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Building a Sustainable Regional Model Centered on Agriculture, Forestry, and Manufacturing — Connecting Local Knowledge and Technology

Siqinfu| Visiting Professor, GI Center
ABE Tomotsune| Associate Professor, Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences, Ritsumeikan University
UWASU Michinori| Professor, Graduate School of Economic

In rural regions of Japan and East Asia, challenges such as the decline of agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing industries, population aging, and depopulation have become increasingly serious. At the same time, these regions possess a wealth of accumulated skills, experience, diverse resources, and practical wisdom cultivated over many years, creating new possibilities for regional revitalization that builds upon these local strengths. This project aims to develop a sustainable model for regional and interregional development centered on agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing by integrating the practical knowledge embedded in local communities with academic research expertise from universities.

A key feature of this project is that it goes beyond conventional regional revitalization initiatives by promoting a two-way exchange between “local knowledge” and “university knowledge,” thereby creating mechanisms through which rural regions can develop autonomously and sustainably. Specifically, the project seeks to promote natural farming and organic agriculture, the utilization of forest resources, and innovation in local industries, while proposing a sustainable, resource-circulating regional model. In addition, by facilitating the exchange and networking of experiences, materials, and ideas among regions, the project aims to create more favorable conditions and environments for community development. Another important pillar of the project is linking university education and research with local communities, enabling students to engage in practical learning while fostering the next generation of regional leaders.

The project brings together organizations and individuals involved in agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, and regional revitalization, as well as researchers specializing in regional development, environmental studies, ICT technologies, economics, business administration, and anthropology. By leveraging the expertise of each participant, the project seeks to generate synergistic effects across disciplines and sectors. Furthermore, through the use of ICT to promote regional branding and support the development of new markets and needs, the project aims to strengthen the long-term sustainability of local communities.

Moreover, the project envisions the role of the university not merely as a provider of knowledge, but as a creator and disseminator of collaborative spaces for addressing regional challenges. Through fieldwork and practice-oriented research projects, the initiative will work closely with local residents, organizations, and government agencies to explore new approaches toward the realization of sustainable regional societies.

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Multifaceted Investigation for Future Society Design
“Shape New World Project”

SAKUMA Hiroshi |Specially Appointed Researcher, SSI
ITO Takeshi |Professor, SSI

“Shape New World Project” aims to actively and reasonably envision the future society that will arrive in 2045. We believe that only by concretely imagining a future where science, technology and social systems undergo transformation can we create such a future. Advancing research and development solely in the direction of forecasts is like a journey without a compass or map and sometimes carries the risk of leading to a dystopia, as depicted in "Brave New World." By envisioning a bold and desirable future and creating a detailed roadmap through research and investigation, we can shape the future.

The results of this research study are scheduled to be presented through the "Shape New World Initiative" during the Theme Week of the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan in eight days of sessions dedicated to Next Generation and Inclusion. The research themes of this study correspond to the theme divisions of the Theme Week, covering eight topics: The Future of Earth and Biodiversity, Health and Well-being, Peace, Human Security and Dignity, Necessities of Life: Food, Clothing and Shelter, Learning and Playing, Co-creating Cultures for the Future, The Future of Community and Mobility and SDGs+Beyond - Future Society for Life. We are advancing our research through literature reviews, including books, papers, and trend analyses, as well as interviews and hearings with experts and citizen-participatory workshops.

We recognize that small events have caused butterfly effects throughout history. However, we might be overlooking the perspective of how much our individual actions can impact the future. Activities that look ahead with a long-term perspective are gaining attention under the term "long-termism." We hope that this research study will serve as a catalyst for creating the future so that we can be good ancestors in the eyes of future generations.

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Creating a Platform of Learning Design toward a Multicultural Local Community

OH Song | Directer, Tabunka Flat Specified Nonprofit Corporation
HOMMA Naho | Professor, Center for the Study of Co*Design
ENOI Yukari | Professor, Center for Mirai Kyoso, Graduate School of Human Sciences

Osaka's Ikuno Ward has a large population of Zainichi Koreans living in Japan, and the largest Korean town in Japan is located in Tsuruhashi. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of so-called "newcomers" such as those from Vietnam, and one in five of the ward's residents are foreign nationals, the highest percentage (21%) of any urban area in Japan, with people from 66 countries and regions. Moreover, many households in Ikuno Ward have financial difficulties, and the schooling support rate is more than double the national rate. There is an urgent need to establish a system to stabilize the education and living conditions of families with diverse cultural backgrounds, including children with foreign roots.

In June 2019, a citizen-led platform was launched in Ikuno Ward to tackle these issues by building a comprehensive and multifaceted support base with diversity at the heart of community development. Under the mission of the SDGs "No one left behind," the project is a collaboration of various actors such as NPOs, citizens, government, companies, and universities, and consists of three projects: "Creation of a center," "multicultural events planning" and "surveys and proposals." In the "Creation of a Center" project, preparations are underway to establish a multicultural center in response to the draft plan for utilizing the former elementary school site.

Our project aims to work together with the local community to create the center for the local multicultural community in Ikuno. For example, we will promote the design of the learning environment through collaborative learning projects and program development, community building, and the launch of an educational consortium.

Symbiosis is the body and time that has always-already been lived by us. Ikuno – its history and its climate – in which symbiosis has been nurtured in various ways is the soil where the campus of learning truly takes root as a horizon of the unique backgrounds of each individual. In an age where rationalization and competition divide us, we must restore the form of education that should be ours, with children living in the present, not in the future. For this purpose, we will engage in dialogue and creative activities across various genres to loosen the power that hangs over us and to reweave our knowledge with the threads of "connection" that will be entwined by making us aware of our "differences."

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Disaster Prevention with Community Resources and Information Technology

INABA Keishin| Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences

This project was originally launched as the SSI Core Project, “Development of a Disaster Mitigation and Community Watch System Using Regional Resources and IT,” through FY2022. Since FY2023, it has been continued as an SSI Collaborative Project in order to further promote its social implementation.

The project aims to advance disaster mitigation through the use of regional resources and science and technology, thereby fostering a resilient and inclusive society. By re-evaluating traditional community-based networks and collaborating with the activities of NPOs and citizens, the project seeks to integrate expertise and technologies from the sciences, engineering, humanities, and social sciences. Through social innovation utilizing regional resources and scientific technologies, the project aspires to build new forms of community and create shared social value.

The project consists of two main pillars: “Saikyū Map” and “Tasukannen.”

The first pillar is the “Saikyū Map.” “Saikyū Map” is an abbreviation of the Future Symbiotic Disaster Relief Map, a web-based information system designed to share evacuation shelter information. The system integrates and publicly provides online access to information on approximately 300,000 facilities, including religious institutions such as temples and shrines, as well as designated evacuation shelters and emergency evacuation sites such as schools and community centers. Through disaster preparedness initiatives, the Saikyū Map contributes to building everyday connections and communities among local governments, neighborhood associations, schools, religious institutions, and NPOs. In times of disaster, it functions as an information platform for relief activities. The Saikyū Map is an intellectual property asset of Osaka University, and its social implementation is being carried out by the Regional Information Co-Creation Center.

The second pillar, “Tasukannen,” is a collective term for systems that utilize “independent power sources” generated and stored through renewable energy such as wind and solar power. These systems provide functions including wireless communication, lighting, cameras, and power supply for smartphones and other devices. By establishing this network throughout urban areas, the project aims to create a public communication infrastructure that can maintain independent communication with the outside world even during power outages caused by disasters or other emergencies.

A defining feature of this project is its emphasis on creating a new type of community based not on conventional rigid structures, but on diversity and fluidity that transcend barriers between organizations, individuals, and fields of knowledge. Furthermore, by seeking to create shared values centered on altruism and mutual support—beyond mere profit and efficiency—the project aims to enhance the resilience of society as a whole and contribute to the realization of an inclusive society. Through collaboration with various organizations, the project is expected to provide services tailored to diverse local needs. In addition, by effectively utilizing regional resources, it seeks to establish highly cost-efficient systems and contribute to reducing social costs overall.

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Creating a model for sustainable urban society
based on the field study of informal settlements in Africa

KITA Michihiro | Professor, Graduate School of Engineering

Improvement of slums, which constitute settlements that have irregular land tenure, poor housing conditions and inadequate basic infrastructure services such as water and sanitation, has been a global issue since the 1960s. Developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America continue to face serious challenges in relation to the pervasiveness and proliferation of slums.

Conventional methods such as evictions and relocations, sites and services, public housing, and redevelopment have not provided permanent solutions to the challenge of slums. In view of this, we hypothesized that slum improvement requires holistic approaches that include the design and rebuilding of social and economic systems that can enhance the capacity of slum residents to engage, initiate, and manage the process of developing their living environment in collaboration with civil society and local government.

Our project is geographically situated in Accra, the capital of Ghana in the West Africa sub-region. For this project, we organized a cross-sectional project team consisting of cultural anthropologists including Professor Eisei Kurimoto and members specializing in geography, international public policy, linguistics, urban planning, and environmental energy. Accra is considered as a joint research and implementation field. For the purposes of this project, members conduct research activities in multiple fields. These survey activities are mutually reinforced and harmonized to support complementarities. By doing so, we examine hypotheses and find common solutions to complex socio-spatial and economic problems.

There are about 78 officially identified slum communities in Accra. These 78 slum communities are home to approximately 38.4% of the population of Accra. Although the government has in recent years promulgated a promising urban policy action plan and urban housing policy, experimental projects at the local level are seemingly rare or non-existence. Thus, several slum areas are constantly faced with severe challenges as such poverty, unemployment, overcrowded housing, poor sanitation and water supply, disasters (especially floods and fires), and disease outbreaks (e.g. cholera).

However, some slum communities possess organized social systems that support self-management and community-based improvement in conditions. A typical case is the indigenous quarter in La Dadekotopon district of Accra. Our previous survey revealed that the "La" area has a good self-sustaining system based on traditional system of social organization and community management. In this area, we are deciphering the socio-spatial structure, and the system of living environment management.

We plan to continue to work with the residents of community to devise a collaborative and sustainable self-management model for community improvement. We hope to assist the community utilize existing potentials to gradually evolve into a sustainable urban socio-spatial model than can be scaled-up into other slum communities in city and region. Thus, we hope to adapt this social model to other areas based on their specific conditions and attributes.

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A Development of SDGs Open Innovation Platform
towards Discovering Social Issues and Exploring Solutions

KAWAKUBO Shun | Professor, Hosei University
MATSUI Takanori | Professor, Graduate School of Engineering

Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, efforts to achieve the SDGs have been promoted worldwide.

In Japan, various guidelines and plans such as "SDGs Implementation Guidelines" and "SDGs Action Plan" have been presented and various initiatives are being promoted under industry-government-academia-civil collaboration.

Efforts by local governments are essential to promote the SDGs nationwide and the importance of promoting regional revitalization driven by the SDGs and building a resilient cyclical and symbiotic society is shown. As we have entered the "Decade of Action" to achieve the SDGs, there is a need to further expand our efforts.

Based on the above background, the representatives of the project proposed formulating and promoting "local SDGs" and have been working on their dissemination. Currently, as a project of the Ministry of the Environment, the Environmental Research General Promotion Fund Research Topic 1-2104 “Research on Solving Regional Issues by Promoting Local SDGs” is being promoted. The main mission of this project is to create a knowledge base in the digital space to support all stakeholders in industry, government, academia and citizens to expand “Think globally, act locally”.

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