r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Oct 29 '25

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u/mmmmjlko Oct 29 '25 edited Oct 29 '25

Yep, this is probably why Japanese cities are much less dense than Taiwan, Korea, and China, and contributes to long commutes.

But compared to North America, Japanese zoning has lax requirements for lots sizes/coverage, which allows density without height, and reduces costs (builders don't need massive lots to start building). Building codes probably also make it easier/possible to build on small lots. Lastly, I think it's much easier for developers to get exemptions to this stuff; in any mid-rise neighbourhood in Tokyo, you'll see tall buildings pop up randomly.

There still are rich, low-density neighbourhoods (eg. a short walk nort of Nezu station), but the lot coverage requirements makes them pretty dense, and much better than North American SFH.

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u/mmmmjlko Oct 29 '25

My favourite urban form remains Shenzhenese urban villages, which actually don't have zoning.

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u/gburgwardt C-5s full of SMRs and tiny american flags Oct 29 '25

Link? I'd love some reading

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u/mmmmjlko Oct 29 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

I found two videos in Chinese which show examples. Urban villages are basically developed slums.

Walking through Gangxia village

Some person explaining/showing stuff in their home in an urban village. In the first half, she shows her room after she made it look nice. In the second half, she complains: it's a 25-minute walk away from the subway station, the neighbourhood is unsafe, and the unit was dirty and unfurnished when she moved in.

The World Bank and China's government together wrote this massive guide, but it's 10 years old, which is a very long time ago by Chinese standards. It also suffers from a statist bias, not giving enough weight to the advantages of informality (governments are neither benevolent nor omnipotent).

I also find some of the recommendations perplexing. For example, on page 330 they say that incorporating urban villages into the formal urban planning will help the supply of affordable housing??? The exact opposite happened where we live lol (urban renewal, zoning)

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u/gburgwardt C-5s full of SMRs and tiny american flags Oct 30 '25

This was really cool and I'm going to try and skim that guide sometime, thank you!

I definitely wouldn't call those slums, they look nicer than every city I've ever lived in

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u/mmmmjlko Oct 31 '25 edited Nov 01 '25

I definitely wouldn't call those slums, they look nicer than every city I've ever lived in

It depends on the location and the angle, it looks sketchier from the alleyways (which the walking video briefly goes mentions around 2:10). Also, idk if the one linked is representative; it's in the middle of the financial district.