This project, a 2020 smart city Olympic site at Urawa-Misono, is a project in which Georgia Institute of Technology was commissioned for its ideas to improve the planned Olympic city’s design. Through iterations, charrettes, and a visit to the site in Japan, the conceptual design team created a design proposal which involved the ideas of transit-oriented development, a central raised green promenade, urban metabolism, agriculture, constructed moments of discovery, and walkability. Another team created ideas and designs for how to make these designs fall under the category of “smart city.”

The more closely illustrated smart city ideas are as follows: situational kinetic facades, situational public spaces, pedestrian navigation app, responsive lighting systems, and metabolist inspired public spaces. The situational kinetic facades have the ability to open or close based on the amount of sunlight a building is receiving. These facades also have the ability to fold down onto tracks on the ground to form hard paving, tables, or chairs within the public courtyard. The lot of land illustrated in the situational public spaces drawing can be used for parking on game days. On normal days in which parking is not in demand, smart sensors in the light posts can turn this space into a public amenity. The Smart City group also developed an app that allows navigation based on preference while also offering incentives to encourage pedestrians to use different routes. This helps to lessen heavy traffic on any one specific path by encouraging users to take longer, more scenic routes in order to claim rewards such as local coupons. Responsive lighting systems are implemented at night where sensors recognize vehicular or pedestrian traffic and enable streetlights to guide their paths. These sensors prevent energy waste when roads are empty while allowing users to feel safe and secure. The main train station was inspired by metabolist ideas of layering public spaces. The highest layer, the green promenade, is located atop the train station and offers a public amenity to city-goers even in the densest section of the city. Some shops and buildings are located at this level and many more are located on the lower street level. Parking is hidden beneath the promenade and shops. Interactive infrastructure, such as the depicted bus stop, serves multiple purposes including information sharing, game playing, and connectivity. Users at these bus stops can play games with users waiting at other bus stops to pass time. This interactive option also offers safety and company during their wait.

The conceptual design team also helped to develop planning support systems through the implication of performance zoning and definition of block typologies. Each performance zone or block typology has a specific criteria of density and performance, as well as suggested urban context in the form of a matrix of cellular typologies. This allows for an organized system of adaptable growth.

The CD team’s final recommendations for the government officials and stakeholders of the Urawa-Misono Smart City include the implementation of two major ideas on the site. The first is infrastructure changes – changing grey infrastructure to green infrastructure. These changes allow for the same amount of capacity while creating a better experience within the city. The green promenade in particular improves public experience and creates a sense of place at the functional core of Misono. The implemented ideas of metabolism create a sense of co-location with layers of train station, green promenade, shopping, and parking all located within the most central part of the city. The other major move is the planning support system that creates a framework for smarter development in terms of design, experience, and performance.