Japanese shopping arcades, pinpointing vivacity amidst obsolescence

• Autores: Carlos J. L. Balsas
• Localización: The Town Planning Review, ISSN-e 1478-341X, Vol. 87, Nº. 2, 2016, págs. 205-232
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The shopping arcade is a commercial format easily found throughout the world. Its origins can be traced back to when commercial exchanges were removed from the streets and relocated to individual stores inside one or several adjacent buildings. Due to the building of modern and postmodern shopping malls in districts located outside the main shopping precincts, many of these commercial arcades began losing their centrality as trading places. This paper’s purpose is threefold: (1) to characterise the main features of this commercial format in Japan; (2) to identify the reasons for its recent decline and renovation; and (3) to discuss the socio-economic forces leading shoppers away from this format and into western-style shopping malls. The argument is that the weakening of shotengai represents a story of unplanned obsolescence relatively similar to what has occurred in a multitude of western cities and towns. The paper generates new knowledge and offers a set of lessons on the specific nuances of the Japanese shopping street at the beginning of the twenty-first century, including the extensiveness, liveliness and vibrancy of the Japanese shopping street.