Modern specific of Japanese urbanism as a result of the country’s cultural mentality distinctiveness

Abstract

The article analyzes the urbanistic experience of modern Japan in terms of the country’s architectural history. The following features of Japanese modern urbanistic are highlighted: dynamism and mobility – the ability of permanent development and modification (so called architectural metabolism); communicativeness of city space; the cohesion of the concepts of interior and exterior; freedom and novelty of architectural forms; humane and psychological comfort of urban environment. Based on the analysis of the unique climatic and seismological conditions of Japan, its geographical, ethnic and historical characteristics, it is revealed that all indicated above modern urbanistic features originate in the prerequisites of Japanese mentality formation directly related to architectural traditions. Since ancient times, Japanese culture has easily adapted to new circumstances modifying both obsolete traditional phenomena and foreign influences to a fundamentally different level. During the industrial revolution, thanks to the active borrowing of European and American engineering experience, such an approach leads in Japan to a qualitative leap of urbanism and design, forming an imaginary gap between the historical and modern architecture. In reality, urban planning and architecture of modern Japan demonstrate a deep genetic connection with historical tradition, which is present here as a permanent global evolutionary vector of ideas.