultural sustainability of the city More insightfully, two traditional shopping streets ‒ or shotengai (also spelled as shoutengai, 商店街) ‒ in Tokyo, Japan, will serve as case studies to observe and assess cultural sustainability and the role of their senior residents Shotengai have been chosen in respect of their articular function as the Japanese traditional old town centre, and the two sites have been selected based on their popularity in Tokyo.3 The study aims to investigate how these low-rise, small-scale, traditional shopping streets could present a culturally sustainable model that has continued for centuries amidst the high-density, high-rise, large-scale urban development of Tokyo Speciically, it looks at how community culture and the elderly could have contributed to such cultural sustainability, which could also provide a more localized, ‘ageing-friendly’ environment that enables the elderly community to thrive From the case studies, it is expected that useful lessons can be drawn and adopted in other urban contexts towards a more ageing-friendly and culturally sustainable environment in Asia Before looking into the case studies, it is useful to review and understand related key terms, concepts and arguments that serve as background for this research Literature review Community and ‘community cultural capital’ Community (Latin: communitas) is a ‘group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common’, or ‘the people of a district or country considered collectively, especially in the context of social values and responsibilities’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2017a) Over time, the geo-physical environment can change, yet what a community typically retains over generations is its ‘culture’, deined as ‘the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular people or society’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2017b) Together with culture, a community sustains its cultural values and norms, which can also be conceived as ‘community cultural capital’ It is a particular term derived from the ‘cultural capital’ concept ‘Cultural capital’ was irst used by Bourdieu and Jean-Claude in 1973, and it traditionally targets an individualized, personal possession of cultural wealth, particularly the ‘embodied type’ (Bourdieu 1986) It does not extend to a group of people or a community This is the limitation that some scholars have recognized and avoided when they wanted to focus on more communal forms of cultural capital.4 The authors call this concept ‘community cultural capital’, an increasingly signiicant type of cultural capital at the community level and yet is little studied Community cultural capital can be conceived as forms of knowledge, wisdom, knowhow, skills, education, advantages, characteristics, tastes, preferences, creativity and adaptability (to changes) that a community collectively has, which underpin the community’s status and position in the society, and creates its identity Similar to social capital and unlike some other forms of capital such as economic, human and physical capital, cultural capital is not depleted by use, but by non-use (see e.g Putnam, Leonardi, and Nanetti 1993) For example, knowledge, wisdom, skills or customs will fade away if they are not used Thus, it is vital that a community can make most use of its cultural capital to sustain its status as well as identity in society Most previous studies have shown that cultural capital reproduces through inter-generational transmission Community cultural capital acts similarly,5 in what K TO AND K H CHONG is called here the ‘vertical’ way However, it is argued that there is an additional means of transmission: the intra-generational or the ‘horizontal’ way, such as peer-to-peer cultural inluences among friends, schoolmates, colleagues or neighbours of the same generation As such, a community can best retain and advance its cultural capital if it has a multi-generational and interacting populace of diferent age groups, promoting both vertical and horizontal transmissions By retaining its cultural capital over generations, it gradually creates cultural sustainability Today, as the majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas, the ways people have been constructing buildings and making places and communities in many contexts over time can relate to their local culture and community cultural capital A good understanding of these ways can better inform future urban design processes towards more culturally sustainable communities Cultural sustainability and the role of the elderly Cultural sustainability can be deined as ‘the ability to retain cultural identity and to allow change to be guided in ways that are consistent with the cultural values of a people’ (SDRI 1998) The cultural sustainability discourse reveals an emerging opinion that culture is one of the four pillars of sustainability (Yencken and Wilkinson 2000; Hawkes 2001) ‘Culture is gradually emerging out of the realm of social sustainability and being recognized as having a separate, distinct, and integral role in sustainable development’ (UNESCO 1995) Although this idea has been pervasive in the literature and increasingly recognized by governments, NGOs and local bodies, culture was not institutionalized as a self-standing dimension of sustainability, but was rather examined as part of the social aspect or simply ignored (Chiu 2004; Throsby 2008) In 2013, the irst International Congress on the linkages between culture and sustainable development was held by UNESCO, producing a declaration titled ‘Placing Culture at the Heart of Sustainable Development Policies’ The University of Jyväskylä in Finland has set up a dedicated website6 to investigate cultural sustainability, in which culture is regarded as ‘a fundamental issue, even a precondition to be met on the path towards Sustainable Development’ The authors believe that culture is not only a driver but also a catalyst and an enabler for Sustainable Development economically, socially and environmentally.7 Moreover, it is argued here that the elderly are the key resources and transmitters for cultural continuity and sustainability It is hypothesized that culture reproduces the passing of cultural values and norms ‘vertically’ from generation to generation and ‘horizontally’ from person to person in the family or community through education, narratives, observation, exposure, interaction, group activities, etc In addition, the elderly can be seen not only as cultural ‘transmitters’ but also as ‘multipliers’, because they can reproduce ‘human capital’ exponentially over generations in their respective clans To a large extent, the elderly in the community can also be considered as a form of community cultural capital Therefore, they should be seen as an essential source of community culture and community cultural capital, which leads towards cultural continuity and sustainability JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN ‘Age-friendly city’ approaches and the concept of ‘ageing-friendly’ Along with the institutional approach involving key initiatives such as the WHO’s Global Age-friendly Cities Guide (2007) and the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities, there have been initiatives by local municipalities or communities, particularly the elderly themselves, to make their areas more age-friendly This emerging ground-up and participatory approach is essential for the sustainable future of cities and communities and complementary to the institutional one These improvements are small scale, yet adaptive, and can have great impacts on the local living environments because they are initiated and mounted by the communities and for themselves, and connected directly to their own changing needs and demands Community participation can help strengthen the residents’‘sense of belonging’8 or ‘place attachment’,9 and enhance the communities’ genius loci (spirit of place).10 The emerging concept of ‘ageing-friendly’ is substantially diferent from ‘age-friendly’ or ‘elder-friendly’, and has recently received increasing attention from researchers, practitioners and policy makers Take ‘ageing-friendly community’ as an example An ageing-friendly community must be able to adapt to the residents’ changes of needs and demands11 (Murata 2010) It is essential that its older residents can continue to engage in lifelong interests and activities, and enjoy opportunities to develop new foci and sources of fulilment (Lehning, Chun, and Scharlach 2007) Its social infrastructure is also designed to foster community participation and integration as residents age (Scharlach 2012) The rising importance of ageing-friendliness is acknowledged, and the authors believe it is essential to consider the entire ageing process throughout the lifespan of a person, rather than just the ‘aged status’ itself Herein lies a rationale for urban development polices, such as promoting places for all age groups The next section will explore the case studies of two shotengai in Tokyo, which demonstrate age-friendly or ageing-friendly communities and the role of the elderly in cultural sustainability Historical background of the case studies Shotengai in Japan and research problem Shotengai is a type of traditional shopping street in Japanese towns and cities, which took shape from the late 1500s, when merchants were permitted to operate rakuichi-rakuza.12 Over time, this ancient free-market system has spontaneously and gradually evolved into the linear shopping streets with 30 or more commercial establishments lined up on both sides, often with arches at either or both ends, and the shotengai system was born These many shotengai are the bustling centres of countless communities in Japan, and have long been deeply connected to their localities Shotengai are often for pedestrians only, catering for almost everything people need for daily life They also host numerous community activities, cultural festivals and traditional trade fairs throughout the year They play other important roles such as welfare and security, and help create and support a sense of community They are great places to visit to catch a snapshot of ‘authentic’ and original ordinary Japanese life in a cozy and distinct atmosphere, and they represent special or unique cultural identities of their areas over generations (Figure 2) As of 2005, there were approximately 15,000 shotengai in Japan (Hani 2005) 6 K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 2. image of the shotengai in central Tsuyama City during the Meiji era source: http://kinyodo moe-nifty.com/blog/2010/09/post-fad.html Figure 3. schematic plan of a typical small and medium-sized city in Japan through pedestrian, railway and motorization eras source: authors, adopted and developed from Takahashi (2009a) Figure shows a typical small and medium-sized Japanese city The downtown was irst developed along an old main route (shotengai), in the era of pedestrian transport After the World War II, Japan went through an era of high economic growth and urbanization, so a railway station and a supermarket in front of it was opened Soon after, another shotengai JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN Figure 4. sugamo shotengai with three nearby train stations (left), and an administrative map showing street morphology source: authors was formed in front of the station (or the existing shotengai was extended to it), attracting people coming from nearby towns Then came the motorization era with a bypass route in the suburbs, along which shopping malls were developed (Takahashi 2009b) People gradually became accustomed to going shopping there by car and making purchases economically in bulk, particularly at weekends.13 Therefore, shotengai have been struggling with the competition and consequently declining steadily for decades (Hani 2005) A survey (2004) by the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Agency found out that approximately 95% of the 3500 surveyed shotengai were stagnant or declining Despite the diiculties, many shotengai have been trying to lever a ‘community business’ model and have taken actions to sustain themselves There are signs that customers have begun to rediscover the value of community businesses and have returned to shop at shotengai (Hani 2005) Community business is conceived as a type of business based in a locality where community members trade together permanently based on shared cultural capital, a social network and co-operative eforts towards common goals beneicial to all members as well as the community Shoppers and storekeepers naturally get to know each other well and come to develop a sense of intimacy and neighbourliness As the world’s most populous metropolis (United Nations 2014) and the capital of Japan with a long history, Tokyo showcases modern, high-rise, large-scale complexes as well as a number of traditional shotengai.14 In the context of the reported decline of most shotengai, it is interesting to see how some shotengai with their traditional way of life15 and urban forms continue to lourish.16 The following cases will throw some light on this phenomenon Sugamo shotengai Sugamo shotengai (巣鴨商店街) or Sugamo Jizo Street in Toshima Ward evolved over generations around the Koganji Temple, a popular visitor spot17 easily accessed by public transport (Figure 4) It draws approximately 20,000 visitors daily, the majority of whom are elderly women who stroll around the nearly 200 shops (Kikkoman.com 2014) Therefore, Sugamo is commonly known as ‘Harajuku for grandmas’.18 The business community here organized K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 5. Togoshiginza shotengai and train station (left), and a map showing the shotengai’s street and land parcel patterns source: authors; base map: google an association with a self-governing system19 as well as a co-governing mechanism in collaboration with the local authorities, such as the maintenance of sidewalks and urban furniture as well as pedestrianization at designated hours During the Edo Period (1603‒1868), Sugamo shotengai was the irst resting place on the Nakasendo Road if one departed from the road’s starting point, Nihonbashi.20 As such, a town was gradually founded in-between the Edo Rokujizo Shinshouji Temple and Sugamo Koshinzuka, another resting place with a teahouse In the Meiji 24th year (1891), the Togenuki Goddess-Koganji Temple was relocated from Ueno to Sugamo Together with the existing Edo Rokujizo statue and Sugamo Koshinzuka stone statue, Sugamo Jizo Street nowadays caters famously not only for the elderly but also for the younger generation as a commercial and religious centre cum resting spot (Sugamo Shotengai Website 2017) So far, Sugamo shotengai has been only moderately studied Most of the previous studies have been undertaken by Japanese research teams and published in Japanese For example, Oshima, Amano, and Taniguchi (2006) observed the sitting space usage by visitors and concluded that not only those who visited the Koganji Temple but also other visitors use the temple’s sitting spaces to rest during their shopping stroll Kakinuma and Shoshiroda (2008) researched behavioural characteristics of elderly visitors and found that the elderly themselves try to ind or create ‘sitting spaces’ where no sitting facilities are formally set up Many are organized by individual shops spontaneously based on a demand-supply principle Iwata and Ito (2010) studied communication-inducing open spaces in the shotengai and found that many visitors, particularly the elderly who sat there alone, started a conversation with each other This review shows an increasing interest in visitors’ behaviours in small-scale open public spaces in the shotengai Togoshiginza shotengai According to Togoshiginza Promotion Association, Togoshiginza shotengai (戸越銀座商店 街) in Shinagawa Ward is one of the longest shotengai in Japan (1.6 km) and easily accessible by three train stations (Figure 5) It is a good example that illustrates a typical shotengai’s historical development, as described in Figure It is well known for catering not only for the elderly but also other groups of visitors such as families with small children Like Sugamo, JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN the business community here organized an association with self-governance systems,21 and has collaborated with local authorities regarding some co-governing eforts According to Togoshiginza Promotion Association, Togoshiginza ‒ original name Togoshi22 – was also established in Edo Period After the Kanto Earthquake in 1923 (Taisho 12th Year), Togoshi Shopping District and its Promotion Association were established in July 1927 (Showa 2nd Year) The district sufered from regular loods, so the residents there were given bricks left over from the construction site in Ginza Road to build drainage and sewerage systems Hence, the area was named Togoshi Ginza The district was then destroyed during the World War II and inally fully restored by 1950 (Showa 25th Year) This history has shown people’s resilience and unity to overcome diiculties to sustain and promote their community for many decades Togoshiginza shotengai has been sparsely studied (mostly by Japanese researchers and in the Japanese language) For example, Watanabe et al (2004) studied the inluence of sitting behaviour on the length of stay in the shotengai, while Saijyo et al (2009) considered the role of local resources towards a ‘ubiquitous network society’, speciically the adoption of ICT-based town-making to vitalize the shotengai’s central part Research methodology This paper adopts qualitative methods, including historical study and physical site surveys to understand the urban design of these shotengai, as well as interviews to gain complementary insights from people regarding their views, social networks, interactions, individual narratives and oral history Three ield studies were conducted in November 2013, April 2014 and May 2014, including both physical site surveys and street interviews with 46 respondents in total (23 at each site) The physical survey included temporal site observations, photographic documentation, mapping and sketches of some selected small areas Speciically chosen sites were observed and photographed during diferent times of the day or days of a week (temporal observation) in order to understand atmospheres, crowding, type of visitors and their activities, temporary events or phenomena, etc Urban mapping was also undertaken by analyzing diferent maps (such as administrative, commercial and real estate) in order to relate spatial patterns with people’s activities The semi-structured street interviews asked about the shotengai’s spatial urban environment and design, social interactions and activities The answers were intended to be primarily qualitative Findings The research indings are subsequently categorized under two main headings, namely, (1) creative ground-up initiatives and (2) community cultural capital Creative ground-up initiatives towards an ageing-friendly environment The case studies have uncovered numerous creative, ageing-friendly, place-making initiatives undertaken primarily by the elderly, which relate to the research question on how the shotengai have been sustainable and thriving over centuries Both have a human-scale cozy streetscape with 3–4 storey shops and houses lined up (Figure 6), and are pedestrianized 10 K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 6. Cross section of the main street in sugamo (left), and Togoshiginza source: authors Figure 7. Views of the main street in sugamo (left), and a side alley source: authors Figure 8. open space at the gateway (left), and by the main street in in sugamo source: authors during designated hours.23 Since the pavement and carriageway are on the same level, the street can be considered as barrier free and relatively safe to all pedestrians, including those in wheelchairs (Figure 7) The street pattern is relatively hierarchical and organic The connection between the main street and the side and back lanes (often called roji - 路地 in Japanese) is seamless in most parts The expansion of the service area into the roji is not only a good way of utilizing small space, but also helps invite visitors to walk in the roji and discover more areas Both shotengai ofer a diversity of products and services as well as activities, and there are many elderly who run those businesses JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN 11 Figure 9. Public spaces in Koganji Temple in sugamo where people gather to pray, rest and socialize source: authors Figure 10. resting corners set up by some shops in sugamo source: authors Figure 11. Traditional foods are sold and enjoyed on the roadside of Togoshiginza (left), or sold in a mobile van as take-away by a young man source: authors Speciically, Sugamo features distributed pockets of open spaces as resting and communication-inducing places There is a small square right at the gateway, with a number of tree stumps designed and arranged attractively as a sitting place for visitors (Figure 8) The resting 12 K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 12.  The banning of car traic during designated hours (left) makes Togoshiginza become a pedestrian zone for all ages to stroll and mingle source: authors benches, which shape up a little public square, attract the crowds (Figure 9) It is observed that the shotengai is lived in, run and served by many elderly and for the elderly Along the main street, there are a few other clusters of benches and chairs (Figure 10) as well as a playground with sitting facilities24 for people to stop by to take a rest (Figure 8) The interviews in Sugamo provided more insights For example, Mr S., in his twenties, a ticket salesperson at Koganji Temple, mentioned that ‘the Koganji Temple serves as a dominant public space that attracts a large number of visitors Some of them visit it daily to pray for good health’ Other foci include parks and resting bench corners, which have been set up and are patronized mostly by senior residents.25 Unlike shoppers in big shopping malls, customers or visitors here are friendly and easy to have a conversation with When asked about something special or important about the shotengai, most of the respondents mentioned the Togenuki Goddess statue and the shotengai’s elderly-friendliness,26 while others pointed to good accessibility by trains (including Mrs I., in her seventies, retiree), pedestrian-friendliness (including Mr M., 83, freelance trader), cheap merchandise (including Mr M., 83, freelance trader and Mr M., 76, retiree), sales fairs (including Mr K., 80 and Mrs K., in her seventies, both freelance traders), or resting places (Mrs I., in her seventies, retiree) When asked about what should be done to make the shotengai a better place to live, socialize and business in, a few people said that any remaining steps between the pavement and roadbed should be eliminated (including Mrs S., 85, and Mrs A., 69, both shopkeepers), while some others wanted the street to become a sheltered arcade (including Mr A., 52, shopkeeper and Mrs O., 63, shopkeeper) Other recommendations included providing more benches, setting longer opening times for shops, or attracting more young people The proiles of the respondents have shown that some of them have been living, working or visiting for a long time (20 years or more) In particular, almost all of them want to continue these activities This signals an ongoing way of life in the shotengai, which contributes to cultural sustainability In Togoshiginza, what catches visitors’ attention are scattered road-side outdoor dining spaces (Figure 11) A short pedestrian count of 15-minute intervals in ine weather conditions interestingly revealed that the majority of the pedestrians were in fact non-elderly (402:27) (Figure 12, right) This ratio can be explained because Togoshiginza is well known for catering to people of all ages It is also seen as a place where creative place-making takes place For JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN 13 example, as the width of the gaps between buildings (for ire protection) increases, usage by the residents (including many elderly) increases accordingly and also diversiies signiicantly As such, compact spaces are optimized and utilized eiciently (Table 1) There is a good and ‘symbiotic’ relationship between front shop houses with rear housing blocks, in which one supports the other for mutual beneit and co-existence27 over time The roji’s complex network28 creates interesting small places of distinctive characteristics (such as a tranquil and slow pace of life suitable for the elderly), and the interesting phenomenon of ‘neighbourhood-in-neighbourhood’ or ‘community-in-community’ (a few neighbouring households who share common inner yards or passageways) (Figure 13) The interviews in Togoshiginza provided yet more insights For example, Mrs T (62), a part-time salesperson, said ‘the shotengai is directly accessible by train and attracts visitors from many places And it seems there are more young people, because the shotengai is well featured by television programmes’ Mrs H (65) and Mr M (45), freelance salespersons, said ‘the street is long, so it is good for strolling through its many shops Many shops sell take-away food (suitable for strolling)’ Mr T (38), freelance salesman, said ‘there are a number of festivals throughout the year, during which the shotengai becomes crowded and vibrant’ A freelance salesperson in her sixties at Living Center Number 1, stated that she likes the safety supported by pedestrianization, and said ‘it would be good if the street were pedestrianized for longer hours’ A 65-year-old salesperson at a women’s clothing store called Palette, said ‘shops are changing quickly, so life here is changing in response’ What can be improved, however, includes more food and beverage shops and bookstores (Ms H., 21, student, visitor), more bicycle parking places and public toilets (a freelance saleswoman at Living Center Number 1, in her sixties), more festivals to retain a high vibrancy (Mr T., 38, freelance salesman), longer car-free hours and more unity among people (Mr K., 33, freelance trader) The respondents’ proiles show that there are a number of Table 1. Various creative uses in gaps between buildings in Togoshiginza source: The authors 14 K TO AND K H CHONG Figure 13. Views inside the labyrinth-like back lanes in Togoshiginza source: authors long-term residents/workers or visitors (20 years or over), and almost all respondents want to continue to live, work or visit there Again, this inding predicts a continued way of life in Togoshiginza In short, creative, ground-up initiatives towards an ageing-friendly environment have been relected through various means of place-making and place quality enrichment, including human-scale streetscapes, barrier-free street designs, pedestrianization during designated hours, distributed pockets of open space as resting and communication-inducing places, road-side dining settings, utilization of gaps between buildings, and formed up ‘mini-neighbourhoods’ in organic roji networks, as seen in the physical survey The case studies have shown that the elderly are active and creative in various ways and levels in making their living and working environments more elder-friendly, given their speciic contexts and constraints Community cultural capital The second part of the research question asks whether and how community culture and its capital play a key role in shaping a shotengai’s characteristics and helping it sustain itself over time It seeks to understand how people ‒ particularly the elderly ‒ perceive their living environment and why they undertake place-making initiatives It is argued that, since shotengai strongly relect and carry socio-cultural identities of traditional Japanese society over generations, they nurture cultural continuity and sustainability, and can be considered as a form of ‘frame’, as per Nakane’s theory (1967).29 To unify the diverse internal members, the frame-based society requires some special forces to create unity such as a ‘sense of oneness’ and ‘place-attachment’ This characteristic explains the Japanese ‘group oriented’ character as well as the phenomenon of ‘outsider exclusion’, as seen in most shotengai Shotengai can also be called ‘shopping neighbourhoods’ (as distinct from other uninhabited shopping areas), and they feature community business (as opposed to the common ‘global business’) The physical survey and interviews at the two shotengai have provided further insights and indings that relect key cultural values/capital as: ways of life and habits, traditions and standards, customs and belief, social cohesion and cooperative work, and creativity and adaptability (to changes) JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN 15 Figure 14. an oden shop in Togoshiginza (left), with a guest space, in which photos of television stars who visited and a gin-chan mascot are exhibited source: authors Speciically, in terms of ways of life and habits, both shotengai (particularly Sumago) maintain a traditional existence and habits that rely on walking, daily shopping for necessities and a united, elder-friendly neighbourhood.30 Regarding traditions and standards, both of them feature ‘community business’ (with an autonomous governing association), traditional fairs or festivals, and family-run restaurants (some are trans-generational that archive and frequently exhibit precious historical stories and memories of customers’ visits in their spaces; Figure 14) Togoshiginza highlights an eating culture with traditional foods31 made by many elderly shop owners However, some of them (including Mr T., in his sixties, Oden shop proprietor) ind it challenging to pass down the occupation to the next generation;32 this is a challenge for ‘vertical’ transmission of cultural capital Some rare ‘cultural’ merchandises which are much favoured by the elderly and hard to ind elsewhere are sold here and become a shopping attraction.33 With regard to customs and belief, Sugamo features sacred places such as the Koganji Temple34 and the Koshinzuka enshrinement place, whilst for Togoshiginza, eating some well-known traditional food has become a custom This signiicant food culture is well featured on some popular television programmes, so more people, particularly young ones, come to visit after watching With reference to social cohesion and cooperative work, people in both sites retain good social networks Both shotengai demonstrate cooperative business and activities, community solidarity, friendly and communicative people, and elder-friendliness Sugamo features an ‘elderly-serve-elderly’ model and an environment where the elderly can thrive, whilst Togoshiginza features a ‘place-for-all’ model However, there remains a contradicting cultural phenomenon of ‘exclusion of outsiders’, in that people from outside ind it hard to integrate with the ‘native’ counterparts With regard to creativity and adaptability, besides place-making initiatives, both sites successfully cater for speciic target customers: the elderly and public transport users Real estate shops ofer special dwelling types for the elderly Together with the ‘community business’ model that, according to Togoshiginza Business Association, strategically markets the entire shotengai as one venue (relecting a ‘sense of oneness’) with its own brand and logo, the two shotengai have strengthened their competitiveness against large-scale, modern shopping malls,35 where younger and car-using customers frequent In addition to numerous fairs and festivals throughout the year, both shotengai deploy various creative strategies to 16 K TO AND K H CHONG remain active, lively, bustling, popular and unique.36 As a result, there have been positive signs that customers are beginning to rediscover the value of this community business model and come back Discussion and conclusion The research question about the sustainability and thriving of shotengai over time as well as the role of community culture and the elderly in it has been addressed from two speciic angles, supported by historical study, a literature review, a physical survey and interviews The two sites themselves have shown interesting commonalities and diferences, as summarized in Table In both shotengai, the commonalities clearly explain why these environments attract a large number of elderly visitors, nurture a more traditional way of life, sustain strong community solidarity and a cooperative spirit, and help sustain community culture over time towards cultural sustainability Relecting back to the deinition of ‘cultural sustainability’ by the Sustainable Development Research Institute (1998), it is interesting to see the two shotengai as able to retain their cultural identity while allowing change to be guided in ways that are consistent with their cultural values Thus, there is evidence of cultural sustainability Moreover, the diferences relect how each shotengai has been lived and run diferently by their residents and, thus, has been sustaining and thriving diferently In Sugamo, sacred places and other pockets of open space play an important role as resting and communication-inducing public spaces The self-governed ‘elderly-serve-elderly’ model helps the retirees re-enter the workforce in local service sectors As the number of elderly in Japan and their life expectancy continue to rise, this model is relevant and resilient However, the Table 2. Comparison between the sugamo and Togoshiginza shotengai Commonalities Diferences a Sugamo shotengai Togoshiginza shotengai • elder-friendly environments • good accessibility by public transport • friendly people (both local and visitors, due to communication-friendly, urban settings) • Human-scale cozy streetscape • great diversity of products and services, rare traditional merchandise relevant to the elderly • barrier-free street design and pedestrian zones during designated hours (proposed by the business communities and supported by local authorities such as police) • Community business modela • a sacred sightseeing attraction that draws numerous visitors from diverse regions • Pockets of open spaces along the main street as resting and communication-inducing places • occasional traditional fairs or festivals • Many shops cater for the elderly, and are managed, run and served by the elderly (‘elderly-serve-elderly’ model) • Many shops in the main streets expand their spaces of services to roji land • special food in particular outdoor dining settings that create special dining experiences • some traditional food shops of high popularity, featured by popular television shows • Creative utilization of gaps between buildings as a form of micro place-making • an organic roji network that forms a ‘mini-neighbourhood’, ‘community-in-community’ • Many shops cater to the elderly as well as other age groups (‘place-for-all’ model) Community business might be small, yet it capitalizes on co-operative (rather than competitive) spirit, so it can play a big role to strengthen the community’s solidarity Thus, it can be considered as part of the community cultural capital., coupled with a good self-governance system JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN 17 neighbourhood is also a relatively ‘closed’ community, which might not be welcoming to ‘external’ business Such exclusivity prevents the community from building diversity and strengthening capability, but concurrently enhances the established solidarity and cohesion among long-time, trans-generational ‘native’ households and individuals, thereby helps sustain a strong community over centuries In fact, this could be a good model for many other cultural heritage sites where gentriication becomes an inevitable fate after much conservation efort or after gaining heritage status which attracts external businesses and subsequently drives out the original community In Togoshiginza, special traditional foods truly promote a long-term ‘eating culture’ as well as ‘cultural’ attraction for this place The shotengai also showcases creative place-making initiatives on a smaller scale,37 which helps strengthen the social cohesion and neighbourliness By promoting businesses and an urban environment not only relevant to the elderly but also to other age groups, this ‘place-for-all’ boosts its commercial as well as socio-cultural activities, thereby making itself more sustainable The case studies corroborate the emphasis on the importance of a multigenerational co-living model As the elderly are a form of community cultural capital, it is essential to highlight the advantage of having older people around (instead of seeing them as a challenge or constraint), and make sure that old and young generations live harmoniously together, interact and bond well with each other in order to sustain the community and thrive This is even more crucial in urban contexts where a modern way of life makes family members live more separately and neighbours live further away from one another In conclusion, the discourse here on cultural sustainability has indicated that culture is a key pillar of sustainability, and cultural sustainability is an essential prerequisite to be met on the path towards Sustainable Development The paper has discussed how community cultural capital and the elderly play a key role in shaping their communities to adapt yet progress over time It has been argued that the elderly are culture’s resources, transmitters and multipliers within both their family and community Having the elderly living and working together with younger generations can also build a more resilient, ‘ageing-friendly’ community, as relected particularly through the case of Togoshiginza The sustainability and thriving of Sugamo and Togoshiginza over time has been addressed through two main angles: creative ground-up initiatives and community cultural capital In terms of the former, the case studies have shown a number of creative place-making, place quality enrichment and ageing-friendly initiatives undertaken primarily with or by the elderly with help from local business associations and authorities, to improve their living environments to adapt to changes They include pedestrianization, barrier-free street design, distributed resting and communication-inducing corners, road-side dinning spaces, utilization of gaps between buildings and distinctive ‘mini-neighbourhoods’ With regard to community cultural capital, people in the two shotengai bond together, lever their strong community culture, social networks, local pride and mutual support to retain their neighbourhoods They also retain and develop their distinctive cultural values, relected in their ways of life and habits, traditions and standards, customs and belief, social cohesion and cooperative work, creativity and adaptability Both shotengai develop innovative community business models, welfare and urban facilities, safety and security (in collaboration with local authorities), a sense of community and a sense of oneness, as well as authentic local cultural characteristics As a result, despite the reported decline of many other traditional shotengai, they have remained vibrant and have been lourishing for centuries, and resilient to 18 K TO AND K H CHONG ever-increasing modernization threats from high-rise, high-density, large-scale urban developments around them Ultimately, this study suggests ways to achieve more ageing-friendly communities while moving towards social and cultural sustainability Applying the lessons learned, it calls for culture-sensitive and socially contextualized urban design strategies and policies for future neighbourhood planning and developments in Japan as well as other parts of Asia Notes The trend is that there are rising proportions of elderly people aged 60 and above in the total population (UN DESA 2013) The age-dependency ratio is the number of those traditionally in retirement (age 65 and above) as a proportion of those who are of traditional working-age (15–64) (Chomik and Piggott 2013) One shotengai (Sugamo) is best known for sacred places catering for the elderly, while the other (Togoshiginza) is well known for its traditional food culture These communal forms of cultural capital include ‘collective cultural capital’ (see e.g Franklin 2002), ‘community cultural wealth’ (Yosso 2005), and ‘intercultural capital’ (Núñez 2009) For example, a village is well known for its traditional ceramic products, where senior craftsmen pass down the techniques and know-how to their children or grandchildren in their family, or to other younger generations in the village www.culturalsustainability.eu Culture can generate economic beneits (e.g cultural tourism), promote social cohesion (e.g by cultural events) or enable environmental drives (e.g by inluencing usage/disposal patterns) towards economic, social and environmental sustainability ‘Sense of belonging’ is identiied as ‘the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that the persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment’ (Hagerty et al 1992, 173) ‘Place attachment’ ‒ the bonding that occurs between individuals and their meaningful environments ‒ has gained much scientiic attention in recent decades (e.g Low and Altman 1992; Giuliani, Ferrara, and Barabotti 2003) 10 Many writers on urban form and design have discussed the issue of ‘character’, using terms such as ‘spirit of place’ or genius loci (Roman term) (Jiven and Larkham 2003) 11 Tama New Town near Tokyo was a case that failed to so The town was developed within hilly topography to cater for the ‘baby boomers’ (who were in their twenties at the time of the development) By now, both the buildings and their inhabitants have aged, and thus, the living environments have become unfriendly and unsuitable for many residents (Murata 2010) 12 Rakuichi rakuza (楽市楽座) means free markets and guilds, which were introduced after the abolition of market taxes and the monopolistic control of guilds 13 The rising number of large-scale shopping malls, supermarkets and department stores, which promote wholesale and bulk purchasing, relects the continued age of consumerism 14 Well-known shotengai include Asakusa-Nakamise, Sugamo, Ameya-Yokocho, Togoshi-Ginza, Tsukiji, Monzen-Nakacho and Musashi-Koyama Most of them are found in prime locations, where prices can be too high for many developers to take over land to develop large-scale complexes without being assured of an economic return 15 The traditional way of life includes living at a slower pace in low-rise, humble, small houses, using a walking mode for shopping as well as for leisure and well-being in a traditional shotengai, interacting more with people, etc 16 It is hypothesized that since Tokyo is a dominant tourism hub, some of the famous shotengai have become sightseeing venues that generate revenue to help sustain them Furthermore, the rising number of ageing persons might actually have positive efects, because when many people reach old age they gradually shift back from a ‘modern’ lifestyle to a ‘traditional’ one, which can be supported in the shotengai’s environment JOURNAL OF URBAN DESIGN 19 17 The temple houses the statue of the famed Togenuji Goddess, which is believed to cure illness and extend life 18 See, e.g http://www.sugamo.or.jp/easy_method.html Harajuku is an area in Tokyo, known internationally as a centre of Japanese youth culture and fashion 19 The system includes a website: www.sugamo.or.jp 20 Nihonbashi literally means Japanese Bridge The middle of Nihonbashi is set as Japan’s Kilometer Zero 21 These systems include a website: www.togoshiginza.jp 22 The name Togoshi (戸越) was derived from '‘越’ (beyond) and ‘戸’ in ‘江戸’ (Edo ‒ former name of Tokyo) So the name can be understood as ‘beyond Edo’, in the sense that the land was located beyond Edo’s territory (Togoshiginza’s Website) 23 For example, Sugamo is pedestrianized from 7:30–9 am and 3–6 pm on weekdays, and 12–6 pm for weekends and holidays, except the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month with alternative timing 24 This is a long open space in front of a setback mansion, with a landscaped garden on one side and benches on the other side The ground is covered by artiicial grass for comfort and children’s safety 25 This is aligned with the indings of Kakinuma and Shoshiroda (2008) 26 For example, Mrs A., 69, a part-time shopkeeper responded: ‘Togenuki Goddess statue And because many visitors as well as shop staf are elderly, the shotengai is overall elder-friendly Anyway, people here are friendly’ (Translated from Japanese) 27 For example, the commercial front along the main street can provide most essential daily amenities, while the back lanes ofer more afordable accommodation opportunities as well as greener, quieter and more private areas 28 Roji lands are legally private The owner has the full rights to organize circulation paths within the land or even exclude them from public access Consequently, the entire roji system is organic and complex like a labyrinth 29 According to Nakane (1967), a conventional, horizontal, ‘attribute-based’ society consists of people of diferent classes based on their common attributes such as name, family, gender, education or income level, and is automatically uniied and bonded by the attributes In contrast, Japanese society is vertical and structured on the basis of ‘frames’, which are in forms of whatever institutions or groups that are based at a location (e.g household, village or company) 30 Mr T., in his forties, salesman in Sugamo, mentioned that the attractiveness of Sugamo lies in age-friendly places and many family-run shops that make the atmosphere intimate and nostalgic 31 They include Kurokke (potato croquette), Karaage (ired chicken), Osenbe (rice crackers) and Oden 32 A Business Association shared that many original shop owners became old, stopped their businesses and rented out their shops to others 33 They include ‘red pants’, ‘Sugamon’ (Sugamo shotengai’s character), ‘Shio daifuku’ (Great Luck sweetened red bean paste), ‘Wakame’ (edible seaweed), ‘Mamushi’ (a venomous pit viper) and shark cartilage 34 According to Mr S., in his twenties, ticket salesman at the Koganji Temple, the temple is a regional attraction and there are people (mostly elderly) who visit it daily to pray for health and prosperity 35 Some respondents mentioned that some shops in the shotengai ofer cheap prices 36 For example, each shotengai has a cute character mascot for marketing purposes (Sugamo’s Sugamon and Togoshiginza’s Ginjiro) Some shops sell original sake and snacks under their own 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(UN DESA 2013) Asian countries are at diferent points in the demographic transition East Asia began earlier and is farther along, foremost Japan, while the trend in South and Southeast Asian countries... 5. Togoshiginza shotengai and train station (left), and a map showing the shotengai’s street and land parcel patterns source: authors; base map: google an association with a self-governing system19 as. .. groups according to the timing, level and speed of their ageing The fastest ageing group includes Japan, Korea and Singapore, where the ratio of the older population (65 and over) compared with the