Topographies of Urban Atmospheres
Law and Criminal Justice in Japanese Cities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24217816 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Rush (The University of Melbourne), Alison Young (0000-0002-6981-9458, The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Journal of Law and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2052-9015 • E-ISSN: 2052-9023 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/als.2026.10071 |
| OpenAlex | W7220432941 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
This essay engages with law and geography in urban Asia by working through the topographies and atmospheres of law and criminal justice in Japan. The places we consider are koban (police boxes) and a legal precinct. Koban stretch across the country; the exemplary legal precinct is in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, a gateway with mist and haze. The essay develops a set of theoretical thresholds through which to address and work through the atmospheric place-making of law and criminal justice in Tokyo’s urban environments. Our approach to relations between law and geography is situated at the crossroads of jurisprudence and humanities, criminology, and urban studies. Its two key considerations are topography and atmospheres, and place-making and its energies and folds. It is argued that topographic atmospheres of law and criminal justice are jurisdictional exercises. The essay is also an experiment in atmospheric writing.
atmosphere · Criminal justice · Japan · Jurisdiction · law and geography · place-making · Tokyo · topography · urban law · Criminal Justice and Penology · Law in Society and Culture · Spatial and Cultural Studies
Lines
Place and Experience
Jurisdiction
The Spatial, the Legal and the Pragmatics of World-Making
Henri Lefebvre
Austerlitz
Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly
Controversies surrounding Japan’s ‘flexible’ urban planning
Self in Nature, Nature in the Lifeworld
“It’s not just words, it’s the feeling, the passion, the emotions”
From Space Immaterial
Towards a criminology of atmospheres
Architecture as affective law enforcement
Persuasion architectures
Milieu and Ambiance
Heidegger's Hölderlin and the Importance of Place
The affective atmospheres of surveillance
Affective atmospheres
Japanese Atmospheres of Criminal Justice
Atmospheric Practices
Feeling at home in contemporary Japan
More than a feeling
Notes on Atmosphere
On assemblages and geography
The backstage of urban ambiances
A Sense of Place with Landmark Judgments
Illuminated Atmospheres
Atmosphere as the Fundamental Concept of a New Aesthetics
Security Atmospheres or the Crystallisation of Worlds
Tracing Displacements
Air/Atmospheres of the Megacity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |