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Kyoto, which was Japan's political and cultural capital for more than a millennium before the dawn of the modern era, shows distinctive characteristics formed in the process of urban modernization. A citizen plaza perfectly fit to a modern city is lying on the east side, but a delayed urban reconstruction in the city center due to a strong conservative self-government awareness, as well as a delayed modernization of tax system, caused disorderly urban sprawl to appear in the suburbs. Thanks to the enactment of urban planning law enacted in 1919 by the government (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and an increasing awareness about the necessity and rationality of urban planning projects, urban renovation took place at a rapid pace. In the meantime, new ways of urban design were sought for and experimented to conserve it as a historical city against the city' quickly changing landscape.