ancient cities

dis-enabled, by a lack of certainty that toilet provision
will be available in city centers, local centers,
or the transportation network. People’s freedom to
travel, shop, and work is constrained by the bladder’s
leash. Those affected include the registered
disabled as well as many women, elderly people,
and people with children and babies; in fact, everyone
still needs public toilets. An urban spatial
toilet strategy needs to be developed based on a
hierarchy of levels of provision. An urban spatial
toilet strategy needs to be developed based on a
hierarchy of levels of provision.
Where no public toilets exist, people cannot
necessarily use off-street toilets in cafés and bars as
was customary in continental Europe. Access may
be strictly controlled for customers’ use only and
unavailable after closing time. New toilet facilities
are usually minimal such as the much-feared
Automatic Public Toilet. While traditional toilets
are being closed in many cities, street urinals catering
solely to the nighttime needs of the young male
drinker are proliferating within the 24-hour city
and bar-based evening economy.
All this is a particularly Western problem. A
restroom revolution is under way in the Far East,
where public-toilet policy is recognized as an
important component of urban policy making.
City planning authorities are required to show the
location, distribution, and availability of public
toilets in all development plans and spatial policy
documents. Toilet ratios of 2:1 or even 3:1 femaleto-male
are to be found in China, South Korea,
and Japan.
Inadequate toilet provision militates against
achieving equality and diversity policy objectives.
Whereas women are the majority of public-toilet
users, men are the providers and designers of toilets,
manifesting little understanding of women’s
needs. The U.K. government, as a result of European
Union regulation, has recently introduced a demand
that local government incorporate gender considerations
into all aspects of spatial policy making,
resource allocation, and management objectives.
These measures need to be applied to toilet provision
as men have twice as many public toilet
facilities as women. Typically, even if there are
equal numbers of cubicles (stalls) for women and
men, men usually have extensive urinal provision,
too. In spite of years of feminism, the true position
of women may be measured by the length of the
Tokyo, Japan
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queue for the female toilets. In contrast, moves
towards “potty parity” in Western cities, such as
New York, must be treated with caution. The
standards generally relate to new-toilet construction
which is relatively rare, while closures continue.
While women are the majority of public toilet
users, men have been the designers and providers of
public facilities. It is important that urban planners,
with their concerns for social inclusion, sustainability,
and spatial policy, ensure the provision of toilets
for women and those with disabilities.
Further Readings
Clara Greed
Anthony, Kathryn. 2001. Designing for Diversity:
Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural
Profession. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Ashworth, William. 1968. The Genesis of Modern British
Town Planning. London: Routledge.
Gandy, Matthew. 2004. “Water, Modernity, and
Emancipatory Urbanism.” Pp. 178–91 in The
Emancipatory City: Paradoxes and Possibilities, edited
by Loretta Lees. London: Sage.
Greed, Clara. 2003. Inclusive Urban Design: Public
Toilets. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Hanson, Julienne, Jo-Anne Bichard, and Clara Greed.
2006. “The Challenge of Designing Accessible City
Centre Toilets.” Pp. 431–35 in Contemporary
Ergonomics, edited by Philip Bust. London: Taylor
and Francis.
Kira, Alexander. 1976. The Bathroom. New York:
Cornell University Press.
Kwon, Haegi. 2005. Public Toilets in New York City: A
Plan Flushed with Success? New York: Columbia
University, Faculty of Urban Planning.
Miyanishi, Yutaka. 1996. Comfortable Public Toilets:
Design and Maintenance Manual. Toyama, Japan:
City Planning Department.
To k y o, Ja p a n
This entry introduces Tokyo’s urban development
in the historical and institutional framework.
Tokyo has had a history of more than 400 years
as Japan’s capital, since the feudal Tokugawa
Shogunate government moved the capital from
Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo) in the early seventeenth