Tama New Town

Core idea

Mass housing satellite with rail

Why it matters

Largest Japanese new town

Description

Tama New Town, developed from 1965 across the Tama Hills west of Tokyo by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government together with national housing agencies, is Japan's largest planned new town. The plan organised mass housing estates into neighbourhood units served by schools, local centres and pedestrian networks, with the whole settlement structured around new commuter rail lines linking residents to central Tokyo.

Significance

Tama New Town exemplifies the Japanese adaptation of the new-town idea to a rail-commuting metropolis, coupling welfare-state mass housing with private and public railway investment. It housed a substantial share of Tokyo's postwar suburban growth and later became a leading case in debates on the ageing of new towns, as its early estates and their populations grew old together.

What shaped it

• The Neighbourhood Unit (1929)
• The metro / underground railway (1863)
• The master plan (early 20th c.)

Plans it influenced

• Seoul New Towns (Bundang, Ilsan, etc.) (1990s)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tama_New_Town
• https://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/documents/d/toshiseibi/pdf_keikaku_chousa_singikai_pdf_