Socio-Spatial Structure Analysis of Tokyo Metropolitan Area: Based on "Social Atlas of Metropolitan Tokyo"

The purpose of this study is to describe the spatial formation processes of Greater Tokyo since 1960’s, with a special focus on leading industries and residential area. In the processes of industrialization, the 23 Wards of Tokyo were divided into two parts, the eastern part, which was the blue-collar residential area, and the western part, which was the white-collar area. According to the industrial transformation from the manufacturing stage to the finance and information stage, many factories have moved to the peripheral part of Greater Tokyo. Because the sites of moved factories were sold as residential area, some white-collar residential areas have begun to appear in the eastern part of the 23 Wards of Tokyo. As a result of the post-industrialization, the Greater Tokyo now consists of the central area at which the tertiary industry is prospering and of the peripheral area at which the secondary industry remains.