Developing people-friendly smart cities from the realization of Enfrastructure. Kisho Kurokawa's Philosophy of Symbiosis and Nippon Koei's DNA Fuse to Create the Group's Smart City Business Vision

When I looked around the group, I saw the existence of a wholly owned subsidiary, Kisho Kurokawa Architects & Associates ("Kurokawa Office"), and I was convinced that the concept of metabolism and urban renewal, which Kisho Kurokawa emphasized in his later years, was the path that we should pursue. I am convinced that this is the path we should take. Since NK has had continuous experience in the infrastructure development for national land development, we thought that we should aim to form city blocks by developing and utilizing such knowledge. From the initial stage, we approached the Kurokawa Office and together, we selected young members of each infrastructure department, and developed the idea from scratch. I believe that the "E" in "Smart Enfrastructure for Unlimited Future" can be summed up with the word "Enable”. The members also expressed their willingness to "challenge the concept of infrastructure itself as we handle infrastructure", "spread this challenging attitude throughout the company", "work together with all generations", and "realize the 'E' in Empowerment”.
We at Nippon Koei believe that our mission is to maximize the added value of infrastructure and make it useful to "you" who live there.

We started our team discussion with the question, "What is a smart city?" This was a very important time. Metabolism advocated by Kisho Kurokawa and infrastructure development, which Nippon Koei has been involved in for a long time, can be compared to the human body. Architecture is the visible part of the human body, and infrastructure such as electricity, water, and roads are like the muscles and blood vessels. We believe that the future of cities lies in the redefinition of these two wheels, making them function properly in the coming age.
Cities, like the skin of the human body, age over time. The ideal city of the future would be like the skin of the human body, where old tissue peels away when it has finished its role, and new tissue is born from within through metabolism. We decided on the three axes: "managing the city", "smart UD city", and "city in harmony with the ecosystem", referring to the ideas of Kisho Kurokawa, and then spun out in words and images what each member considered "smart" and "not-so-smart". Through repeated brainstorming sessions using the right and left brains, the term "enfrastructure" was born.
Times are moving so fast these days that when we think about the future, we do not know if even the term "smart city" will survive. Therefore, we aimed to create a "strong vision" that would survive the changing times.

When I decided to work on this project, I re-examined what a smart city is. As a result, I got the impression that anything can be called a smart city as long as it is associated with cutting-edge technology. When we organized NK's findings, it was concentrated in infrastructure, but while there are cutting-edge technologies, there is always the image of people and their daily lives. What is important is the fact that "people" are there. With this in mind, we held a series of workshops with the young people of NK, the generation that will actually utilize the smart city. By expressing the image of "smart" inherent in each person through words and visuals, and by carefully going through the process of creating a mind map, I feel that we were able to create a concept that is uniquely NK's.

We defined "city" as a place where people gather and do something. Therefore, in the future, virtual space may also be included. The expression "city district" is most appropriate because it can be carved out of existing municipal areas as well as shopping centers and other such units.
To date, the NK Group has had a great deal of experience in the development of urban landmarks such as railway stations, stadiums, and other large accommodations, as well as their surrounding areas. Today, with the shift from the public sector to the private sector becoming more active, we are entering an era in which things are viewed more in terms of city blocks. We will continue to make proposals based on convenience and people-friendliness, including the creation of added value, attracting customers, and improving real estate value.

For example, the elderly are having trouble using digital devices, which are now in a transitional period. There are some who think that it is inevitable that some people will be left behind, but the main business of the Nippon Koei Group is infrastructure development. We have conducted many projects in which all citizens are the beneficiaries. We believe that our continued efforts to "leave no one behind as much as possible" will naturally lead to the smart city concept.

There are four smart city issues that Nippon Koei will be solving. First is to further advance the "revitalization of the community", which we have been working on for some time. Of course, solving the issues of declining birthrate, aging population, and population decline is important, but the theme of "freedom of movement" was very much discussed. It is important to create liveliness, but equally important, we will not turn our eyes away from the reality of declining population, and we will propose a metabolism that is friendly to all.
Second, we must strongly promote sustainable infrastructure management, labor savings, and automation. The aging of existing social infrastructure is an urgent issue, and there is still much room for consideration in optimizing logistics. We will present solutions using our digital products such as the "Infrastructure Maintenance and Management Support System".
Third, we plan to achieve unprecedented levels of prevention and recovery in disaster prevention. As an example, we will propose the next generation of the city through "Bosuke", a disaster prevention information platform; "Satellite Information Services", which realizes labor saving by analyzing satellite images; the energy sector aiming for 100% renewable energy; "KIBOH2030", an SDGs evaluation tool; "TSUMUGI@"; etc.
Fourth, local production for local consumption of energy. In a nutshell, it is a micro-grid. We envision the future of renewable energy through aggregation technology.

We believe that the realms of people and nature, and technology and nature, will come closer together. There have been products that incorporate characteristics of plants and animals in the past, and I think this trend will continue. The more they overlap with each other, and the more difficult it is to tell where nature and technology come from, the smarter they will become.
Based on the vision that we have proposed, we will realize a smart society in cities that can be used by all. Its penetration will take time, but we will propose it, including enjoyment and flexibility. We believe that including everything, both developing and declining, will lead to metabolism in a smart city society.