Differential Inclusion and the Socio‐Ecological Superdiversification of Tokyo

Urban Planning, vol. 11

Abstract

While the Chicago School laid the groundwork for conceiving cities as ecological systems, contemporary socio‐ecological urban studies offer a more nuanced, sustainability‐oriented framework that incorporates critical perspectives on migration, inequality, and power. Within this expanded framework, the concept of superdiversity and its socio‐spatial articulation in terms of superdiversification is particularly useful for understanding Tokyo. Migrants are not incorporated into the city uniformly but through processes of differential inclusion that selectively enable or constrain access to housing, employment, and community infrastructures. While some migrants are valorized as contributors to Tokyo’s status as a global city, others remain structurally marginalized even as they sustain the everyday metabolism of compact, walkable neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative, actor‐based empirical research, the article shows how Tokyo’s socio‐ecology is shaped through uneven yet vital contributions of migrant groups across multiple scales. Migrants act as socio‐ecological stabilizers, spatial diversifiers, and cultural placemakers, but their recognition and long‐term integration remain conditioned by selective policy and market logics. By situating these dynamics within the framework of socio‐spatial superdiversification, the article demonstrates that sustainable regeneration must acknowledge the diverse contributions of all urban residents, especially those rendered invisible by policy discourses. In doing so, it argues for an inclusive approach to urban socio‐ecology that recognizes migrants as co‐producers of resilience and liveability in super‐aging Japanese cities.

Authors 1

1. Sakura Yamamura corresponding Aachen Department of Geography

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Germany