Still-City Crisis: Fujisawa Eco-city, Energy, and the Urban Architecture of Crisis

For some time now, Japan has been teetering on the point of fundamental, historical transformation. Neoliberalist contractions, natural catastrophes, and the nuclear disaster have contributed to an era of crisis that is local to Japan, while they are also an ongoing bellwether of global forces. As is happening elsewhere, Japan's construction of a new type of eco-city is being posed as a mediation of these varied conditions and forces; as a solution of sorts, it also promises to reorganize everyday life. Drawing on plans for the eco-city, this essay addresses the conditions of crisis and the implications for a restructuring of life now playing out in Japan. The focus is especially on a quality not always associated with globalization: stillness, both as an element of contemporary crisis, and of the possible life to come.