Project Overview and Our Progress
Initiatives undertaken by GSFS and our achievements
Education by advanced global graduate education
University's academic expertise
Practical wisdom of UDCK (Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha)
Local Community Innovation through “Energy & Environment Community Development”
1. Establish and manage UDC Shinchi (Urban Design Center Shinchi)
2. Reframe community's future visions based on energy data analyses and develop its key players.
3. Build settlement environments based on social dynamics analyses and the understanding of needs through Sustainability Science project exercises.
Develop human resources with reconstruction knowledge through community development by public-private-academic collaboration (2021-)
●Exchange with the community through an activity hub.
●Contribute to the community by communicating the research results.
●Implement collaborative and integrated initiatives.
(1) Manage UDC Shinchi as a public-private-academic collaborative hub.
UDC Shinchi serves as a local center to coordinate student activities and give back to the community research results obtained through education and exercises.
(2) Help create sustainable community development scenarios from the perspective of energy resources.
Build knowledge necessary for creating carbon-neutral community development scenarios responding to environmental changes.
(3) Promote local residents’ participation in sustainable community development (Sustainability Science)
Explore resident-oriented ways to develop sustainable community, including Shinchi Station District centered on energy projects.
(4) Build media to facilitate the community’s internal and external communications. Conduct practical exercises to support community activities.
Shinchi local government will work with its partner local governments to establish creative approaches to building the future by involving local residents and specialists and develop human resources capable of putting them into practice.
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(5) Support community development in the Hama-dori district through collaboration among universities and local governments.
Talent Development Goals
We aim to develop professionals capable of;
carefully understanding its reconstruction progress and people’s feelings and emotions changing with time (a sense of engagement)
proposing solutions to local issues as well as future visions and measures for the community
grasp the national and international social circumstances and global-scale targets while considering local circumstances and targets; and who can put these proposals into practice
For the project
Carefully consider community people’s feelings and thoughts throughout the reconstruction process
Grasp global targets and national/international social landscapes and propose initiatives to resolve community issues
Empathize with the community and design the future while embracing memories fading into oblivion
Collaborate with people involved in the project to build future visions, develop implementation plans, and carry them out
Beyond the project
Understand the concept of global targets and the significance of community initiatives to achieve them
Rediscover the community and implement sustainable community development from its inside
[Graduate students] Develop talents capable of understanding local circumstances and resolving local issues based on learnings from on-site activities and in view of global circumstances even after completing graduate studies
[Community] Increase the number of key players capable of rediscovering the community, and actively engaging in building a sustainable community
[Faculty/researchers] Increase the number of talents capable of keeping engaged with the community, and collaborating with graduate students and community members
Overview of Shinchi Town
Shinchi Town is located at the far northern end of Hama-dori in Fukushima Prefecture, bordering Miyagi Prefecture on the north and west and facing the Pacific Ocean on the east. In the flat area formed between highlands extending from the Abukuma Mountains lies an urban district surrounded by fields and orchards. A sandy beach stretches along the shoaling coast.
Three visions of Shinchi Town to recover from 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake and open up a new future
Under its Smart Hybrid Town development project, Shinchi has employed the “Shinchi Life Assist Tab System,” which collects data of energy used by some 80 households for analysis.
The Shinchi Energy Center generates heat and electricity using natural gas from the Soma LNG Terminal and supplies the energy to facilities in Shinchi Station district.
A new community hub will be built in the disaster-affected Shinchi Station district through land readjustment projects and aggregation of public facilities.
Reconstruction community development Shinchi Station district
A town center will be built in the disaster-affected Shinchi Station district through land readjustment projects and aggregation of public facilities.
Agreement on Collaboration and Cooperation Between Shinchi Town, NIES, and GSFS
This agreement aims to promote mutual cooperation in the initiatives for environment, energy, and community development in Shinchi Town, including the Shinchi Station district, thereby contributing to reconstructing the community and supporting people’s life and industry in a sustainable eco-city where the environment and economy are harmonized.
■Areas of collaboration and cooperation
Sharing and utilizing information, resources, research results, etc.
Developing human resources specializing in the fields of environment, community development, regional energy, etc.
Giving research results back to the community and raising awareness of the results
Other matters required to achieve the aims of the agreement
■Initiatives based on the agreement (June 2018-)
Research study to support environmentally friendly reconstruction community development centered on the Shinchi Station district and the energy center
Research study on energy in partnership with Shinchi Smart Energy Corp.
Research study on further renovation of the community environment utilizing regional resources
Research education activities through fields works in Shinchi
Project Member
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences
■Leader
Prof. Atsushi Deguchi
Dean, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
■Sub-leader
Prof. Tomochika Tokunaga : Vice Dean (in charge of Education), Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
■Project I: Energy
Prof. Yoshikuni Yoshida
Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Energy System Engineering/Environmental Economics
Assoc. Prof. Tomohiko Ihara
Department of Environment Systems, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Environmental Impact Acessment
Dr. Yoriko Tsuchiya
Faculty of Studies on Contemporary Society, Department of Social Information, Mejiro University
Research KW: Environmental Policy Environmental and Social Systems, Urban Planning and Building Planning, Natural Disaster Science and Disaster Prevention
■Project II: Local Residents' Participation (Sustainability Science)
Assoc. Prof. Motoharu Onuki
Department of international studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Sustainability Science Education
■Project III: Practical Exercises to Support Community Activities/Media Creation
Assoc. Prof. Toru Terada
Department of Natural Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Urban Landscape Planning and Design
Prof. Hiroki Kobayashi
Information technology center
Department of Socio-cultural Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Information design
Dr. Saori Kashihara
Department of Natural Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Research KW: Social infrastructure, Town planning/Urban design, Community development, Participation by residents, Urban design
Part-time Lecturer. Yuta Sasaki
Department of Socio-cultural Environmental Studies, The Sasaki Seisakusho
Research KW: digital content production
Part-time Lecturer. Ryohei Suzuki
Department of natural environmental studies, The Urban design partners balloon
Research KW: Community development, Participation by residents, Urban design
■Project Ⅳ: Build a Sustainable Community Through Learning Opportunities
Assoc. Prof. Shogo Kudo
Faculty of International Liveral Arts, Global Studies Program, Akita International University
Research KW: Sustainability Science, Area studies, Development studies, Education
■UDC Shinchi Operation
Mr. Koichi Ikeda
Research KW: Urban Design, Community Development
■Project Management
Ms. Izumi Ikeda
URA, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
