The Fourth Year's Challenge: The Camp for Designing the Future in Tottori | Kazunori Takashio, Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance
2025.06.24
It's rare to see such a clear, full view of Mt. Daisen (also known as Hoki-Fuji).
The season for the Camp for Designing the Future is here again. The "Camp for Designing the Future in Tottori" started in 2022, set in Daisen and Nanbu towns. It is a new type of residential workshop held off-campus with the support of Tottori Prefecture. The format itself, co-hosted with local governments and held under the prefecture's name, is also a new endeavor.
The Camp for Designing the Future in Tottori has been conducted as part of the "Tottori Future Co-creation Project" with Tottori Prefecture. The usual process is as follows. First, we identify regional issues through field research supported by local governments and launch four to five projects at the university (SFC) to address them. The staff consists of about ten people, mainly graduate students. For about ten days, including the main Camp for Designing the Future period, we stay on-site again to implement service prototypes applying the latest technologies that are our forte, such as XR (VR, AR, MR), IoRT (Internet of Robotic Things), and sensor manufacturing, and seek feedback from stakeholders. During the Camp for Designing the Future, high school and technical college students also participate in the projects as system developers. Afterward, aiming for shared awareness and solutions at the municipal level, we plan to turn the most requested projects into multi-year joint projects. The goal there is closer social implementation and giving back to the community.
The Camp for Designing the Future is also a place for high school and technical college students to see the process of university research activities and social implementation, and to experience it firsthand.
Since the first year, we have conducted field research in Nichinan Town (2023) and Tottori City (2024), proposing services rooted in each region such as "tourism and industrial support services," "community healthcare services," and "urban revitalization services," and have been working on their social implementation as joint projects. Currently, two joint projects with Nichinan Town and three with Tottori City are ongoing. As I have detailed this in past entries of Okashira's Diary, many of you may already be familiar with it ( Water, Rice, and ORF (2023.11.28) , ) To Future SFC Students (2024.10.08) , The Teachers Are Running (2024.12.03) ).
The consistent idea is that of a "Harmonious Augmented Town." This is a concept that aims for a town that can gently transform toward the future by augmenting the value and presence of existing things, places, and lifestyles while preserving them. Of course, discussions on this topic could also be held around our campus. So why conduct these demonstrations in Tottori?
As I mentioned in a previous Okashira's Diary entry , there are three important perspectives when researching advanced technologies at SFC: "understanding the subject (people, things, and events)," "understanding the world," and "moving the world." In this respect, conducting demonstrations in Tottori has clear advantages: it is easy to build active engagement with the subjects (residents), immediate challenges are apparent, and we can move the world together with stakeholders and residents. They are incredibly nimble in a way that is unthinkable in the Tokyo metropolitan area. You could say it's like having a participatory civic campus for research wherever we go.
This spring, Nichinan Town, which has been deeply and closely involved with us since 2023, launched a new concept. It is the "Nichinan University HUB Concept," an initiative to position the town as a hub for university collaboration, create a relational and exchange population, and solve regional issues from diverse perspectives. This idea emerged from discussions between us SFC faculty and Nichinan Town, aiming to create a new relationship of "Town x People x University." In fact, besides SFC, Tottori University, Osaka Metropolitan University, Meiji University, and The University of Tokyo are also involved with Nichinan Town in various ways. In February, the "Kickoff Forum for Creating the Future of the Region with Universities: Co-creating a Regional Revitalization Model in Nichinan" was held and featured in various media (see below). I also took the stage in a panel discussion with faculty from each university, town and prefectural officials, and representatives of the townspeople, and conveyed my hopes for this concept. If each university, at the laboratory level, takes turns staying for several weeks to several months and engages in various demonstrations in the provided spaces, that alone can create a new relational and exchange population. Just having students walking around town would change the atmosphere. It seems implementation will take a little more time, but it's a truly exciting prospect.
The research field of Policy and Media is the science of "engagement." It is a field where we discuss, propose, implement, and demonstrate "media" and "policy" as mediums that connect and move people, things, living organisms, the environment, and the world, as well as the "methodologies and technologies to realize them." Having a place for demonstration within easy reach is an unparalleled opportunity for a researcher.
In mid-June, as the rainy season sky suddenly gave way to intense heat, I headed out for this year's preliminary field research, which combined inspections of accommodation facilities and workshop venues with meetings and coordination with various stakeholders. This year, we returned to the western district for the first time in two years, with the area around Yonago as our field. I could only manage a two-day, one-night itinerary, making for a very tight schedule, but at every place I visited, I received positive comments on our project proposals. Above all, I am delighted by their proactive and enthusiastic attitude of getting involved as if it were their own project.
And there was one more piece of good news. This year, the number of entries from regions outside the Tokyo metropolitan area reached three-quarters of the total. Moreover, half of the applicants were from the San'in and Hokuriku regions. "After four years, we've finally come this far..." Professor Takita, who is also in charge, and I both had our eyes well up with tears.
It looks like it's going to be an even more enjoyable summer than usual.
P.S.
Timing-wise, the spring G1 series has just ended, so my apologies to everyone who was expecting a topic related to that. Of course, there's a lot I'd like to write about—Croix du Nord and jockey Yuichi Kitamura winning the Japanese Derby, and the legendary jockey Yutaka Take leading Meisho Tabaru to victory in the Takarazuka Kinen—but I'll save that for another time (^^)v
■ Yomiuri Shimbun Article (April 3, 2025)
■ San-in Chuo Shimpo Article (March 6, 2025) "University Students Report on Research and Demonstrations in Nichinan, Panel Discussion Also Held"
■ Nihonkai Shimbun Article (February 23, 2025) "Opinions on a Future Created with Universities: Forum in Nichinan to Consider Forms of Collaboration"