This book explores how and why Tokyo has been divided over time in terms of living conditions. First, recent urban discourses that explain the transformation of Tokyo's urban structure are examined, along with social changes and the expansion of unequal residential conditions within the metropolitan area. Chapter 1 reviews: 1) discussions on globalization, neo-liberalization, and changes in housing policies; 2) debates on the divided city; 3) debates on the shrinking city and the urban lifecycle; 4) discussion of the urban residential environment from a social justice perspective; and 5) family-housing relationships in the post-growth society. Based on the literature review, the rest of the book is structured as follows. Chapter 2 explains the changes in urban and housing policies, demography, and socio-economic conditions. In Chapters 3 to 5, the background and characteristics of the growth of condominium living in the city center are examined. The next three chapters analyze the reality of shrinking suburbs, using case studies to demonstrate the increase in vacant housing and local responses toward shrinkage. In Chapter 9, possible solutions are proposed for dealing with problems related to urban shrinkage and the expanding gap in terms of the availability of investments to stimulate urban development, the residential environment, and the population age structure in Japanese cities by comparing the author's findings and the literature review. This book provides deep insights for urban and housing scholars, urban planners, policy decision-makers, and local communities that struggle with aging populations and urban shrinkage.

Autorentext
Tomoko Kubo is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Tsukuba, Japan. She is an urban geographer working closely with housing studies. She is the former chair of the Urban Geography Commission's Young Scholar (YS) Committee of the International Geographical Union (IGU) after winning its 2012 YS Paper competition, and a board member of the Research Committee on Housing and the Built Environment (RC43) of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Her research interests include urbanization and the housing market, urban and housing policy, residential choices under socioeconomic changes, single women's homeownership, shrinking cities and their revitalization, and aging suburbs in Japan.

Inhalt
Preface
Chapter 1Introduction1.1Research background1.2Globalization, neo-liberal housing policy, and changing cities1.3Debates on the Divided city1.4Shrinking cities, housing vacancies, and the urban lifecycle1.5Social justice and the residential environment of cities1.6Housing, family, and social change in the post-growth society1.7Research framework and structure of the book
PART I Divided Tokyo
Chapter 2Divided Tokyo: Housing policy, the ideology of homeownership, and the growing contrast between the city center and the suburbs2.1Purpose of the study2.2Japanese housing and family structures in Modern times2.3Post-war national policy in Japan2.4Suburbanization and the ideology of homeownership2.5City center living since the 1990s2.6Neo-liberalism and transit-oriented development in Tokyo2.7Discussion and conclusions
PART II Growth of the City Center Condominium Lifestyle
Chapter 3 The rise of the condominium lifestyle in Japanese cities3.1Introduction3.2Condominiums in cities3.3Acceptance of the condominium lifestyle in Japan: The case of a middle-sized city3.4Summary of the chapter
Chapter 4Homeownership by single women in central Tokyo4.1Introduction4.2Housing pathways of younger people and women4.3Condominium purchases by single women in central Tokyo4.4Condominium supply strategies responding to new housing needs4.5Discussion4.6Summary of the Chapter
Chapter 5 New condominium town in the Tokyo Bay area: making home an antithesis to rootlessness in suburbia5.1Introduction5.2Overview of condominium residents in Makuhari Bay Town5.3Residential choices of condominium residents in Makuhari Bay Town5.4Discussion5.5Concluding remarks
PART III Shrinking Suburbs
Chapter 6 Shrinking suburbs in Tokyo6.1 Introduction 6.2Debates on the shrinking city and the Japanese context6.3Shrinkage and aging in Japanese cities6.4The increase in vacant housing in Japanese cities6.5Summary of the chapter
Chapter 7 The generative processes of vacant housing in the shrinking suburbs: The case of Ushiku in Tokyo's 50-60-km Commuter Belt7.1Introduction
7.2Residents' characteristics7.3The increase in vacant housing in Ushiku7.4The total reality: the interrelationship between generic and specific factors7.5Summary of the chapter
Chapter 8 Policy response and civic engagement to address urban shrinkage8.1Introduction8.2Policy responses to urban shrinkage and civic engagement8.3Civic engagement for the maintenance of the residential environment8.4The sustainability of the residential environment in Narita New Town8.5Discussion
PART IV Conclusions: Whither the Divided Tokyo?
Chapter 9 Conclusions9.2The characteristics of the divided Tokyo9.3Possible countermeasures9.4What does the future hold for Tokyo and other Japanese cities?