I had the good fortune to visit Tokyo, Japan in early August. I couldn’t help but compare and contrast that city to the cities and towns back in the United States. There are four elements of Tokyo I want to highlight in particular: its urban biodiversity, how they control the speed of cars, their approach to off-street parking, and the way they utilize every available last bit of land.

Urban Biodiversity

Cities are living organisms, not machines, and just as we are drawn to biodiversity in natural settings, we are similarly drawn to urban biodiversity. I loved the urban biodiversity of Tokyo’s different neighborhoods and streets: