06/2022
Eight views of Ōsaka
What can the history of an urban landscape tell us about its future? How can coastal cities adapt to sea level rise? What elements – “building blocks” – define a city at a specific point in time and how can they change? How can the idea of a biodiverse post-Anthropocene merge with a productive consumption of landscape?
Marie-Therese Krejcik
Diploma in Architecture
E253-2 – Wohnbau und Entwerfen
Supervisor: Michael Obrist
City of Water
Coastal zones that have been shaped and changed continuously by human interactions with their ecosystems are known as satoumi (里海) in Japan. While anthropogenic climate change is a unique threat to their survival, they are an important resource in the fight against it. One such satoumi, Ōsaka Bay, underwent a radical, human-led transformation within the last 400 years. Owing to Ōsaka’s topographic constraints and historical importance as a major trading hub, the constantly rising demand for new land was satisfied through land reclamation. Whether it was rice fields reclaimed from wetlands in the 17th and 18th century, the construction of factories and the port, or waste management sites, container terminals and large-scale urban development projects of the 20th and 21st century, Ōsaka (like its neighbours Kobe and Ōsaka Prefecture) grew into the bay. An area of approximately 160 km² was reclaimed from the sea. Today around 8% of that area is unused (1). This thesis researches the topics of consumption of landscape in a post-industrial, shrinking society, biodiversity and urban climatic diversity, land reclamation and habitat restoration, as well as the role of nature and public space in contemporary Japanese society (with a focus on accessibility of urban waterfronts). Non-human actors and metabolic cycles as well as decay and mutation are part of the design process. Vignettes show Osaka’s transformation from the Yayoi period to the present and, finally, a possible scenario of the future.
Coastal zones that have been shaped and changed continuously by human interactions with their ecosystems are known as satoumi (里海) in Japan. While anthropogenic climate change is a unique threat to their survival, they are an important resource in the fight against it. One such satoumi, Ōsaka Bay, underwent a radical, human-led transformation within the last 400 years. Owing to Ōsaka’s topographic constraints and historical importance as a major trading hub, the constantly rising demand for new land was satisfied through land reclamation. Whether it was rice fields reclaimed from wetlands in the 17th and 18th century, the construction of factories and the port, or waste management sites, container terminals and large-scale urban development projects of the 20th and 21st century, Ōsaka (like its neighbours Kobe and Ōsaka Prefecture) grew into the bay. An area of approximately 160 km² was reclaimed from the sea. Today around 8% of that area is unused (1). This thesis researches the topics of consumption of landscape in a post-industrial, shrinking society, biodiversity and urban climatic diversity, land reclamation and habitat restoration, as well as the role of nature and public space in contemporary Japanese society (with a focus on accessibility of urban waterfronts). Non-human actors and metabolic cycles as well as decay and mutation are part of the design process. Vignettes show Osaka’s transformation from the Yayoi period to the present and, finally, a possible scenario of the future.
Diploma in Architecture
E253-2 – Wohnbau und Entwerfen
Supervisor: Michael Obrist
