I was recently asked about urban permaculture.....again. So, in addition to my permaculture in Japan resource, I decided to start an urban permaculture resource list. This is a start, but slowly I'll get around to organizing it more. An important note is that these resources below are what I would loosely tag as urban permaculture or urban sustainability.
If you walk around in residential neighborhoods away from the station, you'll see some creative gardens and a variety of other sustainability inspired installations. Outside of the heart of Tokyo, there are still urban veggie farms and rice paddies. Especially in the North-West of Tokyo. In fact, the West side of Tokyo is forest and little know fact, there is one official "village" in Tokyo called Hinohara mura. This is all to say that Tokyo is super diverse.
If you walk around in residential neighborhoods away from the station, you'll see some creative gardens and a variety of other sustainability inspired installations. Outside of the heart of Tokyo, there are still urban veggie farms and rice paddies. Especially in the North-West of Tokyo. In fact, the West side of Tokyo is forest and little know fact, there is one official "village" in Tokyo called Hinohara mura. This is all to say that Tokyo is super diverse.
Tokyo DIY garden has some cool pix to start you off.
HARAJUKU
A shop called Kagure in Harajuku has a nice mini food forest (mulberry, loquat, berries, etc) and a worm bin. Another place Ikiba has some cool installations (mobile tea house and plants). I'm planning to do an installation at Commune 246 early 2015.
SHITAMACHI AREA
Shitamachi, especially the area North of Skyptree has some old school urban gardens and water tanks.
Shitamachi Museum is a great place to learn about old-school urban permaculture design.
TOKYO
Pasona super high-tech urban garden. Not my style but lots of people seem to be curious about it.
http://tokyogreenspace.com/2010/05/07/pasonas-new-farm-and-landscaped-building/
TOKYO
Pasona super high-tech urban garden. Not my style but lots of people seem to be curious about it.
http://tokyogreenspace.com/2010/05/07/pasonas-new-farm-and-landscaped-building/
Koishigawa Kourakuen is a very urban Japanese Garden with rice paddies. Its not a production site but a really interesting feature.
Ginza Bee Project is interesting too.
Some articles of interest
Green Tokyo: 5 cool examples of urban agriculture
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/09/01/green-tokyo-5-cool-examples-of-urban-agriculture/
Seeing Green: Environmental Urban Living in Tokyo
http://style.time.com/2012/12/06/seeing-green-environmental-urban-living-in-tokyo/
http://style.time.com/2012/12/06/seeing-green-environmental-urban-living-in-tokyo/
Allotment Gardens Sprout One after Another as Interest Grows in Urban Agriculture
http://www.japanfs.org/en/
Japan’s Urban Agriculture: Cultivating Sustainability and Well-being
http://unu.edu/publications/articles/japan-s-urban-agriculture-what-does-the-future-hold.html
Permaculture in Japan resource list on Living Permaculture
http://livingpermaculture.blogspot.jp/2013/09/permaculture-in-japan-sites-to-see.html
＊if there is anything you want to add or comment about, please leave a note!
Also, my urban permaculture book (in Japanese) is coming out in January 2015, so I think things will get more interesting. There is a apartment complex we are planning to transform into an urban permaculture experiment, and a few other smaller experiments around Tokyo that I was asked to do.