One of the world’s biggest cities is exploring ways of expanding in one of the most unconventional ways possible.
The Japanese capital of Tokyo, home to more than 14 million people, has ambitious plans to transform the historic city to a futuristic centre of sustainability and economic competitiveness.
Known as the Tokyo Bay eSG Project, the plan hopes to build a futuristic city by creating more land where there’s currently water.
Speaking in 2022, Manabu Miyasaka, a deputy governor for Tokyo said: “Tokyo expanded through creating reclaimed land into the sea and that is a strong advantage for us.
“No one lives on the land we plan to use, so we can start from zero rather than disrupting people’s daily lives.”
The governor of Tokyo first announced it in April 2021. The project aims to counteract the destruction caused in the country by COVID-19. Architecture publication Rethinking the Future explains more in its analysis of the project.
It said: “The project will reclaim the old title of the world’s most advanced city. Hence, it stimulates the creation of a monopoly of innovation, technology, investments, and sustainability in the world market.”
Tokyo Bay already consists of several artificial islands, established prior to the Second World War to serve as naval fortifications and afterwards to accommodate the burgeoning post-war population.
The new plan aims to take advantage of an unused parcel of land in the middle of the bay and extend it to 1,000 hectares, with around 20% of the development completed so far.
The unpopulated piece of land was used for canoe and rowing events in the 2020 Olympics but has since been used for storage and garbage processing.
The £33 million project aims to become a leader in sustainable building practices and in September, the Tokyu Land Corporation announced its participation in the project’s sustainable future.
In a press release, it said: “Tokyu Land Corporation and SolarDuck BV, in collaboration with Kyocera Communication Systems Corporation, have completed the installation of Japan’s first offshore floating solar photovoltaic (OFPV) power plant on the sea surface under the Tokyo Bay eSG Project, an initiative of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Policy Planning Bureau.
“This project is a demonstration project by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that aims to realise the world’s most advanced energy generation and transmission from the Tokyo Bay Area.”
