The Intervention.
As we study diagrams to gain a better understanding of life in Kabukicho, one diagram in particular that seemed interesting to us was the layout of their buildings. Most of the buildings in Kabukicho follow this layout. Adult entertainment is commonly the most accessible, usually being on the first floor of the buildings while restaurants are above or below it.
Please join us as we walk the streets of Kabukicho, Japan.
To gain a better understanding of Kabukicho, one must walk the streets to see it come alive. Considering we are under quarantine and are unable to fly to see this unique city first hand, watching a video through the perspective of someone else's eyes is the next best thing. What a world we live in - the convenience of technology allows us to do this.
Can life in the red-light district be safe?
“Designers are always understood as solving problems...why not design as a way of asking questions? Why not design that produces thought-provoking hesitations in the routines of everyday life rather than simply servicing those routines? Why not design that encourages us to think? Design as an urgent call to reflect on what we and our companion species have become?” - Are We Human? by Beatriz Colomina & Mark Wigley
The current status of the world under a pandemic has changed the way we see design. How does one make a red-light district safe? Or is this even possible? This is the lens we will look through as we proceed through our research.
Mission Plan
Our research will be focused on the demographics of the area and finding out how this area became so popular. We will also find ways to highlight the bad neighborhoods and districts to show connections to their access points, maybe creating a better layout of the city that allows for positive changes to these current conditions.
We are studying the safety of the red light district. To do that, we will study the surrounding urban fabric, the programmatic relationships on the interior of the buildings, as well as the people themselves. To do this, we will collect diagrams on demographics, crime rates, population density at different scales, along annual cultural events (and other things that bring people to the area). Furthermore, we will study local transportation and circulation, in addition to urban infrastructure and cultural economics.
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