*This article is based on statistics and publicly available information as of January 2026.

1. Resisting Functionalism: Rediscovering Camilo Sitte and its Historical Context

Let's begin by turning back the clock to Vienna at the end of the 19th century. Why did Sitte feel such intense anger and a sense of crisis about the cutting-edge urban planning of the time? Understanding the background to this is key to understanding the problems of "uniform urban development" that we face today.

Rebellion against "ruler and compass" and the Ringstraße

In 1889, Europe was in the midst of the maturation of the Industrial Revolution, and large-scale urban redevelopment was being carried out across the country to accommodate the explosive growth in urban population. Symbolic of this was the Ringstrasse, a ring road constructed by demolishing Vienna's city walls.

The engineers and politicians of the time aimed for "sanitation," "ventilation," and "smooth traffic." They used rulers and compasses on giant drawing boards to draw geometrically perfect, symmetrical squares and endless, straight boulevards. While there was an overwhelming sense of "order" and "authority," there was no consideration for human physical sensations or psychological comfort.

Gitte was sharp in his criticism of the situation.

"Modern plazas are not salons where residents can gather, but merely empty spaces with no buildings on them. We have succeeded in drawing lines with a ruler, but we have forgotten how to create comfortable spaces. People feel uneasy about spaces that are too large."
— Free translation from Camilo Sitte's "The Formation of the Square"

In later urban planning studies, Sitte's observations were also discussed in the context of agoraphobia.

The map below shows the center of Vienna, where Sitte was active. You can see how the Ringstrasse (ring road) opened up the city and created a vast space. Sitte contrasted this modern sense of scale with the human scale of the Middle Ages.

The metaphor of a "room without a roof"

The alternative that Sitte proposed was the "irregular beauty" found in the ancient Italian cities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The patterns he discovered while walking around Venice and Siena and making numerous sketches still offer a fresh surprise to us today.

He likened the square to a furnished room,"Roofless Room"He argued that just as walls are important indoors, "enclosure" is also paramount in a plaza. Only when a plaza is properly surrounded by buildings on all four sides, blocking out views to the outside, do people develop a psychological "sense of protection" and want to stay there.

The table below compares in detail the differences between the Sitte model and the functionalist model common in modern Japan. Looking at this comparison, we can see why Japanese station squares tend to become "places where people just pass through."

2. Hokkaido's Dilemma: Snow and Cost

Sitte's theory is very appealing, as "irregular alleys" and "open-centered squares" have the effect of making tourists curious about what lies ahead and lengthening their stay. However, the moment we move the setting from Europe to Hokkaido, we are faced with a huge physical obstacle: snow.

The cruel trade-off between "beauty" and "snow removal"

There is a more compelling reason than aesthetics why Hokkaido's urban planning, especially Sapporo and the city blocks developed after the pioneering period, have stubbornly maintained a grid layout: straight roads are the only shape that allows large snow removal equipment (graders and rotary vehicles) to operate most efficiently and quickly.

What would happen if, as Sitte recommends, roads were intentionally curved and obstacles (sculptures, plants, benches) were placed in the plaza? Snow removal operators would be forced to reverse frequently, dramatically reducing their work efficiency. This would mean higher maintenance costs and disruption to civic life.

Let's graph the data from Sapporo City to see just how enormous this "cost of maintaining functionality" is.

3. Practice in Toyako Town: "Snow Country Translation" of Sitte's Theory

So, is Sitte's theory useless in Hokkaido? No, not at all. In fact, Toyako Town, where a "harsh natural environment" and "the necessity of being a tourist destination" intersect, is the perfect testing ground for "translating" and applying Sitte's theory to a modern, local context.

The challenge Toyako Town faces is how to resolve the dilemma between "open views of the vast lake" and the "protected enclosure" that Sitte desires.

Solution 1: Virtual enclosure with "light"

Surrounding the square with physical buildings would not only hinder snow removal, but would also obscure the beautiful lake view. An effective solution is to use an approach similar to the "illumination tunnel" that is also being implemented in Toyako Onsen Town.

This is what Sitte calls a "roofless room.""Ceiling of Light"On winter nights, the snow wall and illuminated arches moderately block the view, creating an intimate space that suddenly appears in the midst of a vast outdoor space. This is an extremely clever solution, unique to snowy regions, that does not obstruct the flow of snow removal traffic and creates a psychological "plaza."

Solution 2: A "variable plaza" that takes advantage of snow removal

Sitte preached that "the center of the square should be left empty" (meaning that no monument should be placed in the center). This teaching has a different functional rationality in the Hokkaido winter.

If you leave the center of the square open, you can use it in winter."Snow storage area" and "snow park"In the summer, it can be used as a beautiful, irregular square, reminiscent of Jette, for beer gardens and events, and in the winter, the entire square is filled with snow and snow huts and slides are made. This "modifiability," which allows "summer art (Jette-style landscape)" and "winter function (snow dumping site)" to coexist in the same space, is the most powerful weapon in Hokkaido's urban development.

4. Outlook for the Future: Technology Complements "Medieval Beauty"

Finally, let us touch on how future urban development technologies will revive Sitte's ideals. Advances in digital technology are making the "inconvenient but beautiful city" that was once rejected by functionalism into something that can once again be realized.

Autonomous driving and the return of pedestrianism

The spread of autonomous driving technology (MaaS) has the potential to dramatically reduce the amount of space available for cars on roads. If lane widths become narrower, the resulting space can be used for pedestrian waiting spaces or planting areas. Paradoxically, cutting-edge technology could bring back the human-scale road widths that Sitte once loved, where people and horse-drawn carriages could coexist.

Complementing the landscape with AR/VR

Even without physically rebuilding buildings, it will be possible to make "virtual walls" or "historical monuments" appear in missing parts of a plaza by looking through augmented reality (AR) glasses. Looking through AR, an empty parking lot at Lake Toya could appear as a bustling plaza reminiscent of medieval Italy, with people socializing around a virtual bonfire. The creation of such a "Sitte-esque plaza in digital space" is already a technological possibility in the future.

---