The morphological transformation of Japanese castle-town cities

Abstract

In this historical survey of Japanese castle towns, there are four key findings. First, Japanese castle towns, although having individually unique spatial structures and landscaping, can be grouped into five categories. Secondly, in the town planning of these towns there have been characteristic transformative procedures to meet the needs of modern urban activities. Thirdly, the various schemes that have been devised and implemented at each critical stage during the modern period have been able to control each urban transformation and gradually improve the structure of each city. Finally, these schemes and transformative processes have been fundamentally affected by the existing urban patterns which were already established long before the Meiji Restoration. Every recent transformation has been found to be a distinct process in which a variety of schemes and efforts to change the environment have been integrated with each original urban pattern.