"Seen from a contemporary perspective, the movement's foremost concern was cultural resilience as a notion of national identity," architecture scholar Meike Schalk wrote in a 2014 essay. Metabolism asserted that architecture should be adaptable and able to respond to disasters both natural and man-made, be it a tsunami or an atom bomb. Schalk even calls the group one of the earliest proponents of sustainable architecture.

The Metabolist architects debuted their new ideas at Tokyo's 1960 World Design Conference. Kenzo Tange, who was influenced by Le Corbusier and mentored many figures in the group, also proposed a new design to expand Tokyo's housing: a series of interlocking loops of highway that would extend across Tokyo Bay and increase mobility. 

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