The Future of Self-Sufficient Sustainable Cities

Co-creating the future with OIST and PDIE Group   

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イベントの主要言語：英語（日本語に通訳あり）

OIST and PDIE Group are bringing together an outstanding group of future architects to rethink the way humans will one day live and interact.   

In March, we will embark on a journey to co-create self-sufficient, resilient, and sustainable small cities and communities that will serve as a forum for a convergence of technology, culture, and lifestyles, encompassing clean energy/water, regenerative and circular production, health and wellbeing, and social and cultural innovation.   

Desired outcomes 

• An emerging innovation ecosystem on sustainable cities  
• New connections and partnerships  
• Collaborative projects launched  

Key Questions   

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population are expected to be living in cities and metropolitan areas. Japan’s population is aging and shrinking, especially in rural areas.  In regional Japan, a new approach is needed, one that appeals to younger generations and that offers a dynamic combination of sustainable features.     

• How will humans live in greater harmony with nature?  
• How will we cope with climate change and create a zero-emission economy?
• How can we create a community that offers happiness, health, and well-being?  
• How can we bring rural areas to life in the post-Covid era?   
• How can we produce energy, food, and work in a self-sufficient and sustainable way?   
• How can we create and maintain a 100% circular lifestyle?     

PDIE Group and OIST are gathering some of the world’s most outstanding innovators and future thinkers to envision a roadmap that will help us answer all these questions and more.  Our aim is to create a fertile seedbed for innovation by inspiring scientists, policy makers, and investors to take completely new approaches and reinvent the way we coexist with nature.      

Agenda 　   

We have a rich agenda with keynotes and interactive workshop-style sessions. We will bring together people from international and Japanese backgrounds for a productive discussion that will launch an ecosystem of creative minds, investors, and future thinkers who can harness innovation to re-balance growing regional disparities and build prosperous communities.     

Some of our keynote speakers include:   

Yoshiaki Ishii, METI 

Dr. Peter Gruss, OIST president  

Tom Bosschaert, Visionary and Founder of Orchid City   

Stephan Nicoleau, Venture Capitalist, FullCycle from New York   

Ryo Yamada, WOTA, Earthshot Prize finalist   

Takashi Sabetto, Address.love, founder and CEO   

Malka Older, Science Fiction Author and researcher   And more!    

We will go through a discovery process and innovation journey following this protocol:  “Connect - Scan - Focus - Act.” Our Future Visioning will be inspired both by a technology-centric approach and a human-centric approach. Practitioners and innovators will talk about visions for the future that their breakthroughs will bring to life.   

At the end of our gathering, everyone will have a clearer vision of how to build a sustainable small city or community and will have achieved the following outcomes:  Key learnings about creating decentralized, self-sufficient, sustainable cities/communities  Specific learnings in the area of systems thinking for regenerative agriculture and food systems, renewable energy, sustainable mobility and tourism, and the social/cultural aspects including community governance Knowledge of how to build prototypes for new projects that can be executed within a collaborative community  Ways to nurture talent and build new connections