In the Kashiwa-no-ha project, urban development has thus far been rolled out through developer-centered close collaboration among public, private, and academic institutions. Moreover, starting from 2019, initiatives have been undertaken to realize smart cities characterized by concepts such as “energy,” “mobility,” “public space,” and “wellness.” Cross-utilizing the data accumulated through such initiatives, work is underway to build a “data platform” to develop even better services.

However, while initiatives were undertaken with close collaboration among public, private, and academic institutions, the participation of the residents in planning and co-creation has been inadequate. This has brought to light the importance of desirable locations and situations for urban open innovation involving diverse stakeholders including the residents and arranging the methods for sustainable operations.

This initiative will focus on data platforms that will be the foundation for smart cities and will develop, through actual use in practice, the methods for residents’ participation to realize people-centric data utilization and service creation. While participating in the site for co-creation (living lab) with residents, which is promoted by the Kashiwa-no-ha smart city initiative, we will also realize social implementation that is rooted in the community.