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Purpose of Research

It is estimated that by 2050, approximately 70% of the world’s population will concentrate in cities. While Japan has entered a period of action in response to earthquakes, disasters of wind and water that are thought to be a consequence of global warming have become frequent, and the risk of disasters has also increased. Meanwhile, cities are in need of measures to mitigate against risks at a level not previously seen, such as increasing the role of knowledge-producing centers with the advancement of globalization, and maintaining the living environment of elderly people who are rapidly growing in number. In order to realize such objectives, different fields need to cooperate to create innovation through practical collaboration by utilizing the most advanced scientific knowledge, and the implementation of new innovation in society.

On the other hand, even the Term 5 Science and Technology Basic Plan mentions the importance of “‘Co-creation,’ where researchers face the society, diverse stakeholders hold dialogue and collaborate back and forth, and link these efforts to form policies and create knowledge.” In addition, the realization of a “super smart society” ahead of the rest of the world (Society 5.0) was announced, and it is said that this society where cyberspace and physical space are highly integrated, should be shared as the form of future.

Therefore, this research forms the multi-disciplinary / multi-subject collaboration / cooperative research team “Research Group for the Future City Design Corresponding to Global Environmental Problems” between people from industry, government, academia and citizens, then constructs / uses the ICT support tool CPCS (Cyber Physical City System), which is a highly integrated cyberspace and physical space, and it aims to promote practical research on planning, design, and management of future cities that are environmentally friendly, respond to increasing risk, is high in quality and full of vitality.

Research content / methods

Considering the southwestern part of the global city of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area and the enlarged Kanagawa basin, which is the shared body of water from Mt. Fuji to Tokyo Bay as target, initially we will start from the Yokohama Minato Mirai 21 district in the center of the city and Tsuru City in the source area of water, then spread gradually. Taking future urban design, which will be safely and robustly mitigated and adapted to climate change, we will construct the cyber platform (CPF) of CPCS, consisting of five areas (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, noosphere) in cities / regions. CPF introduces information about these five areas, including data and information of real urban space into an urban space model based on three-dimensional GIS on a computer, analyze / form knowledge through large-scale data processing, and performs value creation and problem-solving on cities. Using these constructs, multi-disciplinary / multi-subject stakeholders match the data of each field and position that have had the space and time of the field made to match, which will facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary research. For large-scale data processing, we will use JAMSTEC’s Earth Simulator to downscale the results of global climate change prediction, and we share it as the result of outdoor microclimate prediction at 1 m mesh, etc., or perform multiagent simulation, etc. based on an understanding of human flow.

In this research, we will first construct CPF for the Minato Mirai 21 district, select specific themes such as “Thermal environment design adapted to climate change,” “Energy analysis and management based on human flows,” and “Safe evaluation plan and management at the time of disaster,” which are related to the design and management of super smart cities (area), and to conduct practical research under the participation of stakeholders. As a future plan, these achievements from the most advanced Yokohama Kanagawa region shall be presented internationally, through cooperation with major cities in Asia, etc. where remarkable developments are being made in this new global era.