Think about the “what if” of the area and organize the scattered “attractiveness”

Hello, this is Aya Watanabe from NOMLAB. My life work is to travel to various parts of the country and experience and get involved with the charms of the regions. Since I was a student, I have created events with the people of my town, and as I have been involved with various regions in my daily work and life, I have become more and more fascinated by the culture, people, and nature of the region. It became
In this article, I decided to summarize what I thought about the region and what I noticed about my daily "planning" work through my activities outside the company.

Participation in a project that thinks about Ibaraki's "what if" and envisions the future of the region

Since October 2021, I have been participating in the "if design project" (planned and operated by Rebita Co., Ltd.), a regional revitalization project sponsored by Ibaraki Prefecture.
In order to solve the problems faced by the region, the team researches the characteristics of the region and the people who live there, and by making a plan and outputting it, the participants are interested in Ibaraki.
Normally, they each do different jobs such as marketing and IT, and members with diverse backgrounds form a team and produce one output in four months. It's a very fresh opportunity to get to know how to approach problems from a different perspective than the designers and planners I usually work with in the company.
The team consists of 6 project members, a regional coordinator who usually lives in the area in charge and works with the team to solve problems, and a director who supports the project and the entire team.

Provided image: Rebita Co., Ltd.

A team gathers information by conducting online interviews with people in the town.

The activity base of this project, which I personally participated in as part of my external activities, is Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture.
In Sakuragawa City, a famous spot for wild cherry blossoms, which has long been said to be "Yoshino in the west, Sakuragawa in the east", with the cooperation of the local company Classel Sakuragawa Co., Ltd. The initial theme was to think about the development of content and the design of how to convey information to the public in order to become a city that is loved by people.

The more you look into it, the more interesting content you find.

We proceeded to organize the attractive spots scattered around the city by calling them “contents” including experiences.
Sakuragawa City in Ibaraki Prefecture is surrounded by Kasama City and Mashiko Town, which are famous for pottery, and Tsukuba City, where Mt. Tsukuba is located. Not only that, but with the cooperation of Kuraseru Sakuragawa Co., Ltd., if you take a tour of the town, you will be able to see the Kabasan Market, a farmer's market full of attractions such as agricultural products and traditional crafts from all over Sakuragawa, and the Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. ``Makabe no Machinami'', ``Amabiki Kannon'' famous for praying for safe childbirth, ``Tsukuba Kasumigaura Ring Ring Road,'' a cycling road leading to Lake Kasumigaura, and splendid mountain cherry blossoms in the city. I noticed that there are so many activities.

In particular, the sight of Takamine's mountain cherry blossoms covering the mountain is a masterpiece. Yamazakura is different from someiyoshino in that no two cherry blossoms are the same because each one has different DNA. Furthermore, because the flowering times are also different, the wild cherry blossoms can be enjoyed for a long time from the end of March to the beginning of May. It has a long history, and Ki no Tsurayuki wrote a waka poem about wild cherry blossoms in his later collection of waka poems. did you know?

Takamine cherry blossoms

City contents (From the upper left, Kabasan Market, Tsukuba Kasumigaura Ring Ring Road, Amabiki Kannon, Makabe Townscape)
In addition, there are plenty of other contents such as the mandarin orange garden in Sakayori and the autumn leaves that can be seen at the temples in the city.

City map (◎ Reference: Sakura Meguri Map, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture)

Proposals to connect scattered content and deliver its appeal to more people.

As the activities continued, members' realizations such as "Is it okay if Sakuragawa only comes in the spring?" became.
But if you look at the city map, you'll see that all of these lovely places are so far apart that they can only be reached by car. Although it is a famous spot for cherry blossoms, it is a wasteful town to just see the cherry blossoms in the spring because you can enjoy the idyllic and natural scenery throughout the four seasons.

After repeated discussions and fieldwork in the team, we decided to return to Sakuragawa City with the themes of "discovering new resources centered on cherry blossoms" and "cultivating the pride of the citizens of Sakuragawa." I proposed "Machigoto Sakuragawa Gakuen".

State of the final presentation. To Mayor Sakuragawa and Mr. Kuraseru Sakuragawa.

This proposal is to position the scattered town contents and seasonal cherry blossoms as "symbols reminiscent of the school" with the world view of "Ring Ring Road" and "school" connecting the north and south of the city, and send it as an event. So, it is a mechanism to get around town mainly by bicycle.

By having participants (school students) travel around the city (school) (moving classrooms), contact points with people (teachers and classrooms) in the city will increase, and the number of “people who think about Sakuragawa City” will increase. We aim to grow (=the community surrounding Sakuragawa will grow, and the number of people who are attached to Sakuragawa like our alma mater will increase).

Participants travel around Sakuragawa in a mobile classroom, and local people learn about the town and businesses through the business there. The management side connects local people and participants through events and develops new classes to be held in the area so that the community can be formed smoothly.

Examples of lesson development. The contents scattered around the city are in the classrooms, and the events held there range from fun classes to school events.
You can enjoy Sakuragawa to the fullest before you know it, as you can enjoy casual activities with the concept of "school life".

In this way, the goal is to connect the three and create a community like a large academy.
Someday, I hope to hear from somewhere in the community, "Students who came here the other day will come to dig potatoes next fall," and are preparing to make it a reality.

Reorganize the "attractiveness"

While forming ideas through repeated discussions, what I am doing is looking for ways to combine the points of view and awareness of the team members with the charms entrusted to me by the community, and looking at the ideas from the outside. I realized again that it means that it is organized so that it is easy to understand.

“Planning” is sometimes called “editing” or “organizing information,” and I believe that these words are true. In my daily work, I would like to study hard every day so that I can notice the hidden charm and come up with better plans.

At the end

I spoke with Mr. Hiromasa Konno of Classel Sakuragawa Co., Ltd., who gave me the initial theme and was very helpful as a regional coordinator.

Mr. Konno himself says, "I can't put it into words, but I love the tranquil scenery of Sakuragawa, so in order to protect it, I protect mountains, cherry blossoms, and agriculture. I protect working people." It was a moment when I felt that solving regional issues is more than planning a project, and that the feelings and charm of people who think about the city are indispensable.

By the way, the project period was from autumn to winter, so we were not able to see even the wild cherry blossoms, which was the initial theme.
From now on, I can't wait for spring to come, and at the same time, I'm really looking forward to seeing how my feelings and ideas for the project I've come up with will change when I see real cherry blossoms.

From a spot where you can see the wild cherry blossoms in the city in October.
The mottled trees will be in full bloom in spring.

When spring comes, please come to Sakuragawa City to see the mountain cherry blossoms in full bloom. You can enjoy cherry blossom viewing in a different way than usual. In that case, don't forget about the city's contents that you can enjoy in the surrounding area.
The experience of running on the Ring Ring Road with the wind in full bloom while looking sideways at the cherry blossoms will be a special memory that can only be experienced here.

<Related links>
・ Sakuragawa
・ Classel Sakuragawa 
・ if design project