Japanese cities in Chinese perspective: towards a contextual, regional approach to comparative urbanism

The paper uses an introduction to the comparative study of Japanese and Chinese cities to make a case for a regional approach to thinking about cities in East Asia. In so doing it argues for contextually sensitive comparative urbanism as a platform for a broader understanding of trends towards global convergence. It outlines three different types of comparative urbanism and sets out a basic framework for the study of urban change in the larger cities of China and Japan. Its central argument is that the close relationship between the state and capital in the two countries has conditioned the rapid and dynamic nature of urban change.