The Metabolist imagination: visions of the city in postwar Japanese architecture and science fiction

Abstract

"This manuscript examines the relationship between architecture, urban design, and science fiction in postwar Japan, focusing on Metabolism, an avant-garde architectural movement formed in 1960 and influenced by the science fiction of Komatsu Sakyô, who collaborated with Metabolist architects during the 1970 World Expo in Osaka. By envisioning both utopian and apocalyptic (sci-fi) futures, Metabolist architects imagined large-scale megastructures based on biological concepts"-- City visions : metabolism and science viction -- Ruined cities : Isozaki Arata and Komatsu Sakyō -- Planetary cities : Komatsu Sakyō's disaster fiction -- Future city : the 1970 Osaka Expo -- Liquid cities : the technopolis from Expo to cyberpunk -- Metabolist echoes : Akira, Patlabor, and Yanobe Kenji.