From October 14 to 16, JR-EAST held the "Takanawa Gateway Fest 2022" at Takanawa Gateway Station and the surrounding area. This event was launched in 2020 to promote the exchange of various people, goods, and information based on the "Global Gateway" concept of the "Takanawa Gateway City (TBD)," which will be inaugurated at the end of fiscal 2024. As a part of this event, the "Takanawa Gateway Area Festival feat. Takanawa Gateway Fest 2022 (hereinafter referred to as "Takanawa Gateway Area Festival")" will be held for the third time this year, with the aim of creating a lively and attractive place with the participation of local residents. This festival was held by Takanawa Gateway Area Management Inc.* 

*An area management organization established by JR-EAST in April 2022 to promote area management with the aim of further enhancing the attractiveness and value of the area surrounding Takanawa Gateway Station.

Focusing on the "Takanawa Gateway Area Festival," Akifumi Katagiri, JR-EAST / Takanawa Gateway Area Management Inc, will report on the purpose of opening the streets to the public, as well as his thoughts on the "New Public" that the area management would like to establish.

The Reasons Why the Festival Opened its Streets to the Public

"Takanawa Gateway District Festival," opened its streets (Auxiliary Route 332) in front of the Takanawa Gateway Station to the public (by using the road as a dedicated space for events and pedestrians) in response to the voices of local residents, including neighborhood associations, schools, in addition to cooperation of municipalities across Japan with Minato Ward. This in part due to the pandemic, during which children have lost opportunities to interact and present themselves outside of school for the past three years, and town councils and neighborhood associations have not been able to hold festivals or exchange events. The local governments across the country have also seen a decrease in opportunities to open marché stalls in Tokyo. Given these issues facing the community as a starting point, this project would help to restore not only the relationship between Takanawa Gateway City and the community, but also the vitality and connections that are mainly driven by the community/residents of the community. With this goal in mind, the "Takanawa District Festival" was held.

On the day of the festival, approximately 300m of road space in front of the station was opened to the public, and five zones were set up with a wide range of contents and participants in which local residents took the leading roles. In the "Stage Event Area," both the Tokai University Takanawadai High School and Junior High School Brass Band and "REAL VOX," the Minato City Tourism Ambassadors, gave live performances. In the "Kitchen Car Area," local Takanawa shops served food and beverages by kitchen cars.
In the "National Cooperation Marche Area," local governments from all over Japan with which Minato Ward cooperates opened marché stalls and gathered specialty products. In the "Local Attractiveness Creation Area," neighborhood associations and residents' associations opened stalls to promote local attractions and community interaction. In the “Exhibition Area," the O-mikoshi (portable shrine) of Takanawa Shrine was displayed with the cooperation of Takanawa Shrine. The "Takanawa Gateway Bon Dance Festival," in which participation was free, gradually grew into a large circle of about 300 people, creating a lively community and displaying the charm of the local area.

In the "Exhibition Area," police cars and fire trucks were displayed with the cooperation of the Takanawa Police Department and Takanawa Fire Department, much to the delight of small children. Initially, it was not planned for them to participate in the event. However, after extensive discussions, it was eventually decided that both sides would like/need to participate, resulting in their participation. Government and public institutions are undoubtedly one of the many elements that make up a community. We feel that this was a big step forward in creating a future relationship between the "public" and "private" sectors of the community.

It is important that the station, the new town (its town block and town block), and the existing town surrounding the station be closely connected to each other to create a sense of community in the entire area. In this project, we focused on opening its streets in front of the Takanawa Gateway station as an integrating area for both the station and the existing town. "Opening its streets to the public" was something that we wanted to accomplish at all costs in order to unite the community in the "Takanawa Gateway District Festival".

In order to make the festival possible, asking for legal systems such as road occupancy permits, coordinating with various stakeholders, including government and public organizations was necessary. In this process, we also got to learn that understanding the community and both practice and tradition was as much crucial as understanding the legal systems, under the role of the area management.

In order to use the restricted areas, coordination was made with the government and other related parties. However, it was crucial for the community voice to be heard when deciding on things.
This time, we made sure that local residents were having enough interactions with each other during the festival.

From "Nobody's Property" to "Everybody's Property

The Takanawa Gateway Area Management Association served as the organizer of the festival. The organization was established in April 2022 as a non-profit general incorporated association, led by JR-EAST, with the aim of further enhancing the attractiveness and value of the area surrounding Takanawa Gateway Station. Additionally, JR-EAST associated companies involved in community development, businesses in the area, neighborhood associations, and local governments had a great support in this project. Including those partners, we have been discussing and promoting initiatives to create a safe, secured, lively, and attractive community in the area around the station since before the opening of the station.

Some might say that "area management" has something to do with hosting local events and disseminating information. Although there is no clear definition of the term, it generally refers to efforts to enhance the value of an area from a long-term perspective through the collaboration of various local entities (neighborhood businesses, residents, government, academics, etc.), not just a single developer.

Based on this premise, Takanawa Gateway Area Management would like to carry out activities aiming to achieve a continuity of the entire city, not just a building unit. The liveliness, comfort, and convenience that create value in the area must be cultivated not only in units of private sites, but also in parks, roads, and intermediate areas that connect both private and public lands in an integrated and continuous manner. It is important to take initiatives to enhance the value of the community in public areas, which are usually the responsibility of the government, and to take on the role of a "new public".

In cities, there are many "public spaces" such as parks and rivers, which are supposed to be "for everyone”. However, in today's urban space, full of prohibited signs, it would be more understandable to think that they "belong to no one”. We believe that the city would be enriched, if public spaces could be linked to private properties and let the spaces be where everyone can spend their time in a good manner. We would like to discuss with the government and the local community, for the possibility of the demonstration experiments, whether the boundary between safety and freedom can be further optimized through the ingenuity of the private sector and flexible operation and management of such "public spaces”. We would like to consider how to create spaces that increase the attractiveness, value, and convenience of the entire city as a continuous "city," not just private sites or public spaces.

Although the "Takanawa District Festival" was held for only one day, it may be possible in the future to extend the period of the festival, increase the number of venues, or link the festival to a plaza that will be built in the city. We believe that the opening of the roads this time would be a message from Takanawa Gateway City toward the future and the first step closer to a "new public".

Circulating and Self-Driving Area Management

The Takanawa Festival also took the first step towards creating “the resilient area management," in which various initiatives are practiced and taken into consideration for future management.

JR EAST’s goal of the area management is to conduct future activities with a view to creating a mechanism to return the income and relationships gained from activities. Additionally, we would like to contribute our income for things such as urban issues and public areas, including safety and security (disaster prevention, crime prevention, etc.), environmental symbiosis (low carbon, environmental beautification, etc.), and community building.Therefore, we would like to hold activities and contribute the community for the better change in the future.

Furthermore, we would like to take initiatives supporting both normal times (outdoor signage, events, community building, etc.) and in times of emergency (disaster prevention information, evacuation actions, mutual aid, etc.). We would like to build an area management system that supports sustainable and resilient urban development in the true sense of the word, where the various activities and revenues of area management are linked to each other. it is one of the crucial roles of the "new public".

In August 2022, we established the "Takanawa Gateway Station Area Wide Coordination Liaison Committee," which consists of major businesses in the area surrounding the station. The liaison group includes businesses including the Takanawa area, as well as the Konan area across the railroad tracks. As an operator of station-based urban development, this will be the opportunity of the Takanawa Gateway City urban development to work on inter-district collaboration between the Takanawa and Konan districts (inter-district collaboration for liveliness, circulation, safety and security, etc.), which have been divided by the railroad tracks. We will also be working on the area management that can only be implemented by JR-EAST as a railroad operator, and on the "TOD" (Transit Oriented Development), which goes beyond the conventional public transportation oriented urban development. I would like to think about and practice "TODM" (TOD + Management), which goes beyond the conventional "TOD" (Transit Oriented Development) of public transportation oriented city planning.

TODM is the creation of liveliness and attractiveness throughout the entire city, including public spaces, contribution to urban issues and public areas such as safety and security and environmental symbiosis, and collaboration among districts centered on stations. These are critical questions for JR-EAST, which has a history as a state-owned company and plays a public role as a transportation infrastructure. After considering these questions and continuing to put them into practice, Takanawa Gateway City and Takanawa Gateway Area Management will create the "safe, secure, lively, and attractive city where the station, town, and people are united" that we are trying to accomplish.

Interview and Edit by Takuya Wada
Photograph by Takanobu Watanabe
Translation by Yuka Suzuki
Content Direction by blkswn publishers Inc.

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