Episode 15 | Can cheers flow over the train depot?
Myoden district in Ichikawa City.
Here, there is a place that is essential to the city, yet almost never thought of as a 'destination.'
It is the 'train depot' for the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line.
Trains run accurately every day, supporting urban mobility.
However, no one ever visits this place itself.
Its existence might not even be known.
It is not a tourist spot, a commercial facility, or a destination for daily life.
Yet, it is an important place that reliably supports the city's functions.
What if there were a soccer stadium above it?
Let's imagine it.
A scene where a soccer stadium stands above the place where trains are usually quietly maintained.
On match day.
Cheers echo in that place, and people wearing colorful uniforms gather.
Below, trains continue to support the city, and above, people share their time.
Urban emotions overlap on top of urban functions.
It is not a single layer, but a city figure where two layers overlap.
People gather on top of infrastructure
A soccer stadium is a destination.
It is a place where people gather, share time, and share joy and frustration.
On the other hand, a train depot is infrastructure to support the city.
A place to send off, and a place to gather.
If those two were to overlap, the way we see the city might change a little.
It has already begun in the world
Actually, this idea is not pure fantasy.
In New York, USA, there is a massive redevelopment district called 'Hudson Yards'.
There, an artificial ground (deck) was built over an active rail yard, and high-rise offices, commercial facilities, art architecture, and parks were constructed on top of it.
Trains are still running underneath it today.
It is an example of 'layering new urban functions on top of infrastructure that supports the city.'
Also, in Tampere, Finland, there is a stadium built over railway lines.
Nokia Arena is a massive complex stadium built by spanning an artificial ground (deck) over active railway tracks.
A place where people gather and infrastructure that supports the city.
It is the idea of overlapping things that at first glance cannot coexist.
Of course, the scale and conditions are different.
However, when we look at the world, the challenge of 'turning the back side of the city into the front stage of the city' is by no means rare.
Thinking of the city as a three-dimensional object
We tend to think of the city in two dimensions.
Residential areas.
Commercial areas.
Parks.
Roads.
We perceive each as separate things.
However, the city might originally be a more three-dimensional existence.
People gather on top of infrastructure, and new value is born on top of that.
The idea of a soccer stadium above a train depot feels like it teaches us such a new way of looking at the city.
The back side of the city, which is usually invisible, connects with the city's pride and memories.
We realize that the city is not a simple plane, but is made up of layers.
The perspective of the 'back side of the city'
Most of the city is composed of destinations and transit points.
Stations and commercial facilities are destinations.
Roads and tracks are transit points.
However, a train depot belongs to neither.
Passengers do not come, only trains gather, are maintained, and are sent off again.
It is neither in the middle of the flow of people, nor a destination that someone visits.
It is a place like the 'back side of the city.'
However, although it does not appear on the surface, it is an important existence that supports the rhythm of the city itself.
Walls standing in the way of reality
Of course, thinking realistically, there are many challenges.
・Can a large-scale structure be built over a rail yard?
・Can railway operations be maintained during the construction period?
・Safety and costs,
・How can harmony with the surrounding environment be achieved?
None of these are questions with easy answers.
There will likely be high hurdles to realization.
The meaning of imagining it anyway
"That's impossible."
It is easy to say that.
Certainly, realization is not easy.
However,
looking at the city scenery we take for granted
from a slightly different angle definitely has meaning.
Within the city,
there are places that have not yet become destinations.
There are places whose value has not yet been discussed.
Re-examining such places
leads to increasing the options for the city's future.
Places we thought we took for granted
can sometimes begin to take on a different meaning.
Next Episode Preview | Can a stadium stand on the riverbank outskirts?
And in Ichikawa,
there is another "ambiguous place."
A place that is Ichikawa City,
but also not Ichikawa City.
A place that is Chiba Prefecture,
but also Tokyo.
Existing along the administrative boundary,
it is a special blank space called the "riverbank outskirts."
Next time,
with the theme of "Can a stadium stand on the riverbank outskirts?"
I would like to think about the blank space that spreads between cities.
■ NPO Ichikawa City J.League Club Creation Association
We are,
・Revitalization of local communities
・Promotion of the local economy
・Improvement of the local brand
with the goal of,
combining sports, transportation, local exchange, etc.,
"creating the future of the region"
carrying out activities.
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Past notes
"Ichikawa/Matsudo Wide-Area Stadium Concept" Series
Episode 0 | It's not just about wanting to build a stadium (10 episodes total)
"Football Tourism Edition"
Episode 11 | Football tourism, the magic that enriches a city (2 episodes total)