Center Director: Keisuke Uehara (Associate Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
Activity Base Campus: Shin-kawasaki
Center Overview
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of adaptation measures to prepare for the adverse effects of climate change that cannot be fully addressed by mitigation measures alone. This research aims to formulate adaptation measures at the municipal level, particularly in the fields of energy and various aspects of daily life, to address the impacts of climate change. Due to the uncertainty in climate change predictions, continuous monitoring and energy management are necessary in the areas of life affected. The two municipalities where demonstration experiments are conducted for this project, Okutama City in Tokyo and Kurihara City in Miyagi Prefecture, are both typical depopulated areas with aging populations, but they have different regional characteristics. We will use mesh data to estimate the impact of climate change on municipalities and conduct a regional vulnerability analysis. We will develop a prototype of the "Green Society ICT Life Infrastructure" that combines advanced technologies to measure and optimize information on household energy consumption and supply. At the same time, we will measure and analyze life-related information, such as adverse effects on health, medical care, and agriculture, to formulate adaptation measures that address regional vulnerabilities and demonstrate their effectiveness. In this project, we will implement social system reforms to create a resilient society by enhancing the effectiveness of adaptation measures through the improvement of social capital. For the proposed adaptation measures to be disseminated nationwide and bring about significant mitigation effects, several institutional bottlenecks need to be resolved. This study will conduct theoretical and empirical research and, based on the findings, make proposals for implementation. To this end, this center has been established to conduct research activities.
Keywords and Main Research Themes
Green society, Life infrastructure, Energy Management System (EMS), Health and medical care, Telemedicine, Agriculture, Disaster response, Social capital, Social system reform
2014 Business Plan
■Background, Rationale, and Goals for Activities Continuing from the Previous Fiscal Year
This center was established as a project funded by the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology, with a five-year research period starting in fiscal 2010, which was confirmed after a mid-term evaluation by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Therefore, the center's activities are being carried out continuously over five years in accordance with the activity plan submitted in the application to MEXT. In particular, the acquisition and analysis of downscaled climate change prediction data, the construction of a regional EMS (Energy Management System), surveys of the elderly, monitoring of life-related information such as health, medical care, and agriculture, and the construction of an "ICT Life Infrastructure" to integrate this information and formulate adaptation measures at the municipal level, form a series of interrelated research activities aimed at building a resilient society based on the concept of social capital.
■New Activity Goals, Content, and Implementation Background for Fiscal 2014
The Municipal Information Research Group, newly established in fiscal 2013, will demonstrate how to formulate and evaluate policies, plans, and measures in municipalities using the Green Society ICT Life Infrastructure, and will indicate directions for new municipal management planning and policy formation.
The Climate Change Group will use 5km downscaled data to integrate climate warming prediction results into existing municipal database systems. Through this, they will attempt an approach to utilize it for the formulation of global warming adaptation measures.
The Energy Management System Group will build HEMS (Home Energy Management System) in more than a dozen actual homes in Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture, the main field for demonstration experiments, and conduct EMS experiments at the resident level.
The Health and Medical Care Group will continue to conduct demonstration experiments such as telemedicine for the elderly in Kurihara City and Okutama Town. Based on the results of a complete survey on health status and regional social capital, they will also develop a community-building program to adapt to changes in health status due to climate change, taking into account the characteristics of each district.
The Agriculture Group will consider and develop a platform to support farming and regional development with an eye toward responding and adapting to vulnerabilities in regional agriculture, based on measurements of the impact of climate change on agriculture.
The Information and Communication Systems Group aims to build a third-generation model (prototype) of the life infrastructure that integrates data on climate change, energy, health and medical care, agriculture, and various municipal plans.
Regarding social system reform, we will continue to work with the Social Demonstration Strategy Committee to make proposals for necessary deregulation.
2013 Business Report
■Implementation Details, Research Results, and Degree of Achievement Relative to the Business Plan for the Fiscal Year
Regarding the impact of climate change/municipal-level mesh data, we built a system to generate municipal-level data from the 5km mesh climate change data provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency/Meteorological Research Institute. We also built a system that allows municipal employees to acquire and analyze data themselves, and have made parts of it public.
Regarding the development and operation of the Energy Management System, we further detailed the EMS system built in Kurihara City by the previous fiscal year and introduced sensors and systems to accommodation facilities, educational institutions, and more. We also built a sensor-based HEMS (Home Energy Management System) for households and had it used in more than a dozen actual homes, starting a demonstration to investigate the relationship between the behavior of ordinary citizens and energy, as well as its connection to social capital.
Regarding health and medical care/social capital, we conducted a second complete survey on the health status and regional social capital of the elderly. Part of the analysis will be conducted in the next fiscal year. We started "salon activities" based on the characteristics of each district, and decided to expand them to other areas due to their significant health improvement effects.
Regarding agriculture, for the new strawberry variety whose cultivation began in fiscal 2012, we analyzed the trial cultivation status, including comparisons with data from other regions, measured the impact of climate change, and proceeded with verifying the effectiveness of response measures for the vulnerability model and the ICT platform under construction.
Regarding the information and communication system, as a second-generation model of the "ICT Life Infrastructure," we realized a prototype of a model that handles and analyzes sensor data from multiple fields, which are accumulated in their respective databases, in an integrated manner with a unified interface, and developed typical applications utilizing it. The "Municipal Information Group," which joined this fiscal year, carried out preparations to integrate information such as various municipal plans with information on climate change, EMS, health and medical care, and agriculture.
Regarding common issues for research groups/social system reform, we made proposals for necessary deregulation in conjunction with the Social Demonstration Strategy Committee.
■Number of Published Papers (with names of major journals), Number of Conference Presentations (Domestic/International), and Achievements in Social Contribution such as Events (Date, Location)
Number of published papers: 12. *Journal of Social Entrepreneurship*, *IEEJ Transactions on Electronic Engineering*, *IAEG 50th Anniversary - The IAEG XII Congress 2014*, *IEICE Transactions*, *Shukan Norin*.
Number of conference presentations: 14 domestic, 13 international. The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Public Health, 2013 RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, The 2013 International Conference on Internet Computing and Big Data, The 21st Environmental Municipality Conference Hioki Conference, International Conference on Regional Climate - CORDEX 2013, and others.
Achievements in social contribution, such as events: Chair, Summer Workshop on Parallel/Distributed/Cooperative Processing in "Kitakyushu" (SWoPP Kitakyushu 2013), July 30–August 1, 2013, Kitakyushu International Conference Center; Lecturer, Innovation Workshop 2013, November 14, 2013, Future Architect, Inc. (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo); Lecture on "Ibaraki's Regional Resources and Sustainability," November 19, 2013, Mito Keisei Hotel; Session planning and booth exhibition, ORF 2013, November 22–23, 2013, Tokyo Midtown; Judge, Presentation of Case Studies on Neighborhood Association Activities, January 26, 2014, Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture; Lecture, Study Group on ICT Utilization in Medical Information, Medical Policy Department, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health, December 16, 2013, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building; and 20 other events in total.
■Notable Achievements through Center Activities
With the cooperation of the Japan Meteorological Agency's Meteorological Research Institute, we were able to utilize 5km mesh data for climate change. Based on this data, we developed and partially released a system that generates regional climate change prediction data for Kurihara City in Miyagi Prefecture and Okutama Town in Tokyo, the fieldwork bases for this project, enabling the data to be linked to municipal policies. Conducting such analysis systematically at the municipal level is a first in Japan. Furthermore, during the Great East Japan Earthquake, drawing on lessons from the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake, we provided a victim support and disaster response system using satellite communications, which had been jointly developed with Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture, to dozens of evacuation centers and municipal headquarters for disaster control. This enabled basic information transmission and was greatly appreciated in various locations.
Project Members
Principal Investigator
Toru Takebayashi
ProfessorHygiene and Public HealthKatsuhiko Ogawa
ProfessorFaculty of Environment and Information Studies