Heide Imai

PhD, Professor (Associate)

Introduction

Dr. Heide Imai is Architect, Author and tenured Associate Professor at the Faculty of Intercultural Communication, Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Imai has taught undergraduate and postgraduate at different universities in Japan (Hosei, Keio and Kyoto University), the UK and Germany. She has researched widely about vernacular landscapes, cultural identities and urban/rural practices focussing on modern Asia, making her a prominent voice in discussions on sustainable development and community resilience. 

今井ハイデ博士は、建築家、作家であり、専修大学異文化コミュニケーション学部の終身准教授です。 今井博士は、日本のさまざまな大学（法政大学、慶応義塾大学、京都大学）、イギリス、ドイツの大学で学部と大学院を教えてきました。 彼女は現代アジアに焦点を当てて、その土地の風景、文化的アイデンティティ、都市/農村の実践について幅広く研究しており、持続可能な開発とコミュニティの回復力に関する議論で著名な発言者となっています。

Discipline 学問の分野

Urban Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Urban/Rural Sociology

都市研究、文化人類学、都市/農村社会学

Research Focus 研究の焦点

Urban and rural studies, cultural and creative industries, global/vernacular landscapes in Asia, Japan, creative placemaking, social networks, places in times of crisis

都市・農村研究、文化・クリエイティブ産業、アジアのグローバル／ヴァナキュラー景観、日本、クリエイティブ・プレイスメイキング、ソーシャル・ネットワーク、危機の時代の場所

Book Publications 本の出版物

Tokyo Roji – The Diversity and Versatility of Alleys in a City in
Transition (2017, Routledge),

Creativity in Tokyo – Revitalizing a Matured City (2020, Palgrave,
with Matjaz Ursic, Book Award 2021 Slovene Sociological Asosciation)

Asian Alleyways – An Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization
(2020, Amsterdam University Press, with Marie Gibert-Flutre)

News

OGU
Fieldwork
Posted on

Walking Through Tokyo: Exploring Urban Narratives and Urban Heritage of the City

There was something profoundly special about walking through Tokyo’s streets—an unspoken dialogue between the past and the present, the traditional and the contemporary. Every corner, from the vibrant alleys of Jimbocho to the quiet resilience of small urban craftsman shops, held stories waiting to be unraveled. This year, as seminar students delved into their research, …

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Fieldwork Report: Insights from Sydney’s Alleyway Revitalization

During a recent fieldwork trip to Sydney, funded by Senshu University, we examined the revitalization of urban alleyways in Darlinghurst’s Crown Lane, Surrey Hills, and McElhone Place. These neighborhoods showcase how alleyways have been transformed into vibrant social, cultural, and economic hubs. Crown Lane (Darlinghurst)Originally serving as a functional route for industrial and commercial activities, …

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Research in and Outside the Classroom: Understanding How a Neighborhood is Made

When we think of the dynamic development of urban areas, the neighborhood of Jimbocho in Tokyo offers an excellent case study. Known for its unique mix of bookstores, publishing houses, and cozy cafes, Jimbocho showcases the intersection of cultural preservation and modern development. Understanding how a neighborhood like Jimbocho is shaped requires both academic research …

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Publications

Authored and Edited Books

  • Imai, H. (forthcoming)  Everyday Yokohama  – Neighbourhood between Decay and Renewal (PALGRAVE)
  • Imai, H. and M. Ursic (2020)  Creativity in Tokyo  – Revitalizing a Matured City  (Palgrave Macmillan)
  • Imai, H. and M. Gibert-Flutre (Eds.) (2020) Asian Alleyways: an Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization (Amsterdam University Press)
  • Imai, H. (2017) Tokyo Roji – The Diversity and Versatility of Alleys in a City in Transition, Routledge,
  • Jaeger, H. (2006) Roji Research – Diversity of Alleyways in Kyoto (Kyoto University)
  • Peer-reviewed Papers and Book Chapters
  • Imai, H. and Yao Ji (2022) Creative Revitalization and COVID-19: Lessons from Ishinomaki, Japan, Asian Studies, pp.  
  • Imai, H. and Yao Ji (2021) Social Capital, Innovation, and Local Resilience: Tokyo Neighbourhood in Times of Crisis, Asian Studies, pp. 283-313. 
  • Imai, H. (2020) Poverty in a wealthy Megacity: Stories from Tokyo’s Alleys after the Bubble Burst, in International Handbook on Megacities and Megacity-regions, edited by Labbe, D. and A. Sorensen, Routledge.
  • Imai, H. (2017) Back to the City – Sustainability and Creativity as a new Approach to revive the City from Inside, in Bremm, D. and L. Curtright (Eds) Sustainability and the City: Urban Poetics and Politics,pp.113-142.
  • Imai, H. (2013) The Liminal Nature of Alleyways: Understanding the Alleyway Roji as a ‘Boundary’ between Past and Present, Journal Cities (h-index 62), Special Issue on Urban Borderlands, October 2013, pp.58–66.
  • Imai, H. (2012) Balancing Urban Revitalization, Tourism and Development Issues in times of Crisis -Kawagoe’s historical district as self-sustaining and resilient community, Journal Contemporary Japan (h-index 12), 24, 2, pp. 149-178.
  • Imai, H. (2010) Sensing Tokyo’s Alleyways: everyday life and sensory encounters in the alleyways of a City in Transition, in Devorah Kalekin-Fishman and Kelvin E. Y. Low (Eds.) Everyday Life in Asia: Social Perspectives on the Senses Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, pp. 64-84
  • Imai, H. (2008) Senses on the move: multi-sensory encounters with street vendors in the Japanese urban alleyway roji, Journal Senses and the Society (h-index 10), Volume 3, 3, 329-339. Available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/174589308X331350

Non-refereed Papers and Book Chapters

  • Imai, H. (2021) Tokyo Above and Below – The Neglected and Poor of the City, in Radovic, D. Tokyo Diversities, A+U, Architecture and Urbanism Magazine, Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-Sha Co.
  • Imai, H. (2020) Alleyways between Urban Renewal, Cultural Innovation and Social Integration? The Case of Tokyo and Seoul, in Asian Alleyways: an Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization, edited by Imai, H. and M. Gibert-Flutre, Amsterdam University Press.
  • Imai, H. (2020) Introduction, in Asian Alleyways: an Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization, edited by Imai, H. and M. Gibert-Flutre, Amsterdam University Press.
  • Imai, H. (2020) The Future of Asian Alleyways: Towards Integrated and Diverse Alleyways, in Asian Alleyways: an Urban Vernacular in Times of Globalization, edited by Imai, H. and M. Gibert-Flutre, Amsterdam University Press.
  • Imai, H. (2019) Yokohama – Homeless, Artists and the New Urban, GIS Journal, Volume 1, pp. 69-74.
  • Imai, H. (2018) Urban Ordinaries – Vernacular Landscapes as Places of Diversity, Difference and Displacement, IPHS Conference, Yokohama,  Proceedings of the 18th International Planning History Society Conference, Volume 18 No 1 (2018), p. 134 , https://doi.org/10.7480/iphs.2018.1
  • Imai, H. (2018) Marginalized, Rediscovered and Commodified – The Perception of Alleyways in Contemporary Tokyo, GIS Journal, Volume 1, pp.63-72.
  • Imai, H. (2017) Between Urban Poetics, Politics and Creativity – Urban Commons and Ordinary Places, GIS Journal, Volume 1, pp.117-124.
  • Imai, H. (2016) Situated Urban Rituals – Rethinking the meaning and practice of micro culture in cities in East Asia and Japan, GIS Journal, forthcoming, Volume 1, pp.41-86.
  • Imai, H. (2015) Preserving Tokyo’s Alleyways: from marginal to neighbourhood place?, GIS Journal, forthcoming, Volume 1, pp.1-18.
  • Imai, H. (2014), Kidscape Jiyugaoka, in Radovic, Darko (Eds) Jiyugaoka, Tokyo: ichii shobou, pp.40.
  • Imai, H. (2013), Dérive of Senses, MnM Workbook 2, Tokyo Dérive – In search of Urban Intensities,  Radovic, Darko (Eds.) Tokyo: ichii shobou, pp.34-39.
  • Imai, H. (2012), Small Urban Niches Rediscovered: Defining Tokyo’s cultural and alternative landscape, in Small Tokyo,  Radovic, Darko and Davisi Boontharm (Eds.) Tokyo: ichii shobou, pp.88-95.
  • Jaeger, H. (2008) Resonances of the roji: Shifting Public Space and Urban Life in between Low and High-rise, In Another Tokyo – Places and Practices of Urban Resistance, edited by Darko Radovic, Tokyo: ichii shobou, 2008, pp. 27-28.

Reviews

  • Imai, H. (2020) Between Macro and Micro: Historical Perspective on the Urban in Japan, Journal of Urban History (January 2020, 1-5), https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144219899385. (h-index 23)
  • Imai, H. (2019), Nikro, Norman Saadi & Sonja Hegasy, The Social Live of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco (Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict), International Sociology Review (ISR) (h-index 17) March 2019 8: 3-6, DOI: 10.1177/0268580919830920
  • Imai, H. (2016) Abdoumaliq Simone, Jakarta -Drawing the City Near,  International Sociology Review (ISR), (h-index 17) March 2016 31: 235-237 http://iss.sagepub.com/content/31/2/235?etoc

Editorial

  • Imai, H. (forthcoming)Navigating and Understanding Vernacular Landscapes in Global Cities: Everyday Practices, Commodification and Contestation, Regional and Urban Development, RC21, XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology, Special Issue (forthcoming)
  • Jaeger, H. (2008) Workshop YaNeSen – a Selection of Essays (Eds),  In Another Tokyo – Places and Practices of Urban Resistance, Darko Radovic, Tokyo: ichii shobou, 2008, pp.17-27.

Upcoming

  • Imai, H. and F. Purkarthofer (forthcoming) Gentrification, Revitalization or what: Changing Scapes, Scales and Spaces in Japan. Journal Cities.
  • Imai, H. (forthcoming) The Transformation of Tokyo’s Fish Market’s Identity: Tokyo 2020, Toyosu and Tsukiji. Journal Urban Studies.
  • Imai, H. and Yao Ji (forthcoming) The Commercialization of Urban Creativity.forthcoming.

Testimonials

“By emphasizing on the importance of the sense of place and the ordinariness, this book takes the readers to the roji of contemporary Tokyo. Using multiple insightful urban narratives, Heide Imai skilfully unfolds the various facets of neighbourhoods of these hidden urban spaces.”

Davisi Boontharm, International Program of Architecture and Urban Design, Meiji University, Japan

“東京の小道 今井ハイデが読者を存続が危ぶまれる街の散歩へ誘う 控えめな街.”

Regis Arnaud, CCIFJ Tokyo

“Heide Imai evokes the subtle complexity of Tokyo’s traditional back streets in a way that resonates with all cities struggling to be simultaneously local, global, and modern. This book is tremendously useful for shaping a deeper understanding of, and better tools for, historic preservation and community planning in Asia and throughout the world.”

Sharon Zukin, author, Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places

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