What the images of Tokyo in lockdown tell us today Tokyo, Milan, London, New York: how the city of the future must change

It's heartbreaking to look today at the images shot in May of a completely deserted Tokyo. There's not only the awareness of everything that has happened from May to today, in Japan as in the rest of the world, but there's the observation of a city that appears as fragile as ever, unreal, even dystopian. The crossing of empty Shibuya, one of the most iconic spots of the city, is the most explanatory and precise representation of a city in lockdown, in some ways defeated, in others only crystallized. The large skyscrapers, the massive concrete buildings, the huge windows that reflect the landscape of the city, finding a unique architectural balance between past and future, remain suspended, as if frozen, awaiting the return to life. 

In Milan as in Tokyo, the creative people of the city play a fundamental role in the redesign of neighbourhoods that no longer fall into absolute categories such as 'centre' and 'suburbs', but which make every part of the city a self-sufficient and original microcosm, where the principle of compact living makes metropolis that for too long have overwhelmed their citizens on a human scale. Multifunctional districts, which can act as both financial and cultural centres, that can host both offices and theatres, hospitals, schools and museums, would represent the ideal blending between different sectors and industries that together contribute to making a city interesting, alive, a place where it is really worth living.