Introduction

This introduction provides the background and the rationale behind the proposed book. It gives the reasons for the international symposium planned at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney in February 2021 and for the research project co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation. It briefly introduces Metabolism in the context of modern and postmodern urban and architectural theories, and highlights the evolution of the ideas and projects of the Metabolists in relation to the urbanization process of Japan in the second half of the twentieth century. In addition, it outlines the themes of the book and explains that the various chapters are based on multiple yet complementary perspectives and intend to shed light on several key aspects of the creative design language of Metabolist projects.