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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

More information (in Japanese) about the city walkable plan and this project here:
note.com/infra_junrei...
#Himeji #Japan

インフラ巡礼 in 姫路市　ウォーカブルなまちの実現に向けて現場で働く人にインタビュー！＜大手前通り再整備事業編＞｜インフラ巡礼｜国土交通省総合政策局　　社会資本整備政策課・公共事業企画調整課

にこちゃんきらちゃん、姫路市って行ったことある？きらちゃんうん！行ったことあるよ！姫路市は兵庫県の都市で、県内では人口が神戸市に次いで２番目に多い都市なんだよね。げんきくんそうそう。特に姫路城は有名で、日本で初めて選ばれた世界遺産の一つなんだ！姫路城はＪＲ姫路駅北口から徒歩で行ける距離に立地しているよ！きらちゃんＪＲ姫路駅は駅前広場の再整備が進み、平成２７年に完成。今では大...

note.com

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

I managed to visit one of these renovation projects: an abandoned house that has been renovated into a lovely café (I will write about it in a future post!).

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

This improved connection with the shotengais and many surrounding narrow alleys is one of the project's strongest points. I managed to see some everyday urban scenes that I had overlooked in my previous trips.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

This project is part of the "Himeji Walkable Promotion Plan" adopted in March 2021. The plan integrates the renovation of Otomemae Street with the eastern and western shotengais (shopping streets), where it also performs some building-renovation initiatives.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

One of the project's main ideas is to showcase greenery and seasonal flowers that invite visitors to pause and draw their eyes downward from the castle to the street-level landscape. Most of these flower beds are maintained by local neighborhoods and nearby businesses.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

The government designed the sidewalks on Otomemae Street to be among Japan's first Hokomichi (pedestrian-friendly roads). It widened the sidewalks to 16.1 meters to accommodate wooden decks, flexible furniture, and food trucks for events, open-air cafés, and exhibitions.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

When I first visited the area before 2011, the area around the station had a lot of traffic jams. In 2015, the city reformed this area and prioritized foot traffic through ground-level and elevated walkways. This post is from my visit in 2024, after the redevelopment project:

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 1d

I will be sharing some photos of my last visit to Himeji City! These are of Otomemae Street, which connects the station plaza up to the castle. The city launched a streetscape project in 2020 following the grand reopening of both the castle's main keep and the station plaza.
#Placemaking

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 6d

Viewed together, all of these works serve as time capsules that reveal how people lived, moved, traded, and conceived of place during moments of radical transformation.

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 6d

Most maps produced between the late Edo and early Meiji periods focus on the modernization of specific cities such as Nagasaki (and the island of Dejima), Sakai, and especially Edo (now Tokyo). They chart the shift to a connected, industrializing nation street by street.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 6d

Later works during the Edo period integrated foreign cartographic ideas into Japanese traditions, such as woodblock print maps created by ukiyo-e artists and traditional-style drawings of the Japanese archipelago. Here are some examples.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 6d

Early maps often followed Buddhist cosmographies, such as the Bankoku sōzu, and later adopted of a Western styles of visualization. These are early representations of Japan, painted on a two-fold screen and the back of a metallic mirror.

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 6d

I discovered a gem while browsing through second-hand books! "日本の古地図, Old maps in Japan," is an influential compilation of Japanese maps from ancient times to the early Meiji period edited and translated in the late 1960s.
#weeklyreading #cartophile #Japan

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 9d

A model of Himeji Castle and a photo of the real one. Unlike other castles, Himeji Castle survived WWII intact, a rare example of original Japanese castle architecture. In 1993, UNESCO recognized it as one of Japan's first World Heritage sites. 🏯
#Placemaking #Himeji #Japan

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 9d

Una maqueta del Castillo de Himeji y una foto del castillo real. A diferencia de otros castillos, sobrevivió intacto a la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Uno de los primeros lugares de Japón reconocidos como Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO en 1993 🏯 #Heritage #Himeji #Japan

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · 9d

市内の駅で見かけた姫路城の模型と、実物の写真です。他の多くの日本の城と異なり、姫路城は第二次世界大戦を無傷で乗り切り、現存する日本の城郭建築の稀有な例となっています。1993年にはユネスコにより日本の初期の世界遺産の一つに登録されました。🏯
#Heritage #Himeji #Japan

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

掲載された地図は精緻かつ美麗で、実際に現地を訪れてさらに深く学びたいという思いを強く抱かせてくれます！
#Mapping

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

このたび、濱口祐介教授著『描かれた蝦夷地・北海道イメージの500年：地図で読む日本北辺史』を購入いたしました。
本書は、日本最北端地域への見方が時代とともにどのように変遷してきたのかを、地図を手がかりに紐解く非常に興味深い一冊です。
#Weeklyreading

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

掲載された地図は精緻かつ美麗で、実際に現地を訪れてさらに深く学びたいという思いを強く抱かせてくれます！

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

掲載された地図は精緻かつ美麗で、実際に現地を訪れてさらに深く学びたいという思いを強く抱かせてくれます！

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

The maps included are truly stunning: they make me want to visit and study the region more in-depth!
#Mapping

Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Sep 4

I recently purchased "500 Years of Images of Hokkaido and Ezo" by Professor Yusuke Hamaguchi.
It is a fascinating journey through Japan's northernmost region, exploring how perceptions of this area have changed over time.
#Weeklyreading #Hokkaido

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Aug 22

In "The Art of Architectural Grafting," Jeanne Gang proposes the concept of grafting to reconsider architectural and urban reuse. Through thoughtful texts and projects, the book reflects on reusing materials and structures to achieve meaningful regenerative adaptations
#Weeklyreading #Placemaking

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Aug 15

The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers, and the Future of Urban Life by Carlo Ratti and Matthew Claudel is a fantastic reflection of how Big Data and the Internet of Things can help us better understand urban dynamics and achieve new forms of critically engaged citizenship.
#WeeklyReading

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Alejandro Pineda @pinedaalejandro.bsky.social · Aug 8

It was a challenging yet precious journey. The number of people who made it possible is immense, but I tried to reflect some of them in the acknowledgments. Thank you so much!