Knowledge economy challenges for post-developmental state: Tsukuba Science City as in-between place

Miao, T. (2018) Knowledge economy challenges for post-developmental state: Tsukuba Science City as in-between place. Town Planning Review, 89(1), pp. 61-84. (doi: 10.3828/tpr.2018.4)

Abstract

This paper examines the planning) history and current planning challenges facing Tsukuba Science City. Drawing on original empirical material, it suggests that Tsukuba can be seen as an in-between place in three respects. Tsukuba began life as an instance of the international garden-campus-suburb orthodoxy surrounding science spaces, and now falls somewhere in between an independent city and a suburb of greater Tokyo. Tsukuba’s predicament in this regard is intimately related to the broader policy challenges facing Japan as it transitions from a developmental to a post-developmental state. Chief among these challenges is effectively inserting a science city like Tsukuba into an increasingly globalised ‘New Argonaut’ market for skilled labour. I make use of Appadurai’s notion (1996) of ‘scapes’ to interpret Tsukuba as an in-between place but also to highlight the practical challenges of it securing a central position within the global science landscape of modernity.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Miao, Dr Tian
• Authors: Miao, T.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Town Planning Review
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• ISSN: 0041-0020
• ISSN (Online): 1478-341X