ABSTRACT
Redevelopment drives in Tokyo have often been conducted in response to destruction from war or disasters. The creation of Ginza “Bricktown,” the first urban development project of the Meiji era (1868–1912), followed a major fire, while Tokyo’s two biggest urban transformations since then came in the wake of the devastating 1923 earthquake and the destruction of World War II. Aside from these reconstruction efforts, urban renewal in Tokyo has amounted to little more than consuming the legacy of earlier times by converting properties from old to new uses. Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration, when the shogunate and the system of domains was abolished and Edo renamed Tokyo, many of the residences that the daimyo (domain lords) had established in the shogun’s capital were confiscated by the Meiji government, which put the land to new uses. The estates of the Owari and Mito daimyo, which were especially large, became military facilities, and that of the Kaga daimyo was converted into a university campus. Edo Castle, which had served as the shogun’s seat, became the Imperial Palace.
