This talk examines the conceptualization of Japanese urban space at the crossroads of the 1960s World Design Conference, with trajectories leading to both metabolic mega-structures and the preservation of indigenous villages.

Ken Tadashi Oshima teaches in the areas of trans-national architectural history, theory, representation, and design. His publications include GLOBAL ENDS: towards the beginning (Toto, 2012), International Architecture in Interwar Japan: Constructing Kokusai Kenchiku (University of Washington Press, 2009) and Arata Isozaki (Phaidon, 2009). He curated "Tectonic Visions Between Land and Sea: Works of Kiyonori Kikutake" (Harvard GSD, 2012), "SANAA: Beyond Borders" (Henry Art Gallery 2007-8), and co-curator of "Crafting a Modern World: The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noémi Raymond" (University of Pennsylvania, UC Santa Barbara, Kamakura Museum of Modern Art, 2006-7).