《经济学人》双语：日本城市新规划可以应对人口老龄化问题？

原文标题：
Urban redevelopment II

Dumplings and skewers

Japanese cities are being retrofitted for an ageing population

城市重建II

饺子和烤串

日本城市重新规划以应对人口老龄化

The coastal city of Toyama is a global exemplar of “compact living

沿海的富山市是全球“紧凑生活”的典范

[Paragraph 1]
TOYAMA NESTLES between a deep blue bay and snow-topped peaks, some 250km northwest of Tokyo. 

富山位于东京西北约250公里的深蓝色海湾和积雪覆盖的山峰之间。

In many ways, it is a quintessential regional Japanese city: its residents are greying, its industry is stable but sclerotic, its cuisine is exquisite. 

在许多方面，它是日本地区性城市的典型代表：城市居民老龄化，工业稳定但僵化，美食很精致。

American firebombs targeting its steel mills wiped out 99% of Toyama’s centre during the second world war. 

第二次世界大战期间，美国燃烧弹炸毁了富山的钢铁厂及99%的市中心区域。

Afterwards, the city was rapidly rebuilt and sprawled as its population grew. But that was then. 

后来，随着人口的增长，这座城市迅速重建扩大。但已时过境迁。

Since the 1990s the city of 414,000 (and falling) has been battling the ills of an ageing population: ballooning bills, falling tax revenues and an out-of-date urban plan.

自20世纪90年代以来，这座人口41.4万的城市一直在与人口老龄化的弊病作斗争：不断增加的财政支出、不断下降的税收、陈旧的城市规划。

[Paragraph 2]
Yet Toyama has battled much better than most—even managing a modest revival.
然而，富山比大多数城市做的好得多--尽管这是一场温和的城市复兴。

On a new central plaza stands the crown jewel of the renewed Toyama: a cultural complex designed by Kuma Kengo, a star architect, containing an extensive library and a glass art museum.
在一个新的中心广场上，矗立着新富山的皇冠明珠：一个由著名建筑师隈研吾设计的文化建筑群，建筑群包括一个图书馆和玻璃艺术馆。

[Paragraph 3]
The city has adopted what urban planners call a “compact city” policy. 

富山市采取了城市规划者的“紧凑型城市”政策。

Recognising that sprawl is expensive to build, maintain and service, planners try to make cities smaller, denser and less car-reliant. 

规划者们意识到城市无序蔓延、维护和服务成本高昂等问题，他们努力使城市变得更袖珍、更密集、更少依赖汽车。

These aims, long pursued in Europe, are relatively new to Japan. 

这些是欧洲长期追求的目标，但对日本来说是一个相对新奇的概念。

The World Bank calls Toyama “a global role model” for compact cities.

世界银行称富山是紧凑城市的“全球榜样”。

[Paragraph 4]
Planners there have pursued what they call a “dumpling and skewer” structure, in which denser hubs (the dumplings) are linked by public transport (the skewers). 

富山规划人员一直在追求所谓的“饺子和烤串”结构：密集的活动中心（饺子）由公共交通（烤串）连接起来。

Making it work required first winning over lots of recalcitrant locals. 

要使这种结构发挥作用，首先需要赢得当地顽固居民们的支持。

Mori Masashi, who was Toyama’s mayor from 2002 to 2021 and spearheaded the transformation, held hundreds of town hall discussions of the plan. 

2002年至2021担任富山市市长的森町正司率先进行了这项改革，他就改革举行了数百次市政厅会议。

He also travelled widely to learn from cities as far afield as Amsterdam and Portland.

他还远赴阿姆斯特丹和波特兰等城市学习。

[Paragraph 5]
Thoughtful design helped. The new light rail has carriages that align flush with station platforms, eliminating the steps that can trip up elderly riders. 

周到的暖心设计非常有益。新轻轨的车厢与车站站台齐平，去掉了可能绊倒老年乘客的台阶。

Lest youngsters feel left out, the city also built a skatepark, a rarity in Japan. Such projects made canny use of the city’s existing resources. 

为了不让年轻人感到被冷落，富山还建造了一个滑雪场，这在日本很罕见。这些工程充分利用了该市现有的资源。

Old rail tracks were repurposed for the new light rail, a move that reduced costs by 75%, according to the World Bank. 

根据世界银行的数据，旧铁轨被改装以供新轻轨使用，这一举措减少了75%的重建费用。

While the government handled construction, it farmed the rail network out to an expert private firm. It also offered subsidies to entice people to move into the dumplings.

施工方面，政府将铁路网络外包给了一家专业的私企。政府还提供补贴，来吸引居民搬进活动中心。

[Paragraph 6]
The policy, though no panacea for the demographic squeeze, changed Toyama’s trajectory. 

这项政策虽然不是解决人口减少的灵丹妙药，但改变了富山的发展轨迹。

The city arrested the outflow of people from its centre: net migration into the downtown area was negative before 2008 but has since been growing. 

富山市阻止了市中心人口外流：2008年之前，搬到市区的净移民为负数，但2008年后净移民一直在增长。

The new developments have made property more attractive.

城市的新发展使房地产行业更具吸引力。

Land prices in the city centre had been declining by around 2% a year until 2012; in the decade since, they have grown by an average of 2% per year, with gains in some areas reaching as high as 6%. 

2012年前，市中心的土地价格每年下降约2%；在2012年后的十年中，房价的平均年增长率为2%，某些地段的增长率高达6%。

Using increased tax revenue from the revived city centre to support more remote parts of the region is a “basic model for other cities”, says Nitta Hachiro, the governor of the surrounding prefecture, also called Toyama.

周边的富山县知事新田八郎说，用复兴后市区的新增税收来支援该市偏远地区，这是“其他城市的基本模式”。

[Paragraph 7]
The new urban design may have other long-term benefits. 

新城市规划在其他方面可以也有长期效益。

Public transport use among those aged 60 and older has more than trebled. 

60岁及以上老年人的公共交通使用量增加了两倍多。

Small-scale studies show promising results: old folks who stay active by using their discount transit passes need less nursing care than those who do not.

小型研究得出的结论很美好：用老年证享坐车优惠的老年人保持活动，他们比不常活动的老年人需要的护理更少。

[Paragraph 8]
For those living far from the centre, the benefits are less clear. 

对远离市中心的人来说，好处并不那么明显。

The compact city is a “bubble” which people outside it look on with “cold eyes”, says one 73-year-old shopkeeper in the suburbs. 

一位生活在郊区的73岁店主说，这座紧凑城市就是一个“泡沫”，外面的人在冷眼旁观。

Local governments with ageing, shrinking populations face hard choices about where to keep water and sewers running and where to close schools and clinics. 

随着人口老龄化及人口数量萎缩，地方政府面临着艰难的选择，比如哪里水管和下水道需要继续运行，哪里的学校和诊所需要关闭。

Even as cities strive to become more compact, they may fail to reach the density necessary to keep businesses profitable, says Okata Junichiro, of the University of Tokyo. But they must try.

东京大学的冈田纯一郎表示，尽管城市在努力变得更加紧凑，但它们也可能无法达到商业盈利所需的密度。但他们必须尝试。

Japanese cities once grew boldly. As the population ages and declines, they must learn to shrink with grace.

日本城市曾野蛮扩张。随着人口老龄化和人口的减少，日本城市必须学会优雅地收缩。

 （恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇827左右，有删减）

原文出自：2022年12月24日《TE》Asia版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
富山市(Toyama)位于日本列岛的中心、本州的中央北部，面向日本海，与东京、大阪、名古屋三大都市圈的距离相等，具有得天独厚的地理环境。三面环绕险山峻岭、环抱深水湾的广阔平原不断延伸，由“北阿尔卑斯立山”连峰等山岳地带包围，形成了以富山市为中心、半径为50km的统一连贯的地形，生长植物品种之多位居日本本州岛第一位。水资源丰富，农业和渔业都比较发达，形成了日本海沿岸一带屈指可数的产业集结工业带。由于本地从17世纪就开始发展制药产业，如今的富山市在日本亦有“药都”的别名，除了现今在市区内仍有不少传统的药店，辖内也形成的制药工业的聚落，包括富山化学工业、日产化学、富士制药工业、富士药品多家制药公司都在此设立工厂。


隈研吾，是日本著名建筑师，享有极高的国际声誉，建筑融合古典与现代风格为一体。曾获得国际石造建筑奖、自然木造建筑精神奖等。著有《十宅论》、《负建筑》等作品。

紧凑城市 compact city: 针对城市无序蔓延提出来的城市可持续发展理念模式 ，强调通过 土地资源的混合使 用、密集开发等策略，提高城市土地的利用效率和城市发展的品质。紧凑城市、精明增长、新城市主义是可持续发展代言的当代三大营城理念。“紧凑城市”起源于欧洲，主要是针对当时城市面临的蔓延式发展，强调城市具有边界、高密度开发、混合土地利用、功能复合、步行尺度、社会及文化的多样性。

【重点句子】（3 个）
The city has adopted what urban planners call a “compact city” policy.
富山市采取了城市规划者的“紧凑型城市”政策。

The policy, though no panacea for the demographic squeeze, changed Toyama’s trajectory.
这项政策虽然不是解决人口减少的灵丹妙药，但改变了富山的发展轨迹。

Japanese cities once grew boldly. As the population ages and declines, they must learn to shrink with grace.
日本城市曾野蛮扩张。随着人口老龄化和人口的减少，日本城市必须学会优雅地收缩。