Flaneur's Diary: Living on the Edge

Through out the course of this class I have been able to learn about a great many of things that have changed my view on the world. Before this class I did not know anything about things like the slums of global cities or the evil paradises in the cities around the world. However, after exploring my city through virtual means I have been able to expand my knowledge regarding Tokyo along with the rest of the world. And that is something I want to try and pass on to those that visit this site.

The first thing that really stood out when I began this was the slums in Tokyo. In many of the other cities slums were very prominent in the city and thus easy to find. However, in my experience I found it to be difficult to find information on it. Of course, I did find some places similar such as San’ya but even that was a surprise to me as I discovered about how there was an attempt from the government to almost completely erase it from the map. Which I found to be surprising to see even the locals did not acknowledge and actual location of San’ya. To me this research into the slums really opened my eyes more to the world. As before I didn’t really know about the horrible living conditions that people in slums go thorough.

Another part of my study that I found interesting was the about the idea of the “right to the city” and how a lot of the time those that built up the city would often be moved out for more private and elite groups to reap the success of these hard workers. One such place that it is happening in Tokyo is in Shimokitazawa in which the locals of the area have built up the district to be the success that it is now. However, due to the success in the place rent is raising and global retail stores are starting to move in which leads to them now struggling to stay in the district. And it was this situation that really made this topic stick to me. With hearing all about these peoples struggles that often go on without notice of the world, was a massive shock to me. And it really hit home about thinking about just whose city is it?

The biggest thing though to me in my research was done mostly at the very end of everything. And that was the train system and that’s because to me it symbolizes a lot of the global and local compression that the city feels. With the city being so dense and filled with high rises and the millions of people that commute through it everyday really show the importance of the Tokyo rail system which is one of the most complex there is. Which is due to the lack of space for them to do it any differently. I believe that people can learn a lot about Tokyo just from looking at its train system with just how condensed it is and even with new tracks being added in the tight spaces they still make it all work. Which I believe symbolizes Tokyo well with how, even though Tokyo is to condense they are still able to make major infrastructure improvements within the busiest parts of Tokyo.

In overall I really want people to take from this website a type of understanding of what a global city is and how it looks like. And my hope is that armed with this new understanding people will be able to visit other cities and keep these core topics in their minds. Thus, allowing them to gain a much stronger appreciation for the things and people they see through out a city that they are visiting.