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Miyashita Park
What is on this Page
Introduction
History of Miyashita Park
by Maya
Located in the narrow field along the Yamanote Line, what is now called Miyashita Park, was first established as a 'utilitarian' (Dimmer, 2017, p. 206) public park in the 1930s with the name of "宮下公園 (Miyashita Kōen)" and was used by the general public before as well as during WWII as an escape place from fire. In the 1960s, following the program to enhance the city landscape for the Olympic Games that took place in 1964, the park was elevated to the rooftop with a parking lot underneath. The innovative rooftop structure was celebrated as "an clean, no-nonsense place, part of an area-wide, independent, elevated pedestrian circulation system above the car-invaded street level" (Dimmer, 2017, p. 206), with the city of Shibuya attracting many people as a symbol of consumer culture. In the 1990s, however, as the bubble economy burst and economic stagnation followed, Shibuya lost its power as a consumer society with Miyashita Kōen becoming "a temporary home to over 70 homeless people at peak times" (Dimmer, 2017, p. 206) (Figure 1.2). From a public park, Miyashita Park became a place for marginalized communities, where homeless and political protesters gathered. While some saw this change a failure, claiming that "the most important thing for a park is to be used by a large number of people" (Tsukamoto & Nakatani, 2011, as cited in Dimmer, 2017, p. 207), others opposed such idea, claiming that "the old Miyashita Park only appeared empty to those who didn't recognize it as a heterotopic counter-site for subaltern groups such as homeless and political activists" (Dimmer, 2017, p. 210), further claiming that Miyashita Kōen became "a 'vacant lot (akichi)' that allows activists and subaltern groups to convene outside the constraints of mainstream society, where communication, action, and a recovery of political commitment seem possible" (Cssegård, 2011, as cited in Dimmer, 2017, p. 207). In May 2004, following the project between Nike and the Shibuya ward to create a basketball court in Shibuya, the city counselor Ito captured this as an "opportunity to create a new, comprehensive sports park to attract young people to Shibuya, to take the skaters from the public sidewalks, where they had angered pedestrians, and to 'push out the homeless people, who littered the area and spoiled the cityscape'" (OurPlanet-TV 2010 as cited in Dimmer, 2017, p. 200). Although two futsal courts were established in 2006, clearing about half the homeless population from the park, Ito remained unsatisfied that homeless still remained and posed threat to the general public, moving forward with the new aim of turning the whole Miyashita Kōen into a 'park for trendy street sports' (OurPlanet-TV 2010 as cited in Dimmer, 2017, p. 201). In 2008, the deal with Nike was concluded with them buying the naming rights as well as the right for reconstruction of the Miyashita Kōen, becoming what is now called Miyashita Park. Miyashita Park that exists today has changed its form from the previous times when it was first established as Miyashita Kōen, both in its physical state and its social demographics with its built environment attracting different demographics who also turn the space differently to establish identity for themselves.
Figure 1.2 Miyashita Park as Home to Homeless People (Dimmer, 2017)
Figure 1.1 History of Miyashita Park Summary
Transformation Process
by Shion
In 2010, the first revised plans for Miyashita Park were made by Nike and the Shibuya local government. These plans were leaked to the public and protests emerged against the ‘nike-fication of public space’ (Dimmer 2010). The transformation was greatly contested and Miyashita Park turned into a controversial topic of urban planning. Later, it was revealed in the documentary, Miyashita Park, Tokyo/Shibuya—Can the Democracy Be Bought for Money? that the events leading to the agreement between Nike and the Shibuya government came from suspicious means. Local politicians and park administrators falsified petitions and citizens’ requests to meet deadlines while creating an image of a democratic planning process (Dimmer 2010). Therefore the new plans for the renovation of Miyashita Park were not legitimate and didn’t reflect the opinions of the general public in regards to the park renovation.
What ensued were both physical and online demonstrations, petitions, and negotiations - all of which failed. As the park was being prepared for construction, a six-month occupation of the park started, and it made the park a “Temporary Autonomous Zone.” Using the trash at the park, the occupants created art, sculptures, and signs. There were also organized workshops, concerts, karaoke, and even a community garden was created. It was a community full of art, dance, and music. Unfortunately, this was short-lived as the park was raided on September 15th by 100 riot police. The protesters and homeless community were kicked out of the area. There were a few small protests as the park continued on with its construction however it reopened on April 11, 2011.
The redesigned Miyashita Park opened in 2020, housing an area for high-end retail shopping, dining, and an open-roof urban park. With a complete rebranding of the park, Miyashita Park turned into the antithesis of what once was a community for the marginalized.
In June of 2020, Shibuya Ward and Mitsui Fudosan partnered to establish the new version of Miyashita Park with a low-rise complex that covers a site area of approximately 10,740 square meters with a total length of about 330m.
Miyashita Park was fully revitalized compared to the previous version. The biggest difference is the introduction of consumerism. The new Miyashita integrates commercial facilities, hotels, and parking lots. In its renewal, it was developed as a more multifunctional space while preserving its original charm and sports functions of Miyashita Park that have been cherished over the years (LIVE JAPAN, 2021). By conserving the park’s significance and the sports-related contents, the developers may aim to build up a blend of traditions and modernity.
Concept
Miyashita Park’s overall philosophy is to provide opportunities for visitors to meet “new stimulations and trends” and feel “ease and comfort” by being at the park. The former implies for park users to have new encounters and communications with people, things, experiences, and cultures, which is supported by the park offering unique and variety of sports facilities, retail shops, restaurants, and services. The latter is based on the notion of a park being an open and comfortable place for everyone (Mitsui Fudosan, 2020). To establish the image of a park, Miyashita installs many benches inside its buildings, in outdoor hallways, small open spaces between the South and North blocks, and on the rooftop. Also, the place is rich in greenery with the provision of lawns, trees, and garden plants. This “parkness” can be particularly observed on the rooftop having vast grass all over the rooftop and many benches. By visiting Miyashita Park, people can feel a sense of being at the park and get some comfort.
This philosophy can be interlinked with Miyashita Park's
core concept of "MIXXXX & MEEET!" and the following
poem-like statement, which more specifically puts
emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
“卵とキャラメルが出会って、プリンが生まれた。
When eggs and caramel meet, pudding is born.
出会いって、愛。組み合わせって、未来かも。
Encounter, love. The combination may be the future.
公園の下に、ハイブランド。
Below the park, high brand stores.
ハイブランドの横に、飲み屋横丁。
Next to the high-end brands, there is an Izakaya alley.
ホテルも珈琲屋もレコードショップもギャラリーも、
混ざってくっついたらどうなるんだろう。
What happens when they get mixed up and stick together?
ごちゃっと自由に、ここは公園のASHITA。
Mixing without control, this is Ashita (tomorrow/future) in the park.
その全部があたらしくなった、MIYASHITA PARK。
MIYASHITA PARK, where all of them are new.
さあ開業、開園です。
Come on, it's opening, it's opening.
ニンゲンも風も花も鳥も、どうぞいらしてください。
Humans, winds, flowers and birds, please come and join us” (Miyashita Park, n.d.).
In contrast to this diversity and inclusion-based concept, however, it is important to know that homeless people who used the old version of Miyashita Park as residence now disappeared in the new park. As shown in the previous History and Transformation Process sections, Miyashita has a history of partnering with Nike to eliminate homeless persons and transform the park into a place more accessible to a broader range of social groups. The current redevelopment in collaboration with Mitsui Fudosan also seems to have a similar purpose in mind. The renewal of Miyashita can be considered to be what Malone (2002) calls “’purification of public space’ that is the need for clear, closed boundaries, internal homogeneity and order and the means for boundary maintenance in order to keep out objects or people who do not fit the classification” (p.161) or more specifically, it is regarded as “gentrification” that is urban affluence due to redevelopment and an influx of higher-income people (Nishiyama, 2020). The introduction of commercial activity promotes affluence in Miyashita Park and makes the park safer and more open to legitimate users who can participate in consumerism while excluding homeless people. It seems that the diversity of the new concept does not include the homeless.
Mapping
Miyashita consists of two sides of the South and North, and they are connected by corridors. Only the rooftop is all the way through from end to end, forming an elongated shape. The park has 4 floors in total. While retail shops and restaurants take central place from 1st and 3rd floors, the rooftop offers open space for free resting and playing.
Concept & Mapping of Miyashita Park
by Nagiko
Top Floor (Rooftop):
sports facilities (skate park, bouldering wall, & beach court), seating areas (lawns and benches), Miyashita Park Center, cafe, and sequence hotel.
3rd Floor:
retail stores and restaurants (many sports-oriented and select shops), food court, and club (“or”).
2nd Floor:
retail stores and restaurants on the South block (many tourist-oriented), and high-end stores on the North block, and club (“or”).
1st Floor:
Izakaya (Shibuya-Yokocho) on the South block, and high-end stores on the North block, and club (“or”).
Theories and Importance
by Alex
As mentioned in the current concept of new Miyashita Park, the area is a privately owned public space. Németh (2009) defines a privately owned public space as, “sites of social interaction and active citizenship, in which personal identities are constructed through unmediated human contact, educating the city-dweller about the ‘other’ and teaching true urbanity… Ideally, these spaces serve as the material location where social interactions and public activities of all members of the public occur” (Németh, 2009, as cited in Mitchell, 2003a, p. 131). The categorization of Miyashita as a park prioritizes its concept as a public space for ‘unmediated human contact’, but it is equally, if not more, a space for capitalistic consumption due to its large range of everyday luxury (i.e. Starbucks) to premium core high end (i.e. Louis Vuitton) shops (Willett-Wei). Therefore, the space can be considered a part of Tokyo’s ‘Hybrid City’. Eckhoff suggests that, within the Hybrid City, Miyashita Park is a ‘New Hybrid’, or a public space that is “designed for multi-purpose use; a hybrid of commercial and free public use… designed within the last 10 years, and have been created for people to shop, while considering other activities other than just consuming. These spaces are in turn allowing for more meaningful interactions to take place” (Eckhoff, 2021). The combination of consumption and free public use makes Miyashita a place that fosters meaningful interaction, and within Shibuya, a chaotic arena for urban life without much structure, it is the perfect sanctuary for youth.
The concept of youth is difficult to define. Youth can be a measurement of time, physical wellbeing, a way of acting, an attitude or feeling, or a level of knowledge and experience. In many cases, “the whole concept of [youth] is patronizing or negative because it suggests that young people do not have value in their own right (i.e. in their own ‘being’), rather they are valued only to the extent to which they are in the process of ‘becoming’ an adult” (Skelton, 1998). It is because of this judgment of youth as lacking adulthood or being on the journey to adulthood that many public and privately owned public spaces like malls and parks may view youth as a threat. Malone sees “a mounting danger, as privatization of public space increases, that young people will be excluded from places the ‘public’ now inhabits. The perception of youth as a potential threat places them in an ambiguous zone in relation to space” (Malone, 162). However Miyashita is a privately owned public space where youth thrive. Whether or not Miyashita was designed specifically for youth, they have made it their own by using the built environment, space, and material goods to interact with others and express identity. Miyashita is a place of retreat or a backstage place “away from the adult gaze, where teenagers can pull back and withdraw from the adult world to be with their own peers… where young people are on display and out and about to see and to be seen by others” (Matthews, H., Taylor, M., Percy-Smith, B., & Limb, M., 285). We see this interpretation of public space as a place of retreat for youth sociality and expression of identity to others throughout Miyashita Park.
The current evolution of Miyashita Park is a youth specific space. More than any other park or space in Shibuya, Miyashita provides a sense of safety and diversity where youth can comfortably interact with others and experience urban life. Therefore, Miyashita Park as a unique space that fosters identity expression and maximizes sociality among youth was the standout topic of choice for this ethnography. For the purposes of this project, we define youth as anyone of high school or university age: about 15 to 24 years old. As a public open space, Miyashita is open to all age groups, however youth are by far the most prevalent. This ethnography reveals how Miyashita is a youth specific space where identity expression and sociality thrive through an analysis of the built environment, how youth consume material goods, how youth consume specific spaces, and how youth experience avoidance and stranger interaction.
Methodology
by Shion
From May 2023 to July 2023, we conducted both participant observation as well as interviews in Miyashita Park, mainly on the open roof section of the park. Every week, we each collected at least ten field research notes. The research team consisted of one graduate student and three undergraduate students. The team is listed in seniority then alphabetically by last name; Nagiko Shimooka (graduate student), Shion Conaway, Maya Sakuma, and Alexander Uchimura.
The guidelines of the field site visits included: visiting the fieldsite, conversing with youth, making observations, and taking field notes. More specifically, we looked at how youth interact with other youth, what activities/actions they do, how they express themselves, and aspects of identity like fashion, body language, and in-group out-group. Each field site visit was about two to three hours. We routinely visited the same areas of the park and looked for similar patterns of behavior among youth. This helped to familiarize ourselves with the social dynamics, patterns, and activities within those places. We looked for these specific aspects of how youth exist in MiyashitaPark to understand how youth maximize sociality and express identity as freely as possible. We succeeded in gaining enough data to draw conclusions and generalizations about youth in Miyashita to paint a successful ethnography
Discretion and privacy was a key element in gathering ethnographic data for this project. As we were taking many pictures of people and observing their behavior, it was important to be discrete in gathering information. This could usually be done by pretending to be a tourist who was taking pictures of Miyashita Park. Furthermore, we had many pictures of people, some of which showed people partaking in illegal activities such as underage drinking. Protecting the informant's privacy was important.
Miyashita Pages
