Creating community : designing for Futakotamagawa area in Tokyo

Abstract

This thesis develops a master plan and design guidelines for the Futakotamagawa East-region Re-development Project, a 16 hectare speCUlative project located on the southwest edge of Tokyo. The thesis proposes an alternative method for the design of new housing developments in Tokyo where current practice typically promotes high-rise apartments in an open space; this current practice ultimately results in the destruction of the sense of community. The strategy of the thesis includes: 1) the analysis of the existing urban conditions around the Futakotamagawa area in both local and metropolitan scale in order to anticipate development pressures, to create the project's programs, and to identify potential connections between the project site and surroundings, all of which help set the framework of a master plan; and 2) the study of representative desirable communities and housing developments in Japan to extract principles for creating housing design. Finally, the thesis tests the effectiveness of a master plan and design guidelines by developing housing designs for one section of the project site.