Christian Dimmer
@remmid.bsky.social
dad／urbanist／assoc.prof. transition design + urban studies｜waseda university｜Tokyo｜co-learning／co-design｜public spaces／spheres｜urban practices／theories｜place {un}making／becoming｜climate + sustainability／resilience
Pinned
Christian Dimmer
@remmid.bsky.social
· Nov 27
Many people are still unsure when I ask about the “endgame” of our work. Back in 2014, we held a #deepadaptation bootcamp & mapped out root causes of the #planetarycrisis. Yet, despite accelerating change, far too many still assume a business-as-usual future.
→ rci.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ISE/ja/publi...
→ rci.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ISE/ja/publi...
1+1 = ?
One could also mention Epstein’s close ties to Russia, his well-documented friendship with Trump, and the numerous contacts Trump’s 2016 campaign had with Russian actors, as detailed in the Mueller Report. You can complete the calculation yourself.
One could also mention Epstein’s close ties to Russia, his well-documented friendship with Trump, and the numerous contacts Trump’s 2016 campaign had with Russian actors, as detailed in the Mueller Report. You can complete the calculation yourself.
"Trump’s pursuit of 'peace' in Ukraine has effectively enabled Russia’s war." ICYMI @cathyyoung63.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4txnFKn
Russia’s False Promises of Peace
As Putin’s cruel winter war drags on, renewed aid from the United States could tilt things decisively in Ukraine's favor.
lnk.thebulwark.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:37 AM
1+1 = ?
One could also mention Epstein’s close ties to Russia, his well-documented friendship with Trump, and the numerous contacts Trump’s 2016 campaign had with Russian actors, as detailed in the Mueller Report. You can complete the calculation yourself.
One could also mention Epstein’s close ties to Russia, his well-documented friendship with Trump, and the numerous contacts Trump’s 2016 campaign had with Russian actors, as detailed in the Mueller Report. You can complete the calculation yourself.
Precisely—let’s strip the mask off this Orwellian newspeak.
February 8, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Precisely—let’s strip the mask off this Orwellian newspeak.
Techno-feudalism at its worst: extraction of cheap labour, the suppression of unionisation, increasingly open subversion of democratic institutions—most visibly in the U.S. (Bezos gutting WaPo, Musk electioneering for Trump) and abroad (Musk pushing radical anti-democratic parties across Europe).
Tax cuts for giant corporations and the super rich.
Paid for by cuts to the social safety net for everyone else.
Trickle-up economics.
Paid for by cuts to the social safety net for everyone else.
Trickle-up economics.
February 8, 2026 at 2:13 AM
Techno-feudalism at its worst: extraction of cheap labour, the suppression of unionisation, increasingly open subversion of democratic institutions—most visibly in the U.S. (Bezos gutting WaPo, Musk electioneering for Trump) and abroad (Musk pushing radical anti-democratic parties across Europe).
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."
February 7, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Ossoff: "You're seeing what I'm seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a Klansman."
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
A federal judge in Oregon issued a sweeping rebuke of the Justice Department’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls, ruling that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warning that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.
Federal judge rules DOJ can ‘no longer’ be trusted in voter roll crusade
The judge pointed to a letter from Bondi to Minnesota that tied federal immigration enforcement to demands for voter data as the smoking gun.
www.democracydocket.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:59 PM
A federal judge in Oregon issued a sweeping rebuke of the Justice Department’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls, ruling that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warning that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.
Humanitarian architect Shigeru Ban's post-disaster housing is easily assembled, healthy, makes use of local resources. Rather than provide temporary housing that's later replaced by permanent structures—often leaving survivors in prolonged state of limbo—Ban offers a fundamental reconceptualisation.
This Housing Project for Noto Earthquake Refugees, Constructed Without Any Nails or Adhesives, Just Won Japan's Most-Prestigious Design Award
On New Year’s Day 2024, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Ishikawa Prefecture’s Noto Peninsula. The death toll reached 245 and 76,144 housing units were damaged. Many residents were displaced amid the...
spoon-tamago.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:54 AM
Humanitarian architect Shigeru Ban's post-disaster housing is easily assembled, healthy, makes use of local resources. Rather than provide temporary housing that's later replaced by permanent structures—often leaving survivors in prolonged state of limbo—Ban offers a fundamental reconceptualisation.
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
As cities around the globe struggle to prepare for the unpredictable local impacts of runaway climate change and the growing polycrisis. The question is clear: how do we plan and build resilience? Japan’s engineers focus on costly high tech projects like this one. How about community resilience?
It's called the TOKYO Resilience Project. Maybe America can learn something from this project.
The Insane Scale of Tokyo’s Disaster Megaplan
YouTube video by The B1M
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:39 PM
As cities around the globe struggle to prepare for the unpredictable local impacts of runaway climate change and the growing polycrisis. The question is clear: how do we plan and build resilience? Japan’s engineers focus on costly high tech projects like this one. How about community resilience?
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
As cities around the globe scramble to face the unpredictable local impacts of runaway climate change and a growing polycrisis, the question is clear: how do we plan and build resilience?
Here’s my take on the Resilience Project of the world’s biggest city, #Tokyo.
Here’s my take on the Resilience Project of the world’s biggest city, #Tokyo.
Tokyo’s Perpetual Resilience Project: Between Local Knowledges and Universal Modernist Concepts | Climate Change and Risk Mitigation
www.cabidigitallibrary.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:54 PM
As cities around the globe scramble to face the unpredictable local impacts of runaway climate change and a growing polycrisis, the question is clear: how do we plan and build resilience?
Here’s my take on the Resilience Project of the world’s biggest city, #Tokyo.
Here’s my take on the Resilience Project of the world’s biggest city, #Tokyo.
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
More green space—Tokyo remains a concrete jungle. Despite an accelerating climate crisis and ambitious resilience plans, the city continues to lose mature green spaces at a faster rate than new green is created. Every year summers get hotter and the heat island effect is worsening.
February 4, 2026 at 12:01 PM
More green space—Tokyo remains a concrete jungle. Despite an accelerating climate crisis and ambitious resilience plans, the city continues to lose mature green spaces at a faster rate than new green is created. Every year summers get hotter and the heat island effect is worsening.
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
A very timely paper. Implicitly, it raises fundamental questions about how labour migration in Japan can be managed in more proactive& strategic ways. In particular, it points to the challenge of how newcomers can be better integrated into Japan’s arrival cities given the country’s ageing workforce?
How did migration become a political issue in Japan’s 2025 election?
In this article Maximilian Xavier Rehm explains how migration rose to political salience in Japan and what this shift means for the future of migration politics.
#JapanesePolitics #PoliticsOfMigration
apjjf.org/2026/2/rehm
In this article Maximilian Xavier Rehm explains how migration rose to political salience in Japan and what this shift means for the future of migration politics.
#JapanesePolitics #PoliticsOfMigration
apjjf.org/2026/2/rehm
February 6, 2026 at 11:45 PM
A very timely paper. Implicitly, it raises fundamental questions about how labour migration in Japan can be managed in more proactive& strategic ways. In particular, it points to the challenge of how newcomers can be better integrated into Japan’s arrival cities given the country’s ageing workforce?
I am very much looking forward to Osaka City fully pedestrianising its main downtown traffic artery, Midosuji, by 2037. This transformation is not happening overnight but incrementally—gradually reshaping the street into a major public space that functions as an urban amenity axis.
February 7, 2026 at 12:07 AM
I am very much looking forward to Osaka City fully pedestrianising its main downtown traffic artery, Midosuji, by 2037. This transformation is not happening overnight but incrementally—gradually reshaping the street into a major public space that functions as an urban amenity axis.
A very timely paper. Implicitly, it raises fundamental questions about how labour migration in Japan can be managed in more proactive& strategic ways. In particular, it points to the challenge of how newcomers can be better integrated into Japan’s arrival cities given the country’s ageing workforce?
How did migration become a political issue in Japan’s 2025 election?
In this article Maximilian Xavier Rehm explains how migration rose to political salience in Japan and what this shift means for the future of migration politics.
#JapanesePolitics #PoliticsOfMigration
apjjf.org/2026/2/rehm
In this article Maximilian Xavier Rehm explains how migration rose to political salience in Japan and what this shift means for the future of migration politics.
#JapanesePolitics #PoliticsOfMigration
apjjf.org/2026/2/rehm
February 6, 2026 at 11:45 PM
A very timely paper. Implicitly, it raises fundamental questions about how labour migration in Japan can be managed in more proactive& strategic ways. In particular, it points to the challenge of how newcomers can be better integrated into Japan’s arrival cities given the country’s ageing workforce?
Such an important message at such an important moment!
Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."
February 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Such an important message at such an important moment!
This is not easy to change, as it is hard-coded into the very structure of the city. Those who live in the suburbs must endure long, exhausting commutes, leaving them little time for friends, family, or community life. The main culprit, however, is working culture itself.
Japan’s sleep deprivation issues go back to at least 2017, when the Japanese word for “sleep debt” (睡眠負債; suimin fusai) was nominated as one of the year’s top buzzwords. Nothing’s gotten better since.
buff.ly/Bitrs06
buff.ly/Bitrs06
February 6, 2026 at 3:12 AM
This is not easy to change, as it is hard-coded into the very structure of the city. Those who live in the suburbs must endure long, exhausting commutes, leaving them little time for friends, family, or community life. The main culprit, however, is working culture itself.
This example nicely illustrates that #smartcities do not have to be filled with sensors, chips, and robots. A #smartenoughcity combines selected new technologies with time-tested vernacular knowledge, making it more resilient and less vulnerable to technical failure.
For 1,700+ years, Shibam’s mudbrick towers have stood tall in Yemen’s Wadi Hadramaut.
With natural cooling, zero-waste materials, and a design that fostered community, this “Manhattan of the Desert” shows how ancient cities mastered sustainable living.
With natural cooling, zero-waste materials, and a design that fostered community, this “Manhattan of the Desert” shows how ancient cities mastered sustainable living.
February 5, 2026 at 8:15 AM
This example nicely illustrates that #smartcities do not have to be filled with sensors, chips, and robots. A #smartenoughcity combines selected new technologies with time-tested vernacular knowledge, making it more resilient and less vulnerable to technical failure.
It is surprisingly inexpensive and relatively easy to rewild cities and to restore soft, permeable surfaces. Facilitating “sponge city” strategies is a key approach to mitigating the urban heat island effect and adapting to climate change. Japan's shrinking cities would be an ideal testing ground.
Re-permeabilising urban ground (de-sealing surfaces) reduces flooding, cools cities, recharges groundwater, supports biodiversity, and improves livability.
It’s a low-cost climate adaptation strategy with strong social, health, and resilience co-benefits.
It’s a low-cost climate adaptation strategy with strong social, health, and resilience co-benefits.
February 5, 2026 at 8:12 AM
It is surprisingly inexpensive and relatively easy to rewild cities and to restore soft, permeable surfaces. Facilitating “sponge city” strategies is a key approach to mitigating the urban heat island effect and adapting to climate change. Japan's shrinking cities would be an ideal testing ground.
“There’s a tendency in certain government departments to trivialise the impacts of #climate on the economy so as to avoid making difficult choices today. This is a big problem—the consequences of delay are catastrophic.”
—Mark Campanale, CEO of @carbontracker.bsky.social
—Mark Campanale, CEO of @carbontracker.bsky.social
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn
States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:12 AM
“There’s a tendency in certain government departments to trivialise the impacts of #climate on the economy so as to avoid making difficult choices today. This is a big problem—the consequences of delay are catastrophic.”
—Mark Campanale, CEO of @carbontracker.bsky.social
—Mark Campanale, CEO of @carbontracker.bsky.social
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
Governour @ecoyuri.bsky.social introduced the Tokyo Resilience Project in 2023 — yet across the city, hundreds of mature trees are being felled for redevelopment. Far from becoming more “resilient,” #Tokyo is steadily losing its green cover, with no major effort to replace what’s being destroyed.
“Since [Paris Mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social took] office, Paris has planted over 200K trees with a pledge to add 170K more by 2026. Urban forests are being created near landmarks like the Hôtel de Ville, Gare de Lyon, & Opéra Garnier, with plans to cover 50% of the city with planted areas by 2030.“
Anne Hidalgo: Transforming Paris into a Green Metropolis for a Sustainable Future
Pic: Ms Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris (Source: ChatGPT)
medium.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Governour @ecoyuri.bsky.social introduced the Tokyo Resilience Project in 2023 — yet across the city, hundreds of mature trees are being felled for redevelopment. Far from becoming more “resilient,” #Tokyo is steadily losing its green cover, with no major effort to replace what’s being destroyed.
An intriguing proposition, well worth pondering. If people were required to pay for garbage disposal, might they not become more mindful of reducing waste? The key would be to frame such a policy not as a cost-cutting measure, but as part of a carefully thought-through sustainability strategy.
Critics of the plan to charge for garbage service across all of Tokyo argued that collection should remain a basic public service funded by taxes, especially during a period of rising prices and repeated tax increases.
Tokyo's Plan to Charge for Garbage Service Has Some Residents Howling - Unseen Japan
Garbage fees have successfully reduced waste in West Tokyo. Here's why some residents are up in arms over the proposal.
buff.ly
February 4, 2026 at 11:06 PM
An intriguing proposition, well worth pondering. If people were required to pay for garbage disposal, might they not become more mindful of reducing waste? The key would be to frame such a policy not as a cost-cutting measure, but as part of a carefully thought-through sustainability strategy.
Why I love Japan — civility and social mindfulness !
This 7-Eleven at the Ōzumi Parking Area in Niigata went viral for its message telling people exhausted from driving in the snow to use the store to warm up. "No need to buy anything. Your smile is the greatest gift. We wish you a safe trip." The sign was also posted in English.
February 4, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Why I love Japan — civility and social mindfulness !
A wise choice at a pivotal moment in history.
Tadatoshi Akiba, former mayor of the city of Hiroshima, has been selected as a flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, recognizing his efforts to promote peace. 👉 ebx.sh/M6midT
February 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM
A wise choice at a pivotal moment in history.
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
Donald Trump didn't break the political system on his own.
Our broken political system is why we have Trump.
Our broken political system is why we have Trump.
February 3, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Donald Trump didn't break the political system on his own.
Our broken political system is why we have Trump.
Our broken political system is why we have Trump.
Deeply gratifying to see thoughts like these by young Japanese architecture & planning students in response to my Transition Design talk.
Reading thru 198 assignments, I realise that although young people don’t often talk about the #polycrisis we face, they care deeply.
I feel more hopeful today!
Reading thru 198 assignments, I realise that although young people don’t often talk about the #polycrisis we face, they care deeply.
I feel more hopeful today!
February 4, 2026 at 3:12 AM
Deeply gratifying to see thoughts like these by young Japanese architecture & planning students in response to my Transition Design talk.
Reading thru 198 assignments, I realise that although young people don’t often talk about the #polycrisis we face, they care deeply.
I feel more hopeful today!
Reading thru 198 assignments, I realise that although young people don’t often talk about the #polycrisis we face, they care deeply.
I feel more hopeful today!
Reposted by Christian Dimmer
A good thing happened today: Haitians in Springfield, Ohio and elsewhere are (for now) safe from the planned ethnic cleansing operation. This happened because people came together — organizers, reporters, and those who care — and made it happen. Let’s take the win and continue the work.
February 3, 2026 at 2:44 AM
A good thing happened today: Haitians in Springfield, Ohio and elsewhere are (for now) safe from the planned ethnic cleansing operation. This happened because people came together — organizers, reporters, and those who care — and made it happen. Let’s take the win and continue the work.