Sustainable smart town goes into full-scale operation near Tokyo

The Fujisawa SST Council, a consortium led by Panasonic Corp spearheading the development of the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (Fujisawa SST), on Thursday held an opening ceremony for the forward-looking town located on the outskirts of Tokyo.

With its core facility supporting sustainable development of the town and its community now coming into operation, the Fujisawa SST is moving from the construction stage into a new stage where the town is nurtured to grow in full-scale into an eco and smart town that puts a high priority on the residents’ lifestyles.

Called the Fujisawa SST SQUARE, the core facility is also the main landmark of the town and serves as a central communication base for people who get together there. The SQUARE plays a pivotal role in promoting the town’s growth through its functions of managing the town, welcoming guests and fostering community. The Fujisawa SST Management Company is the town management company located in the SQUARE. Together with partner companies, the company provides five essential services in the town: energy, security, mobility, healthcare and community. The company will also collect and manage information pertaining to the town's overall environment, energy, security and safety to support an eco and smart life in the town.

For the guest support and community fostering services, there are various facilities in the SQUARE that are designed to promote interaction among those who gather in the town. The SQUARE Center has a cafe and kitchen corner where people can relax or host environmental education and other events, as well as a presentation corner that introduces main appeals of the town. The SQUARE Lab is a food and craft studio offering interactive workshops for the residents. The SQUARE Mobility provides environmentally-friendly means of transportation. In mid-December, a cultural complex called the Shonan T-SITE will open on the south side of the Fujisawa SST SQUARE. The aim is to make the combined site a place that will foster enriched lifestyles by maximizing its value to the people who gather there, including not only the town residents but also people living in the vicinity and visiting from elsewhere.

As a fresh development in the town, the Fujisawa SST has set a detached housing zone for non car owners for the second phase of sales. By using the town’s eco-car sharing and rent-a-car services, residents in the zone can enjoy their lifestyles without the need to own a car while reducing economic burden and making effective use of the lot. Preparations are also underway for a new base to provide environmentally-friendly logistic services to the residents.

As a town developing continuously and sustainably, the Fujisawa SST will embark on new initiatives for the future. The land under administration on the west side, presently unused and due for completion in 2018, will be used in collaboration with partner companies as a venue for verifying next-generation lifestyles and businesses. Starting with the Car Life Lab facility to be opened in December for display and test drives of electric vehicles, the new venue will be used as a place to generate new innovations, validating next-generation mobility for the practical use and verifying next-generation lifestyles with show homes. By using the state-of-the-art equipment and services that take shape here to create future towns, Fujisawa SST Council will pick up the pace of its efforts to realize the Fujisawa model, a town that can develop sustainably for 100 years.

© Japan Today