Research Institute for High-Life

Study on a Knowledge Archive to Enrich the Urban Life of the Next Generation

Study Overview

1. Purpose of Study and Overview

While society is moving towards becoming more stabilized, the growing economy increasingly tends to set new targets of affluence, such as “from quantity to quality” and “from growth to maturity.” At the same time, with respect to the negative consequences brought about by the growing economy, serious critical situations have been generated in various fields. One such crisis is the collapse or breakdown of conventional-type communities that had been making progress during the growth of the economy.

Many functions were lost in which conventional-type communities had been playing key roles, including “affluent homes and living,” “caring people and a place of mutual aid,” “leaders who initiate and boost the sense of locality such as through festivals,” “a place to learn useful knowledge,” etc. People have crossed regions in an attempt to fill in such lost functions, and in so doing, developed “theme-based communities,” uniting people via common themes. This accumulation of knowledge has been working very effectively in drafting various systems and institutions, resulting in platforms for various activities. This tendency will create a structure resulting in the breakdown of more and more conventional-type communities.

This study seeks to find ways of rebuilding the communication that is falling apart, via insight into a new society model, and create new communities that will be suitable in the years to come.

Specifically, in order to adapt to present cities, the suggestions and knowledge made for cities 40 years ago in “A Human City” by C. Alexander, which is the basis of this study, will be put into the archives after extracting the activities to regenerate/re-construct the theory of The Most Suitable = “Community,” from movements of citizens/citizens’ groups that are already presently active.

This study was conducted over a period of 2 years, with the first year of the study classified into the following 5 sub-themes, in which case studies on NPO and civil activities were implemented for each theme:

[1] Regional care and creating a place of our own
[2] New home and way of life
[3] Town development through art and festivals
[4] Making a place to learn
[5] Conflict resolution within a community

With regard to “[5] Conflict resolutions within a community,” this was a report based on the research experience of Mr. Ito from ASOBOT, on conflicts within the region and its community, as well as the report questioning once again whether the “community” itself, which is the premise of this study, should be segmented by comparison, under the classifications of “neighborhood-based” and “theme-based.”

“Sanja Festival,” “Street watching,” and “Academy of girder,” for which analyses were not completed as sub-themes at the first year stage, were published as columns.

Furthermore, we interviewed “Hitomachi-sha,” which has generated various civic movements up to the present time, beginning with the “Seikatsu Club Co-op” movement before and after the 1970’s, which is considered to be the root of civic movements in Japan. Based on report records, we would like to interpret and find many tips for today, 40 years after “A Human City,” for the subject “What do we do with our communities?” While this task will be conducted next year, the interview records will be posted in this report in the section on materials.

Over the next year, in addition to the 5 sub-themes initiated in the first year, research on new sub-themes will be implemented, from the viewpoints of points suggested in “A Human City” and community regeneration, etc. Based on the review analysis of this research, we will develop the principles and methodology for re-designing “communities” (development of “knowledge”).
We will create a “Knowledge Archive” (Ver.1), a handbook for surviving in communities in the coming years, as a deliverable in the form of accumulation of such “knowledge.” Furthermore, we hope to support the activities in regenerating many local communities, by linking (via digital archives) the NPO/citizens’ groups that aim to solve various problems in communities.

2. Organization of Study

This study was implemented under the organization of the following members:

Study plan/coordination (LLP Machi/Communication Study Group)
Hiroshi Kashiwagi (Professor at Musashino Art University)
Makoto Ohtake (Contemporary Design Office)
Kotaro Naganuma (Chief Researcher, Bunka Gakuin Creative Media Center)
Osamu Tomoda (LLP Mach /Communication Study Group)
Research implementation/Analysis
Makoto Ohtake (Contemporary Design Office)
Kotaro Naganuma (Chief Researcher, Bunka Gakuin Creative Media Center)
Osamu Tomoda (LLP Machi/Communication Study Group)
Takeshi Ito (Representative, ASOBOT Inc.)

Cooperation on Study
Norio Iguchi (Professor at School of Cultural and Creative Studies, Aoyama Gakuin University)
Keiko Ogawa (Kadobeya Co., Ltd.)
Hajime Enomoto (Director, Urban Environment Planning, Yomiko Advertising Inc.)
Ayumi Ohta (Urban Environment Planning, Yomiko Advertising Inc.)
Shigeo Kobayashi (Professor at Dept. of Architecture, School of Engineering, Tokyo City University)
Yoko Furuta (HOME)
Youhei Miura (Fellow, Research Institute of High Life)

Study organizer
Shinichi Sentoda (Senior Researcher, Research Institute for High Life)

3. Study Method

Establishment of “Regular Study Group Meetings”
In order to carry out this study, we attempted to interpret the suggestions mentioned in “A Human City,” which are the fundamentals for the study, during meetings designated for the deliberation of studies on building archives, by introducing challenges current communities are facing and case studies of civic movements that are still trying to find solutions today, 40 years later. Regular study meetings were held basically once a month, with 10 meetings held this year along with several deliberations.

Confirmation by “Steering Committee”
The Steering Committee confirmed the selection of the subjects of the study, the research process, and the direction, through brainstorming, etc.

Interview and Research
In 2010, the first year of this study, 5 sub-themes were set and we tried to extract “knowledge” obtained by implementing case example research and analysis (reading), such as found in civic movements or residents’ practices related to the theme, as well as administration trials.

The research was mainly conducted by way of interviews with the organizers of civic movements.
Furthermore, we participated in events, etc., and prepared reports based on real-life experiences, as well as video records, in order to create deliberation materials.

4. This Year’s Interim Report Summary

4-1.Regional care and creating a place of our own (Naganuma)
In regional societies with declining birthrates and growing proportions of elderly people, problems in child-rearing and caring for the elderly, which had been taken care of by a “private” sector called family, started to reveal themselves when accompanied by tragic incidents, and have emerged as social challenges. We focused on the problem of caring for the elderly here, and various emerging issues were brought under review as case studies due to the implementation of creating a place of their own for the elderly in local regions.

Although 15 to 20% of seniors aged 65 or older, now accounting for more than 20% of the local population, are covered by nursing-care insurance services, only a few are able to move into a facility for the elderly/housing for the elderly (approximately 5% of the elderly population, although there are regional differences). Other elderly people who require support/nursing care are left with family members, with the situation continuing to the point that they have become aware that such a burden is too large to carry. What has attracted increasing attention and expectations as the next dominating function is a regional society, a so-called “community.”

Communities are expected by both the government and families involved, and a variety of trials have taken place in a rapid succession in various regions.

We studied one case example, the “Minuma House” (NPO Living in Minuma Society), as one of these trials, in which an empty shop was refurbished and rented out to operate as a place for the elderly to call their own in Saitama City where many “new residents,” known as “Saitama Metropolitan Residents,” live.

The “Minuma House” is a house voluntarily built by those people facing problems with the elderly, in an effort to solve issues such as fear for the future in women whose husbands have passed away leaving behind single households (health, living expenses, and relocation), or worries about the existence of husbands who recluse themselves in the house after retirement (dementia and domestic life being restricted by husbands).

Activities such as those mentioned below are implemented at the “Minuma House” and on-going efforts to increase membership as well as drop-ins of non-members are underway.

(1). Communications among members (“Community Cafe”)
(2). Provision of information and consultation concerning nursing care, local living situation, life and money
(3). Members helping each other out (“mutual assistance” → They have participated in supportive activities for evacuees of the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster.)
(4). Shops with local produce for local consumption → They have dealt with the food shortage caused by this disaster.
(5). Cultural activities (cultural seminars, lectures to understand local geography and history, including walking)
(6). Livelihood support services
(7). Tours to visit housing for the elderly/facilities for the elderly

These activities partly dominate the three functions of “regionality,” “cooperativity (mutual interaction/mutual dependence),” and “belonging and togetherness,” respectively, which used to be shared by former communities (or families.) Therefore, “a place of our own” will play a role as one of the bases of community formation.

With respect to the regeneration and creation of communities from the standpoint of regional care, “knowledge” or “insight” or “issues” obtained from the practice of this “Minuma House” are summed up as follows:

(1). Existence of “a place of our own” or “a house of mutual assistance” is important as one of the conditions enabling regional care, mainly at-home care.
When the psychological burden on families is reduced even slightly, tragic situations of “at-home care” will be avoided, thereby enabling sustainability.

(2). Communication at “a place of our own” is effective for care prevention and dementia prevention.

(3). Even for stay-at-home men, an opportunity to debut in the local region (“excuse”) will be attainable by playing a role in this “place of our own”(for example, negotiations with the administrative authorities or as lecturers of cultural seminars, etc.)

(4). In relation to 3, being able to attain a “role” for men, who have spent their whole lives in corporate society, to use their experience, may provide us foresight into an emerging new image of “old age” and “regional citizen” that are different from the conventional viewpoint of aging as “disengagement” which gradually eliminates the past along with their pride (identity.)

(5). When relocation becomes necessary as “at home” care reaches a breaking point, establishing facilities/housing jointly or operating a share-house in areas in which increasing numbers of vacant houses are showing up, will enable us to collectively challenge these anxieties in the future.

(6). Disabled people have also joined the Minuma House, and as the saying goes, “Once you get old, everybody is disabled;” thus, the repeated implementation of disabled people’s movements have provided us with tips for social strategies to deal with old age.

(7). While members participating in the “Minuma House” become acquainted with each other later on, many of them have experience in women’s movements or civic movements such as “Tomono-kai,” ”Seikatsu Club Co-op,” and “Beheiren,” giving the House a sense of continuity of such a historical background along with new ingenuity.

4-2.New Home and Way of Life (Tomoda/cooperation by Furuta and Ohta)
One issue we have to be aware of is the penetration of individualism in collective housing that is supposed to require community activities as a “collective.” Therefore, for this year, we regarded collective housing as the minimum community unit of city dwellers, and extracted the “knowledge” generated by “sharing” in the community, rather than “possessions” based on individualism. Furthermore, we reviewed the possibility of regenerating communities that begin with “sharing” as a way of living.

Our research focused on the “NPO Support Center Chiba,” that provides community support at “Kashiwa-no Ha,” the “Collective Housing Corporation” that is active in disseminating “collective houses” throughout Japan, and “Hitsuji Real Estate,” a new business in the real estate industry that specializes in “shared housing.”

This is a so-called particular solution, but we were able to confirm the following ways of living as characteristics of a “sharing” lifestyle.

Respect for privacy
A space where residents can talk to each other shall be maintained in order to respect each other’s privacy. It can be said that one fundamental of a community is respecting privacy.

Matters to be decided will be decided in good time
Cooperativity will not last long unless it is convenient. Matters requiring decision-making may be modified along the way over the course of time.

Give and take
Life in which give and take naturally occurs is proof that relationships involving caring for each other are possible.

Third party intervention
Intervention by a third party may become necessary in order to find changes or defects that we are not aware of, thus maintaining balance.

Natural course of events
It is ideal for a town to be a collective entity that is formed as a natural course of such smallest unit communities being mutually related.

On the other hand, the following points were confirmed, as important viewpoints regarding the community activities of collective housing complexes.

Players are fostered among residents (from the “NPO Support Center Chiba)
It is claimed that fostering players among the residents is the only responsibility imposed on the Support Center, in order to enrich the life and the town and strengthen “regional power.”

4-3.Town development through art and festivals (Ohtake)
Although “festivals” and “art” are something out of the ordinary and perhaps not immediately useful, they have a power to attract people and create liveliness. Instead of daily human relationships, they are implemented by the human relationships that already existed when implemented. Because it is for a limited period of time, human power is gathered together as one. This is described in the book, “Disaster Utopia (original title: A Paradise Built in Hell)” (The extraordinary communities that arise from disasters) which describes carnivals as looking like intentionally created mini-disasters. It can be said that “festivals” and “art” are preliminary actions that do not forget the mutual assistance function.

However, once “festivals” and “art“ are created simply as devices for the purpose of town development, we have to be aware of the concern that utopia-like communities may not be easily born in uncommon environments. If the primary charms of “festivals” and “art” are lost in order to achieve other purposes, they become meaningless. It is more normal to consider that maintaining them for purposes other than simply becoming devices will naturally lead to town development. Important with this standpoint is developing towns through “festivals” and “art,” and the point is how we can create a place that allows utopia-like spontaneous communities to be generated.

Case example [1] Koganecho Bazaar 2010
This was a project for regenerating the town through “art” from a town that is notorious for misfortunes. While “art” is also a device, the artist involved incorporated the once notorious place more purposefully into his work. Many people come by themselves and get a feeling for the town for the purpose of appreciating art. By having more people visit to see the art, it works as a first step, similar to purification moving forward naturally.

Case example [2] “Kussapara (grass field) Festival” of Kugahara, Ohta Ward, Tokyo
Ages ago, improperly managed vacant lots existed in every town, and were wonderlands for children. Today, no such places exist at all in urban areas. However, there is a park that can be said to be a common land in Kugahara, Ohta Ward. It is “Kussapara Park.” It has been 20 years since local volunteers agreed to manage the park. The “Kussapara (grass field) Festival” is a festival that takes place here. First, there is the “knowledge” that was created in the process once the local volunteers seriously undertook the task of building a park as their own and began managing the park by themselves. Its solidarity is not as a place to solve problems, but as a place where the purpose of creating an ideal park by themselves is shared.

Case example [3] Takachiho/Akimoto Eco-Museum
The movement to encourage interchange between cities and rural areas has rapidly spread over the past several years in an environment marked by a net society. Rural regions are focusing on branding their own local products or eco-tourism. It is a transition from a hard-type construction-based unprofitable administration to the soft-type administration transmitted from local communities. Among these, eco-museums have high expectations as effective bases of handmade tourism.

Tourism administration takes the form of nurturing local activities. Local regions are without question the main players. Furthermore, the expected targets for attracting large crowds may need modification. Rather than being passive tourists, these crowds are people with the purpose of getting involved with rural areas. Participation makes them closer to the players.

Takachiho is a mountain village famous for handing down the tradition of Shinto music and dances. The “Akimoto Eco-Museum” project that was established in the Akimoto Region is a museum handmade by the local community and young urbanites. It is truly a project in which local communities and targets are the major players in collaboration.

Case example [4] Izu Kogen Art Festival
Events known as “art festivals” are now held in every region of the country. Many of them are held either because the organizers want to see a new wave of contemporary art emerge, or the artists themselves have requested the local regions to provide more opportunities to display their artworks. Furthermore, they are also festivals for the purpose of commercial events or attracting tourists.

The Izu Kogen Art Festival is different. It is a handmade art exhibition, with the homes of local residents and vacation homes serving as the main venues. It is a cultural activity that local residents can enjoy themselves, with the purpose of getting to know each other better.

Therefore, this art festival is not simply a festival in which only special people called “authors” get involved, but is also set as a place to awaken and express a sense of art in everybody. By removing the barrier between professional and amateur, anybody can be an author, a planner or an organizer of an exhibition. In this way, it is positioned as an open festival in which anybody can become a realistic deliverer of culture.

4-4.Making a place to learn (Tomoda)
It has become very rare for us to learn “useful knowledge” from local connections or people around you. Because we have learned to “learn” simply without going through troublesome human relationships, “a place to learn” has moved further away from the function as a collective (community).

Fundamentally, “a place to learn” is a place where “a person who wants learn” exists and “a person who teaches” exists. There are many other things “we want to learn” besides that which we learn at school. So why not create such a place in town? We interviewed NPO Shibuya University which is just such a place. What we can expect in such “a place to learn” is to “become aware of” yourself as being heteronomous and then make yourself autonomous.

Today, after-the-fact treatments have begun to show their limits, and a more preliminary action of attaining individual autonomy within a community is the first step in making a community autonomous.

It is the dissemination of region-based communities transcending regions where people judge situations flexibly when faced with accidents or matters requiring adjustments, which leads to the characteristic of being able to respond/modify autonomously.

From the interview, some episodes were revealed by the key phrase, “become aware of,” that is “individual potentials open up.” A flow is created, from “single-shot lecture”→ “anybody can be a teacher”→ “has become a coordinator without realizing it,” that will lead you to discovering a new you.

Furthermore, the nature of “NPO with difficult to see targets” characterizes the method of dissemination. A flow is created, from “Sister schools are not franchised”→ “It is more important to experience standing on your own than knowing how not to fall”→ “Creating its own regional method.” In other words, it can be said that this is because expansion leads to the disappearance of “controlling” heteronomous objects to be controlled. Similarly, “not setting a goal” leads to “a margin so wide that your position may change,” which enables the adaptation of anything and to the initiation of connecting on its own. We believe this to be the most basic route for an autonomous community.

4-5.Conflict resolution within a community (Ito)
On the flip side of the coin, the “community viewpoint,” based on the present theme-based community that connects people due to a commonality in likes and tastes, means that “We can live our lives without forcing ourselves to connect with those who have different sets of values.” However, someone with different values may exist right next to you in real everyday life. That is to say, situations in which the present theme-based communities are increasingly growing can be worded such that they promote “segmentation of the community.” Though a slight exaggeration, this is an “invisible civil war.”

“Civil war” refers to a form of conflict of killing one another among those who have a “relationship of knowing each other,” as opposed to conflicts between nations. Prior to the conflict, there surely existed a community, filled with human activities, but one day, very suddenly, the town found itself divided. In other words, “how to regenerate a community from a situation in which people hate each other” is a big theme for achieving peace in a civil war.

From the viewpoint of this “community regeneration in conflict-affected regions,” we will verify whether theme-based communities are really useful in emergency situations including natural disasters, or whether the comparison of “neighborhood-based” versus “theme-based” itself is wrong. Further, we would like to once again review the fundamental questions: “What is a community?” and “What are we supposed to construct for town development?”