How to Sustain Tokyo's Competitiveness in the 21st Century

Abstract

The explosive growth of Tokyo has caused various urban problems for future development in the 21st century. The most influential project on the future regional structure of the metropolis should be the construction of core business cities which aims to disperse the pivotal nature of business in the inner city to some new districts including main cities in the suburbs. One of the major factors central to the development of the Tokyo metropolitan area is the improvement of the infrastructure through the completion of the Kanto-belt high way which will connect most of the main cities in the suburbs each other. This is expected to facilitate transportation by reducing the traffic congestion in inner Tokyo. The key project in the redevelopment of Tokyo is The revitalization of the Tokyo Bay area. Under the leadership of the national government, many facilities which will drive information and micro-electronics technological innovation, etc. are in the process of being planned. This area will be very important for the sustainable development not only for Tokyo but also for Asian cities. The activation of industry is also an important subject for the sustainable development of the metropolis. Tokyo still maintains a leading position as the functional center of the national industrial system. It is necessary to make efforts to establish for more sophisticated and tight-knit industrial complexes, which are indispensable with the division of labor system in Japan and Asia. For the promotion of sustainable development of Tokyo in the severe global competition, it is necessary to establish a new strong organ to coordinate and implement the various projects of national, prefectural and municipal(or Ku) governments effectively.