Sociospatial Characteristics of “Illegally Occupied” Settlements in Tokyo in the Late 1950s and Their Subsequent Transformation Process

Abstract

In the post-World War II era, many “illegally occupied” (squatter) settlements were found in Japanese cities due to housing shortages. By analyzing the 1959 Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Public Welfare's Environment Area Research Report of Tokyo: The Condition of Hostile Environment Settlements in Tokyo this paper aims to elucidate the actual conditions, sociospatial position and transformation process of illegally occupied settlements in the late 1950s in Tokyo's 23 wards. Fifty such illegally occupied settlements were identified among a total of 240 decrepit areas.

Illegally occupied settlements in Tokyo in the late 1950s shared three characteristics: 1) They were located in very isolated places; 2) they had most appalling living conditions; and 3) the inhabitants consisted mainly out of extremely poor households and urban underclass workers, such as manual laborers and refuse collectors. The houses and residents in illegally occupied settlements were embedded in housing and labor markets, and therefore were not isolated in the city, but maintained specific relations with surrounding neighborhoods.

From the 1960s onward, the illegally occupied settlements were left untouched by official housing environment improvement projects. As a result, nearly all were affected by changes in land use, which in turn broke up existing communities. By analyzing the land use history of these settlements from 1960s onward, it is concluded that each transformation process varied according to actual conditions and sociospatial position.