MIZBERING FORUM 2019
-River utilization selection case presentation and emergent idea meeting-
Thursday, February 28, 2019
@ Shibuya Stream Hall
Organizer: Mizubeling Project Secretariat
Co-sponsored by: Water and Disaster Management Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism / City Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Cooperation: Tokyu Group / (one company) Future Design Shibuya / Regional Creation Innovator INSPIER
What is the future Mizube! ?? What is the future gusset! ??
This "Mizbeling Forum" is to think about urban development from the waterside through on-site reports and awards of waterside innovators from all over Japan, and future river space utilization idea meetings.
Anyway, pop productions such as speakers dressed as the Blues Brothers (Mr. Masui, Mr. Yoshimura, Water and Disaster Management Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) and Blue Man, the "Mizbeling Nebula Public Relations Ambassador" in full-body blue tights, appear everywhere. This impressive event.
Forums tend to be stubborn, but with unique concerns, the atmosphere is fun and the meeting progresses in a cozy mood with constant laughter.
Unique innovators who change the city from the waterside gather from all over the country
"River Let's Go! Town Eyoze Grand Prize"
After the opening, the public selection of the "River Roze! Town Gaeyoze Grand Prize" was held.
The award is to discover and praise human resources who are positively working toward new goals in a new era in community development activities that utilize the waterfront.
Of the 33 nominees recommended by the recommenders, 11 nominees selected by a pre-election meeting presented their activities in turn.
Here are some of them.
"Kumamoto representative who does not break even if hit" Jason Morgan
Morgan grew up playing on the Delaware River in New Jersey. He came to Kumamoto and fell in love with the beautiful stream of Shirakawa.
Morgan, who wanted to revitalize the area, including the Kuhonji area on the opposite bank across the Shirakawa from the center of Kumamoto, held night markets and summer festivals on the riverbed of the Shirakawa. However, I later learned that a summer festival with the same name already existed in the area, and at the same time I was warned, but with that as a trigger, I deepened exchanges with local residents and still liven up Shirakawa. Say you're continuing.
The driving force that "doesn't break even if it hits" is a skill that can be achieved because of the love for Shirakawa and Morgan's own personality.
“Leave the waterside in Sendai” Junichi Toyoshima
Mr. Toyoshima says that he is creating and promoting the "Sendai Central Park Concept" on the stage of the Hirose River in Sendai, even though no one has asked for it.
The basin of the Hirose River extends to about half of the entire Sendai city. Among them, this project is to name the area "Central Park", which is about 1.5km between Sendai Station and Nishi Park, and to make it look like one big park. Mr. Toyoshima laughs, "It's not a city policy at all."
Various unique projects such as picnics and weddings are held under the theme of [eating, standing, visiting, knowing, gathering]. Hammock lines are lined up along the riverside, and people will soon come to gather, or a table tennis table will be placed in the west park to conduct a social experiment to create a community space.
They say that they want children to play in the Hirose River, which is taught at school that "children should not go alone", and that children can come to the Hirose River if they create a place where adults can stay. , Mr. Toyoshima's passion is the beginning.
“Cruise ship boss of water city Osaka” Yukiji Oe
Mr. Oe, who is the secretary general of the "Osaka City Cruise Promotion Council", was established to promote branding of Osaka cruises. The reason why he is called a "boss" is because of his ability to unite everyone by preaching to each and every one of the many unique shipping companies in Osaka that have been united since the establishment of the council.
Mr. Oe says that 10 years ago, each region had its own “family”. However, rather than pursuing only the profits of our company, we thought that it was necessary for everyone, including other companies, to work together to create a system that would make a profit as a whole, and we have been working on the branding of cruises in Osaka in general.
This is the only person who can manage this initiative, which is unprecedented in Japan, and was nominated for its powerful and tenacious devoted activities.
As you can see, every nominee is very unique (in terms of activity and personality). When I hear the presentation, every project seems to be very difficult, but at the same time, it is strange that it looks very fun.
Originally, one person was planned to be selected here, but after discussions by the selection committee members, "everyone is wonderful and I can't make a choice," in addition to the following selection committee individual awards, etc. Has been decided that all nominees will win the grand prize.
Selection Committee Individual Award
Hosei University Specially Appointed Professor Hidenobu Jinnai Selection: “Cruise ship boss of water city Osaka” Yukiji Oe
"In Tokyo, it's not quite like the case in Osaka. Please give guidance to Tokyo."
E-DESIGN Representative Hiroki Kutsuna Selection: Mr. Hiroshi Matsuoka, a "bump-flying administrative man" who brings together towns, companies, investors, etc. and freely plays the role of flag waving in order to revitalize Nagato Yumoto Onsen along the river.
"It's the first time for a perverted civil servant (laughs). I feel that the ability to move forward despite making mistakes spreads throughout the city."
Open A Representative Masataka Baba Selection: “Leave the waterside in Sendai” Junichi Toyoshima
"I thought it was democracy to decide and proceed without permission. Let's make a policy proposal to Sendai City together!"
It is "people" who create the city.
Talk by Seiichi Saito
After that, as a guest talk, Mr. Seiichi Saito, the representative of Rhizomatiks Co., Ltd. and the future designer of Future Design Shibuya, took the stage.
He talked about the difficulty of promoting a project with the cooperation and consent of various places such as administrative coordination, and the secret to doing it efficiently.
In the case of projects related to urban development, it is often difficult to move forward due to coordination with related parties such as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and municipalities, and there is a gap between the administrative side and the creative side (artist side). He said he felt that he needed a big role to fill it.
It's like a master key that allows you to open the "doors" in various places smoothly.
It was also mentioned that he decided to participate in Future Design Shibuya, an industry-government-academia-private collaboration organization, as a future designer in order to fulfill that role.
"City x culture x technology" is often talked about, but Mr. Saito points out that the degree of freedom is lower than in the past, for example, it is quite difficult to perform officially on the streets of the city. ..
However, we have introduced some project examples that we have been working on from that perspective, assuming that culture is born from the city, climate, and ultimately people.
One of them is Tokyo Midtown's Lawn Square and Midtown Garden, a project "PARK PACK" (implemented from October to November 2018) that expands the potential of the park.
Multiple containers packed with various tools and technologies, so to speak, "play tools" have appeared in the park, and park users can participate in activities and workshops that use them in their own way. The bustle is born there.
Indeed, it was an example of active utilization of existing space from the perspective that it is the "people" who are active there that create the city.
Such "PARK PACK" will appear at the waterside of Shibuya this time.
“From today, there are three containers in the Shibuya River,” says Saito.
This is a social experiment project entitled "WORK PARK PACK" that utilizes the waterside space "Shibuya River Street" along the Shibuya River.
A place to explore the possibilities of "WORK" with everyone living in Shibuya, not just business people, while utilizing "PARK PACK", a tool that brings out the potential of public spaces. It is a place for social experiments to verify utilization ideas unique to the Shibuya River.
"This is a demonstration experiment, so we haven't decided on the content of the content. From March 1st to March 31st, we are looking for concrete utilization ideas from everyone," he said. "If you have any ideas such as" I want to do something like this in Shibuya River "or" I want to bring projects that I have done all over the country to Shibuya ", please let me know."
At the end of the talk, a hot message was added, "Action and implementation are important first. Action should be taken first rather than thinking."
After that, in the event, there was a meaningful corner, such as connecting with Helsinki and listening to Mr. Kato Suga, a member of the Embassy of Japan in Finland, about how to use public spaces in the area.
After the forum program was over, many visitors actually visited the site of "WORK PARK PACK", which is close to the venue Shibuya Stream, and everyone hoped for a new page in the history of the Shibuya River. toast!
Although it was raining, it was a perfect ending for a day to inflate our dreams for the future of Shibuya and the waterfront.
