On Innovative Practices which Contribute to Preservation of the Place Identity: The Example of Yanesen, Tokyo

The processes of globalization, the consequences of which are evident in all corners and at all levels of the contemporary world are linked to an increasing homogenization. Disciplines of architecture and urban design contribute to that process, which is affecting the very definitions of place and identity. A desire to maintain and (re)create local identity within the context of that increasingly global world is connected to reviving of the past or to various interpretations of history, and preservation of the built environment of the place. This paper identifies peculiar processes of creation and maintenance of identity of place in the precincts of Tokyo Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi, known as Yanesen. The authors argue that in Yanesen innovation appears as the byproduct of complex and creative responses to the threats of globalization, within a perpetual interplay of persistence and change. The paper opens a number of questions of where and how innovation in built environment can contribute to persistence of place identity