ABSTRACT
After a lull in the immediate post-bubble years, however, manshon construction in central Kyoto attained record levels in the late 1990s and early 2000s, greatly encouraged by a sharp decrease in land prices and construction costs and by relaxed building regulations. Among the buyers of the apartments in these highrises is a growing number of older inner-city returnees, for whom – in a somewhat perverse feedback loop – revitalized machiya and the remaining scenic streets form part of the lure of urban life. Almost every manshon project is disapproved of by its neighbors, however, and many encounter organized resistance so that, if anything, keikan ronsô are today an even greater part of the Kyotoites’ urban experience than during the bubble years. Many citizens agree that the townscape is in crisis, and some see it as irremediably damaged. As a consequence, the future of Kyoto’s built environment is now a widely acknowledged concern, as attested to by the multitude of related proposals, projects, publications, groups, institutions, and organized activities, with hardly a week going by without a related meeting, symposium, public lecture, or other event.
