Tokyo is reinventing the downtown—by making more than one

The death of downtown is now a familiar refrain. Central business districts (CBDs) in cities around the world—once bustling centers of office work—were hit hard by the pandemic and the shift to remote work, leading many to predict they would never fully recover.

But instead of demise, downtowns are being reinvented. And Tokyo is leading the way.

Traditional downtown business districts in cities around the world were defined and dominated by vertical towers where legions of...