[JP] Urban Development Along Maglev Line: Tokyo University Professor Discusses Conditions
Posted: 25. Aug 2026, 16:05
[JP] Urban Development Along Maglev Line: Tokyo University Professor Discusses Conditions
Source: JB Press
Original title:
リニア沿線の未来は？ 東大・吉村有司特任准教授に聞く都市開発の条件
Interviewer: Masaaki Tsuzuki
Interviewee: Yuji Yoshimura (Special Associate Professor, University of Tokyo)
Date: August 25, 2026
Original language: Japanese
Web link: https://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/96489
Accessed: August 25, 2026
In an interview, University of Tokyo Special Associate Professor Yuji Yoshimura discussed urban development along the Chuo Shinkansen maglev line amid nationwide redevelopment cancellations like Nakano Sun Plaza and Meitetsu Nagoya Station.
Yoshimura identified rising costs as key: “[Translated quote] Various factors are complexly intertwined, but one is the recent surge in material prices and labor costs. Due to inflation, project costs far exceed initial estimates.” Meitetsu’s Nagoya Station redevelopment faces doubled construction costs and personnel shortages.
He argued deflation allowed “[Translated quote] makeshift progress” under the assumption an exit would appear, but COVID-19, inflation, and interest rate hikes ended this approach. Yoshimura stated: “[Translated quote] Rather than saying past redevelopment was wrong, we should use this as a good timing to review future methods constructively.”
Yoshimura traced Japan’s urban structure to railway companies like Seibu and Tokyu, which built cities around terminal stations—unlike Europe’s walled cities. Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Theory was quickly adopted, with railway companies developing along lines, leading to today’s station-centered urban structure.
The interview concluded with the question of whether urban development will progress along the maglev line once it opens.
Source: JB Press
Original title:
リニア沿線の未来は？ 東大・吉村有司特任准教授に聞く都市開発の条件
Interviewer: Masaaki Tsuzuki
Interviewee: Yuji Yoshimura (Special Associate Professor, University of Tokyo)
Date: August 25, 2026
Original language: Japanese
Web link: https://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/96489
Accessed: August 25, 2026
In an interview, University of Tokyo Special Associate Professor Yuji Yoshimura discussed urban development along the Chuo Shinkansen maglev line amid nationwide redevelopment cancellations like Nakano Sun Plaza and Meitetsu Nagoya Station.
Yoshimura identified rising costs as key: “[Translated quote] Various factors are complexly intertwined, but one is the recent surge in material prices and labor costs. Due to inflation, project costs far exceed initial estimates.” Meitetsu’s Nagoya Station redevelopment faces doubled construction costs and personnel shortages.
He argued deflation allowed “[Translated quote] makeshift progress” under the assumption an exit would appear, but COVID-19, inflation, and interest rate hikes ended this approach. Yoshimura stated: “[Translated quote] Rather than saying past redevelopment was wrong, we should use this as a good timing to review future methods constructively.”
Yoshimura traced Japan’s urban structure to railway companies like Seibu and Tokyu, which built cities around terminal stations—unlike Europe’s walled cities. Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Theory was quickly adopted, with railway companies developing along lines, leading to today’s station-centered urban structure.
The interview concluded with the question of whether urban development will progress along the maglev line once it opens.