The dynamics within urban infrastructure: Tokyo’s water supply from the 1870s to the present

Abstract

The dynamic between political regimes and infrastructure development remains central to debates, especially regarding the tension between modernization and tradition. Over the past century, Tokyo’s water supply has changed dramatically, transitioning from the feudal Tokugawa shogunate through constitutional monarchy and wartime militarism to post‐war democratization. This paper examines how regimes in each of these periods impact on Tokyo’s water supply system, and reveals the complex interplay between the political landscape, technological modernization, and water as material infrastructure. This paper argues that Tokyo’s water supply system evolves neither along a linear path of centralization nor decentralization but instead demonstrates dynamic politics across different periods. Tokyo’s water supply embodying multi-temporalities of the modern and traditional produces evolving hydrosocial territories. The findings challenge conventional narratives of a strong correlation between political regimes and the trajectory of urban infrastructure. By exploring the dynamics within Tokyo’s water supply system, this paper contributes to the growing literature on infrastructure as a site of political interactions and offers new insights into temporalities and territoriality along with urban infrastructure transition.