Build up, not out. Tokyo’s new housing has come in the form of buildings more than three stories high to avoid urban sprawl. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
Build up, not out. Tokyo’s new housing has come in the form of buildings more than three stories high to avoid urban sprawl. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Want affordable housing? Then take inspiration from Tokyo and build more of it



After years of dithering and hoping the problem would go away, California is finally taking steps to address its housing crisis. In 2017 the state passed a series of bills designed to encourage the construction of new affordable housing - streamlining the regulatory approval process, providing more state funding and cracking down on local governments that fall short of their housing goals. Now, state senator Scott Wiener is pushing a new more aggressive package of legislation.

The most dramatic change Mr Weiner would make, which is similar to a parallel effort in the state assembly, would be to force cities to allow dense housing development near public transit. This is a great idea to help poor Californians, since lower-income people are more likely to use transit, and are the ones suffering the most from the housing shortage. Sadly, the bill is already encountering opposition from homeowners’ groups, which are no doubt eager to push up their property values. It is also receiving pushback from the Sierra Club, which offered the tortured rationale that allowing dense housing near public transit would cause political support for transit to drop. Other opponents claim that allowing new development would raise rents - a dubious assertion that is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely.

This opposition shows what an uphill battle it will be to get dense housing in California. That’s a shame, because density, combined with efficient public transit, is a great way to make a city affordable. For proof, Californians have only to gaze across the Pacific, to the city of Tokyo.

Three decades ago, at the height of Japan’s land price bubble, “affordable housing” would not have been words commonly associated with the country’s capital city. But 30 years can make quite a difference. As of 2015, the average residential rent in Tokyo was about $2.53 a square foot at current exchange rates. That’s about half the level for San Francisco. And Tokyo’s rents have held roughly constant for two decades.

Why is Tokyo housing so affordable? It’s not because Japan’s population is shrinking. More people crowd into the capital city every year.

News outlets are catching on to the real explanation: Tokyo rent is cheaper because it builds lots of housing. Blogger James Gleeson has an excellent post detailing the city’s heroic efforts to supply shelter to the people who move there. Every year, the city adds about 100,000 new homes: this increase has more than kept up with the increase in population, leading to a housing surplus.

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As Mr Gleeson shows, this rate of construction far outstrips Tokyo’s global rivals like London and New York. And it hasn’t required sprawl - all of Tokyo’s net new housing has come in the form of buildings more than three stories high. Nor has it required Tokyo’s denizens to live in smaller houses - average floor space per person in the city increased by about 28 per cent from 1988 to 2013.

In other words, Tokyo prevented a housing shortage by building more and building up. Interestingly, it appears that this change was instigated by Japan’s national government, which since the 1980s has assumed more authority over development rules. The national government revised regulations to allow more density. Combined with Japan’s famously simple zoning regulations, this resulted in a nation full of dense yet pleasant cities that offer decent, affordable living space. A key part of the equation, of course, is Japan’s efficient, convenient networks of public transportation.

One other reason that density might have been more politically acceptable in Japan is that houses are not used as a vehicle for middle-class wealth accumulation. Traditionally, Japanese homes were demolished and rebuilt every 20 to 30 years, to implement improved earthquake-safety technology, to provide jobs for government-favoured construction companies or simply because Japanese people demanded nice new houses. As a result, there are relatively few Japanese homeowners trying to prop up the value of their houses by lobbying the government to restrict supply. The opposite is the case in the US, where NIMBYs (not in my back yard) aggressively beat back any effort they think will limit rising housing prices, including new construction.

Further complicating matters in the US, there’s little chance that the federal government will intervene to override the objection of local NIMBYs and force cities to allow more housing. Instead, the task must fall to state governments. California, with its new determination to both force and encourage city governments to build more, is on the right track. The idea of building dense housing around transit hubs - a very Japan-like development pattern - is an especially good one. Simplified zoning codes, curbs on repeated administrative challenges to housing projects and less severe height restrictions would also be great ideas. Government-subsidised housing - which Japan also provides for its low-income citizens - is an important part of the mix.

In the cartoon movie Big Hero 6, Disney envisioned a fantasy city called San Fransokyo, that combined San Francisco's beautiful vistas, lush greenery and sweeping architecture with Tokyo's density and first-rate transit. California's state government - and other US state governments - should take this as inspiration, and think harder about how to apply Tokyo's successful development strategy to their own increasingly unaffordable cities.

Noah Smith is a Bloomberg View columnist

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Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

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Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Manchester City 2
Aguero (20')
Rodri (30')

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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.

The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?

My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.

The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.

So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.

 

 

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Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

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