Central in this issue of The Japan Architect is an investigation into creating new guidelines for developing residential areas as an aggregation of diverse characteristics, to be achieved by researching suburbs in Japan in the 21st century.

Often criticised as ugly and chaotic, these post-war suburban developments should perhaps be seen as expressions of the multiplicity and diversity attributable to today’s capitalist society. Through numerous, full-page photos of widely varied homes in their respective contexts, it shows how these have fertilised the vocabulary of housing design in Japan, as well as the way urban and suburban residential areas have developed in the nation through the years.

Central in this issue of The Japan Architect is an investigation into creating new guidelines for developing residential areas as an aggregation of diverse characteristics, to be achieved by researching suburbs in Japan in the 21st century.

Often criticised as ugly and chaotic, these post-war suburban developments should perhaps be seen as expressions of the multiplicity and diversity attributable to today’s capitalist society. Through numerous, full-page photos of widely varied homes in their respective contexts, it shows how these have fertilised the vocabulary of housing design in Japan, as well as the way urban and suburban residential areas have developed in the nation through the years.