Machi-zukuri as a new paradigm in Japanese urban planning: reality or myth?

The concept of machi-zukuri (community/neighbourhood planning) has become widely used in recent years, both within the field of urban planning and in more general usage. It is seen as a radical departure from the conventional centralized, top-down, 'civil engineering' approach of Japanese urban planning ( toshi-keikaku ), or even as playing an important role in the regeneration of Japanese civil society over this period. Two case studies of machi-zukuri are examined, both in Kobe. One is a long-standing example of machi-zukuri in a district that has a long history of autonomous residents' activity.The second is a district that is being reconstructed after the 1995 Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake. Planning in the former case has exhibited radical differences from the conventional top-down model. However, in the latter case study, it is argued that the local government has appropriated the rhetoric of machi-zukuri , and that this case study is not fundamentally different from the conventional model.