tokyo

In my early twenties, I lived in Chofu, a city of over 240,000 people on the west side of Tokyo Metropolis. My apartment building was less than a 10-minute walk from Chofu Station, which is at the center of a bustling, fully “amenitized” mini-city, with easy pedestrian access to an urban-scale grocery store, ever-busy retail shops and restaurants, multiple schools, and small-but-mighty parks. Walking and taking transit every day was easy, and without question, my mode of choice. That was more than 20 years ago, but the memories of Tokyo’s transit system and the feelings I had experiencing it stayed with me. And they’ve informed my efforts to build vibrant, livable communities around — and integrated with — public transit stations in Vancouver, Toronto and Mexico.