 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
"When I was chosen to chair the group of city councilors promoting the construction of line No. 13 (July 1997), it seemed that all of a sudden it was decided to build the section between Ikebukuro and Shibuya, something that until then had been no more than a pipe dream." From the Website of Hajime Yabe
This sudden decision to proceed with construction of the No. 13 subway line also came as a great surprise to the local councilors campaigning for the line, and the people of Shibuya. That plans to build the equally illusory MacArthur Road (Ring Road No. 2) were revised and construction begun at around the same time suggests a general mobilization of public works projects previously consigned to the back burner, to help shore up Japan's ailing post-bubble economy.
Ideas for developing the area around Shibuya Station originally started with the Shibuya Ward Land Use Plan(October 1990) for a double ring road and the creation of a traffic zone (eliminating through traffic to achieve a peaceful coexistence of pedestrians and cars inside the zone) inside these rings. Based on this was a development concept for the station titled An Approach to Developing Shibuya Station and its Environs (January 1991), with the Shibuya Station Environs Local Redevelopment Plan Survey conducted in February 1994 following subsequent changes in circumstances. Once the start of work on subway line No. 13 and its direct interconnectivity with the Tokyu Toyoko Line appeared on the agenda for real, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government formed a new committee to study the transport infrastructure of Shibuya Station and its surroundings. The committee came up with a concept for developing Shibuya Station and its environs that included making part of Meiji Dori (a metropolitan road) into an underpass; while the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for its part started looking into the possibility of turning Route 246 into an overpass (bypass) as part of redevelopment work on the metropolitan expressways, via a committee set up to examine the use of road space in the Shibuya area. In light of how these big-picture plans were progressing, Shibuya Ward then formed the Shibuya Station Environs Development Guide Plan 21 committee in July 2001 to present development ideas from the viewpoint of ward residents.
The scope of the Guide Plan 21 committee's investigations was broad: encompassing an area of radius 500 - 900m around Shibuya Station coinciding with that of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's the Subcenters Development Plan. The committee's main concern however appears to have been to present a concept for development of the station, its precincts and a small adjacent core area. A perusal of the interim Guide Plan 21 report prepared by Shibuya Ward in March 2002 summarizing progress in 2001 reveals that Shibuya Station and its precincts, which for some reason many of us always imagined to have a special status, had been swept up in the contemporary Japanese station redevelopment trend for high-rise station buildings and huge pedestrian decks. So in September 2002, here at Shibuya Common we set forth our own proposals for the development of Shibuya Station and the surrounding area.
The final report released by Shibuya Ward the following year, the Shibuya Station Environs Development Guide Plan 21 (March 2003) was notable for the inclusion of detailed drawings of pedestrian decks, while the total floor area envisaged for the space above Shibuya Station and staircase building program suggested two high-rise station buildings (see reference material). We therefore came up with the following vision for the future of Shibuya Station and its precincts. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
However in actual fact, a close read of the Ward's final Guide Plan 21 report of March 2003 shows a slight retreat from the intention to paint high-rise buildings and large pedestrian decks into the Shibuya landscape so obvious in the interim report. Instead there seems to be greater interest in exploring less ambitious, more down-to-earth options for transport infrastructure to enhance the convenience of the station: in other words a broadening of the transport options including making the Yamanote Line platforms into an island, raising the Saikyo Line and extending the platforms northward, a sky walk on the fourth level, moving the bus stops outside the West Exit underground, and setting up indoor bus stops on the assumption that the Shibuya section of Route 246 would become a bypass.
These options continued to be studied by the railway companies even after disbanding of the committee in March 2003, a number of new ideas for developing the transport infrastructure emerging and being reported in the press (July 21 2004, Nikkei Shimbun). These include altering the Ginza subway line platforms to create an island format and moving them east of their present location to above Meiji Dori between Shibuya Station and the site of the old Tokyu Bunka Kaikan, and positioning the JR Saikyo Line platforms parallel to the Yamanote Line platforms.
Meanwhile, since proposing a number of concepts for developing the area around Shibuya Station, following extensive dialogue with people in the area, and as we all came to revise our understanding of the issues and form a common view, we sensed the need to offer an alternative vision for the future of Shibuya Station and its precincts, based on the concepts we had suggested. So as an extension to the work done by the Guide Plan 21 committee and then via coordination among the rail companies on more down-to-earth changes to the station's transport infrastructure to make it more convenient, we came up with "Future B" for Shibuya.
|
|
|
|
The following provides a detailed explanation via a roof plan, plans from basement floor to third floor, and CG perspectives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
