A renowned Japanese architect who won the "Nobel Prize of architecture" strongly criticized that Tokyo has recently been swallowed by a development logic centered on the wealthy, losing its public character and local identity.
According to Bloomberg on the 21st (local time), Yamamoto Riken, the architect who won the 2024 Pritzker Prize, said in a recent lecture at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, "Tokyo today is like a colony created by the wealthy—more precisely, by neoliberals." He argued that large-scale development projects are destroying the heart of the city and that the new buildings are being filled with spaces that local residents cannot use.
According to his argument, Tokyo has long been a city in constant flux. Aging buildings were naturally rebuilt, replaced with structures stronger against earthquakes, and thanks to narrow alleys and loose zoning regulations, small shops and bars coexisted with affordable housing. Despite being one of the world's largest cities, it has been credited with maintaining a human scale and pedestrian-friendly character.
However, he noted that Tokyo's landscape has changed rapidly in recent years. Sculptural buildings of glass and steel have sprung up across the city, filling it with high-end offices, boutiques and ultra-expensive apartments. High-rise condominiums known in Japan as "tower mansions" have proliferated quickly under the pretext of easing population density in the city center. According to real estate data firm Tokyo Kantei, as of 2024 there were 812 tower mansion buildings in the Tokyo metropolitan area, about a quarter of which were built in the past 10 years.
Office development has also surged. According to the business magazine Toyo Keizai, the scale of large office developments to be supplied in Tokyo between 2024 and 2026 was estimated at about 1.8 million square meters. Yamamoto saw this trend as weakening the city's diversity and its living foundations.
He did not reject development itself. While prefacing that "developers are necessary," he pointed out that "the problem is the nature of the large projects being pursued in Tokyo recently." Citing the "Hills" series developed by major Japanese real estate developer Mori Building in the Roppongi and Azabu areas, representative affluent neighborhoods in Tokyo, he argued that these large mixed-use complexes are effectively becoming spaces only for the wealthy. Although these complexes, which combine shopping, office and residential functions, appear outwardly like city landmarks, he said they are structured in ways that make everyday use by ordinary citizens difficult.
Yamamoto unusually escalated his criticism by directly mentioning masters of Japanese architecture. Referring to Kuma Kengo and Ando Tadao by name, he said, "I want to ask whether they truly consider the community when they design." He raised the issue that architects, in the process of winning large development projects, are also siding with the logic of capital.
Yamamoto emphasized, "Developers will buy up all the land and yet another 'Hills' will be repeatedly built," adding, "Experts must step up and forge a social consensus on how to design Tokyo's future."