A CAPACITY APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN-DEVELOPMENT - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY

This paper examines the capacity of the inner city area of Tokyo based on the assumption that the citizens should lead comfortable lives making use of various urban facilities and services. The results of quantitative approaches show that the living and working population in Tokyo already exceeds the limit for comfort, especially in terms of the congestion of commuter trains and roads, the ability for waste disposal, the prevention of air pollution and the supply of affordable housing. Therefore, decentralization policies should be taken in order to reduce the demand for urban facilities and services. Other-wise, citizens' lives in Tokyo will never improve.