Art project: "See, learn, and create" the cityscape

Kurukuru is a public mobility service run by local residents that has been operating provisionally as a means of transportation in Nitto-cho and Daishi-cho, Kawachinagano City, where population decline and an aging population are accelerating after 50 years since the development of residential land. In order to operate the transportation service that supports local mobility with the initiative of local residents, we held a participatory art workshop. Together with members of the art club of a local junior high school and local residents, we held a total of 10 art workshops, "See, Learn, Create," with the aim of reaffirming social issues through art, rediscovering the charm of the town, and fostering a sense of participation in town development among local residents through co-creation.

A demonstration experiment was started in 2022 as a form of mobility support led by local residents. As a result of the effectiveness verification, only 2.1% of people were interested in being involved in operating the electric carts. Since close cooperation with the local community is essential to aiming for independent operation, it was necessary to tackle this as part of building a local community. However, making town development a personal responsibility is an extremely high hurdle, so a simple and fun town development method that anyone could participate in was required.

We thought that thinking about the town through art would be an effective approach as a simple method to connect multiple generations and allow anyone to participate, so we planned the art workshop "Kurukuru: See, Know, Create." Together with artist Mugi Nakajima, local junior high school students who are the future leaders of the region, and local residents, we held consecutive workshops over a period of six months to change the usual scenery together with the local people and make it "our town." By observing their town once again, they shared local issues and fostered a sense of participation in town development through co-creation that transcends generations and brings everyone together from an artistic perspective. We found a place for art through fieldwork, and co-created all the processes from the theme to the visuals to the production, and the town's large staircase, the hanging banners of commercial facilities, and public road mobility were reborn as magnificent art. As a result, the number of residents who joined the operating staff from the workshop participants increased. Furthermore, after this workshop, local junior high school students began working on making their school into art, and workshops were held mainly by nearby university students, which became the starting point for new activities. This change in scenery really brings the town back to life.