News Releases
2014

* Information contained in this news release is current as of its date of announcement. Be aware that information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Creation of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City Moves to Stage II
Promotion of “Innovation Campus Concept” for 2030
Stage I, the Gate Square Project: A “Showcase” of a Cutting-edge Smart City
Facility tours and events will be held to inform visitors about the creation of a Smart City

July 7, 2014
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. will conduct various business activities based on the “Innovation Campus Concept,”* which entails a policy of creating a new town by the year 2030. These business activities follow on from the creation of Gate Square, a central block in front of a station, which will hold its grand opening on July 8. Gate Square is located in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture. Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City is a flagship project in the context of the Smart City strategy being applied to the creation of a new town.

Since the opening of the Tsukuba Express rail line in 2005, as Stage I of the creation of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, four blocks around Kashiwanoha Campus Station have been designated as a pilot area in which a new town will be created based on the themes of coexistence with the environment, the promotion of health and longevity, and the fostering of new industries.
The grand opening of Gate Square will initiate the full-fledged promotion of the mixed-use development-type Smart City featuring a host of urban amenities, including housing, retail facilities, office buildings, hotels, and halls. Looking ahead, we aim to further evolve and grow Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, and we will commence the development of the surrounding area and move to Stage II in our creation of a new town.

In Stage II, we will push forward with creating a new town based on our “Innovation Campus Concept.” In line with this, we will develop a wide range of Smart City capabilities, including a cutting-edge smart grid that is utilized centered on Gate Square These capabilities will be expanded to cover the entire new-town area (approximately 3 million m2). We will also develop a base for industrial creation involving next-generation life sciences aided by partnerships among the government, private industry and academia.

*The “Innovation Campus Concept” is a concept under which we are developing an area near the station as a mixed-use hub that contains housing combined with research and development facilities. These activities are known as the Kashiwanoha International Campus Town Initiative, which is being jointly undertaken by Chiba Prefecture, Kashiwa City, the University of Tokyo, and Chiba University.

Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City Stage II Promotion Plan

Theme: A Town in Which Diverse Players Generate Successive Innovations

Realization of a town that creates new industries by generating innovations on a daily basis, aided by interactions throughout the town between people of all generations, specialities and nationalities, and by the coordination of a wide range of communities, including those formed from companies, universities, research institutions, and residents.

Town Creation Policies

1) To create a mixed-use town

  • We will create a town imbued with a mixed-use premium by avoiding zoning and instead fusing work, residential, leisure and study capabilities
  • We plan to achieve a good balance between the daytime and nighttime population, creating bustling activity and interactions across the entire town regardless of the time of day or day of the week.

2) Urban design that features an abundance of water and greenery

  • Aided by partnerships among the government, private industry and academia, we are creating an environment that includes public open spaces such as streets and parks.
  • By creating a town that makes full use of the abundant natural environment of Kashiwanoha, we will display the attractiveness of a suburban Smart City.

Timescale, Size and Objective

Timescale: 2014-2030
Area: Approximately 3 million m2
Objective: To create a new town for around 26,000 residents, 15,000 workers and 10 million visitors per year.

For reference: Details of pilot area (Stage I) (as of July 2014)

Area: About 127,000 m2
Population: Around 5,000 residents, 1,000 workers and 7 million visitors per year *The figure for residents is calculated on the assumption of 2.5 persons per household. (Please refer to the Kashiwa City population census.)

Mitsui Fudosan is working to create a new town that realizes the “Innovation Campus Concept” in an area of about 210,000 m2 to the north of Gate Square that is positioned as a core area of Stage II.
In line with the town planning policies of “To create a mixed-use town” and “Urban design that features an abundance of water and greenery,” we plan to develop a lifestyle-proposal multipurpose retail facility (tentative name: Kashiwa-no-ha T-SITE) and a base for industrial creation involving next-generation life sciences. Moreover, we are also planning to set up a smart grid in the area by installing electric power and power storage facilities that will supply recyclable energy with high efficiency, and by extending the Kashiwa-no-ha AEMS (Area Energy Management System).

Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City: Points About Town Creation in Stage II (Core Area)

  1. Creating an environment more closely connected to the water
    • We will create an environment coexisting with nature that is more closely connected to the water by making full use of the No.2 water retention basin located in the center of the core area.
    • We will create a place that provides much warmth and liveliness for interactions, making use of such features as an open terrace by the waterside.
  2. Lifestyle-proposal multipurpose retail facility
    • In collaboration with Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd., we will develop a lifestyle-proposal multipurpose retail facility (tentative name: Kashiwa-no-ha T-SITE), with plans to open it in autumn 2016.
    • Aiming at adults who have a high level of intellectual curiosity, we will create a community base for interactions between residents, workers, and university-related people, featuring bookstores, cafes and other shops that provide the latest global information, along with a variety of lifestyles.
  3. A base for industrial creation involving next-generation life sciences
    • We will develop a base for industrial creation involving next-generation life sciences aided by the cooperation of the campuses of the University of Tokyo and Chiba University, and the National Cancer Research Center, located in Kashiwanoha, and by alliances between private industry and academia, and between medicine and engineering.
    • We will create an area that attracts a wide variety of corporate people, including those from bio-ventures, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and electronics companies.
    • The area will see order-made medical R&D activities that make use of clinical databases and genome analysis possessed by academic research institutions, and product development and demonstration testing in the ICT healthcare business with the collaboration of residents.

Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City:Overall View

From Stage II, Mitsui Fudosan is evolving and growing the Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, establishing the business model created by the Smart City, and working to export and deploy the concept of town creation around the world. At Gate Square which will hold its grand opening, we will introduce the pioneering concept of town creation at Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City to visitors from all over the world. We will hold a variety of facility tours and events that enable visitors to actually experience Gate Square, which will function as the “showcase” of the Smart City strategy we are promoting.

Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City: Future Image of Stage II