Challenge!! Open Governance 2016 Application Form for Citizens/Students

Title of theNo.

AgendaIdea（disclosed）

Municipality

Building a system to establish a new way of(Note)
Title of theName of

Title

utilizing Katahama Elementary School

Makinohara City

Realizing the Utilization of Katahama Elementary School throughAction Research(Note) For the Title of the Agenda, please fill in the title of the agenda of the municipality that is applying for COG
listed in the COG2016 website.

1. Applicant Information
Name of Team
(disclosed)

Katahama AgentsTeam Style（disclosed）

Information ofName (disclosed)thee-mail (closed）

representativeTel#(closed）(only the namewill bedisclosed)

Masami Yamamoto

Relationship in between the rep.
and the municipality* About the conditions for the disclosure of information
What you are going to fill in in “2. Description of the idea” in the following pages will be
reviewed and disclosed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC
BY). However, if the applicant requests, it will be disclosed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). Please notify us when you apply if you prefer
this. In either case, the credit will be given to the name of the team that applied.
(For details of the conditions of the license, see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.ja andhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.ja. See also the information
provided by Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.jp/licenses/)(Notes)<Name of the file used for the application and where to send them>
１． Upon application, please name the file as COG2016_応募用紙_specific team name_relevant municipality
name and send it to the following email address. The email address can be accessed from the “Application
Acceptance Section” of the COG2016 website of the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Public Policy.
admin_padit_cog2016@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp<About Disclosure and non-disclosure>２． The name of the idea, the name of the team, the team style, the name of the representative, and the“description of the idea” will be disclosed.
３． The above information will be disclosed after review. (For example, anything that is offensive to public orderand morals or plagiarism will not be disclosed.)
４． “Self-evaluation of the screening items” will not be disclosed through the information provided in thisapplication form. What has been determined to be excellent in content and can possibly be used for futurereference may be disclosed after consulting with the applicant during the advice phase after the public
screening.
５． Any parts of the sentences, photos, figures, and graphics used in the “Description of the idea” section whose
intellectual property belongs to anyone other than the team should be noted in quotes in accordance withlaw or with an explanation that permission has been obtained from those who own the intellectual property
rights. The same applies to the “Self-evaluation of the screening items” section.
<List of team members>
６． Please provide the list of the team members in a separate excel file and submit it with the application form.
(The information of the members other than the name of the team representative, as described in 2. will not
be disclosed by the office of COG. Please see the attached document for details.)

２．Description of the idea (disclosed)
Please tell us the story of the idea (public service) that will help concretize the agenda andsolve related problems using data and information materials.
(1) Content of the idea (disclosed)
For the idea, it is recommended to think of who does what, where, when, and how,construct the content with each of these elements, and organize the story. Please provide thecontent within the following section. (You may use figures and tables as needed.)

Realizing the Utilization of Katahama Elementary School throughAction Research
Building a system to establish a new way of utilizing Katahama Elementary School
1. Overview
1-1 Background of the proposal
The objective of this proposal is to smoothly and effectively utilize the school buildings of
Katahama Elementary School, which will be closed in the academic year 2016. To manage therenovated buildings independently from the municipal government, we must encourage a senseof ownership in the community residents and realize a citizen-led renovation plan. To do that, weformed “Katahama Agents,” which comprises 12 volunteer members who live in and outside ofMakinohara City, and applied action research to discuss ideas for the renovation plan. To gather
a variety of opinions for this proposal, we put together the activity records and the action policyof Katahama Agents and submitted them to COG.

1-2 Outline of the proposal
We will harmonize views between “Katahama Agents” and “community residents” using
action research (a method to harmonize views by involving both the users and the experts). We
came up with a system to collaborate on the viewpoints of both parties through this approach. To
utilize the elementary school, we must clarify items such as “what we should build and how” or“who runs it and how.” Twelve volunteer members (experts in architecture and economics,
representatives of the community residents, personnel of the policy collaboration department of
Makinohara City, etc.) got together for COG and formed a special team called “Katahama Agents”
for discussing the utilization policy.
We thought that the buildings will be an asset unique to the area if we could incorporate not
only specialized and strategic opinions but also the opinions of the users and the community
residents, and decided to use the action research approach.
<Common renovation process> Collection of opinions from the citizens as well as the processesof operation plan and design proposal by experts are all one-way traffic.
Existing buildings
Collection of opinions
・Discussions with the community residents and users

・Workshops

Operation plan・Operation plan based on the concept of regional revitalization and strategies

・

Experts formulate an operation policy

Design proposal
・

Designing the buildings based on the operation plan and policy

・Feasibility study of the building plan and confirmation of laws and regulations

Renovation work
<Action research approach> The design proposal can be updated as opinions go back andforth between the citizens and experts.
Existing buildings
Ver 1.0 (Nov-Dec 2016)
Collection of opinions/Operation plan/ Design proposal

Ver 2.0 (Jan-Feb 2016)
Collection of opinions/Operation plan/ Design proposal
Ver 3.0 (Mar-Apr 2016)
Collection of opinions/Operation plan/ Design proposal
Renovation work
Workshop with citizens
・Explaining the utilization plan to citizens using a model・Opinions from the viewpoint of users

・

Proposals rooted in the community▲ We collected opinions from the viewpoint of the community and users
Workshop with the municipal government and experts
・Opinion exchange by Katahama Agents・Drawing up an operation plan utilizing specialized knowledge

・Discussions while making changes to the 1:50 scale model▲ We added ideas from the viewpoint of the operation and experts
Consideration of a building design
・Confirming whether the design complies with the laws and regulations as well as building
codes

・

Putting together a proposal concerning actual buildings based on architectural knowledge

・Completing the 1:50 scale model▲ We updated the renovation plan based on the opinions offered(2) Basis of the idea (disclosed)
Please explain the basis of the idea (why this idea), including numerical data that supports
the idea (what can be shown by numerical values, such as past results, statistics, orquestionnaires) and evidence (information materials, plans, or existing measures, etc.)(hereinafter collectively referred to as “data materials”). Please indicate the sources of thenumerical data or evidences. Make sure you completely explain the basis within the following
two-page section.
1. Reasons for utilizing Katahama Elementary School
1-1 The plan to close and merge elementary schools owing to a decline in the number ofchildrenCurrently, there are ten elementary schools in Makinohara City. Katahama Elementary
School is located in the central area of Makinohara City. The school had a total of 170 students atits peak, but because of a declining number of children, the number of students continued todecrease from 1993 onward. In 2013, the total number of students fell below 30 and it became
difficult to maintain its function as a school. Therefore, it was decided that the school would beclosed in March 2017. A policy to utilize Katahama Elementary School was then decided.
川崎小Kawasaki Elementary School

細江小Hosoe Elementary School

坂部小

Sakabe Elementary School

勝間田小Katssumata Elementary School

片浜小Katahama Elementary School

相良小Sagara Elementary School

菅山小Sugayama Elementary School

萩間小

Hagima Elementary School

地頭方小

Jitogata Elementary School

榛原中Haibara Junior High School

相良中

Sagara Junior High School

H21

2009

図 1. 牧之原市内各小学校の児童数の変化

Figure 1. Shifts in the number of children inelementary schools in Makinohara City

牧之原市公共施設白書引用

Source: Makinohara City Public Facilities
White Paper

図 2. 片浜小学校の生徒数の変化

Figure 2. Shift in the number of students in
Katahama Elementary School

図 3. 片浜小学校外観

Figure 3. Exterior appearance of Katahama
Elementary School

図 4. 南海トラフ発生時の津波被害予想

Figure 4. Tsunami damage prediction in caseof an earthquake in the Nankai Trough牧之原市 HP から引用

Source: Makinohara City’s website

浸水深（m）

Flood depth (m)2. Advantages to utilizing Katahama Elementary School
The following three reasons are the advantages of utilizing Katahama Elementary School.
a. Centralization of local facilities
b. Enhancement of disaster-prevention functions in the communityc. Inheritance of the memories of graduates
2-a. Centralization of local facilities
Makinohara City has various public facilities scattered around the city, such as a community
hall and a music hall. By promoting the use of the elementary school as the foundation for themain facilities of the city, we can make the public facilities more compact and reduce the costcompared to running the facilities individually. Moreover, the facilities will be able toaccommodate the needs of other facilities in terms of different purposes and the residents canhave more collective interactions with each other.
The buildings of Katahama Elementary School are relatively new and have not aged.
Creating a new asset in the community by utilizing an elementary school that has a stock utility
value does not cost the city much in terms of scheduling and funding, yet brings great
advantages.
2-b. Enhancement of the disaster-prevention function in the community
The residential area of Makinohara City is situated on a long narrow strip along the coast.
According to Figure 4, the Katahama area is particularly close to the coast and at higher risk oftsunami damage in case of an earthquake. Should an earthquake occur in the Nankai Trough, theflood depth is expected to be over 2 meters in almost every area in the Katahama region.
Therefore it is necessary to have a shelter where people can go in an emergency. Because thebuildings of Katahama Elementary School have sufficient height and space, and are structurally
durable, the school can be used as a shelter or a disaster-prevention base to enhance thedisaster-prevention function of the community. If a facility where the community residents
gather on a routine basis also serves as the disaster-prevention base, people can evacuate moresmoothly, which may lead to disaster risk reduction.
2-c. Inheritance of the memories of graduates
Some community residents were opposed to closing Katahama Elementary School.
Therefore, the residents are paying attention to what happens to the buildings of Katahama
Elementary School after closing. Bearing this in mind, it is preferable to promote a citizen-led
utilization plan, especially as the residents of the Katahama area will be the buildings’ main users.
Therefore, it is preferable if we can picture a future image of Katahama Elementary School wherealumni can get together casually in a place that inherits the memories of the community.
運動場

Athletic field

図 5. 片浜小学校既存校舎の配置図と利活用の例

Figure 5. Layout of the buildings of Katahama
Elementary School and an example ofutilization

北側校舎

North building

インキュベーションオフィス、シェアオフィスなど

Incubation office, share office, etc.

体育館

Gymnasium

用途未定

Intended purpose undecided

南側校舎

South building

全市的な公共施設、避難所・防災拠点

Public facility for the entire city, shelter,
disaster-prevention base

3. Status of citizen participation

Makinohara City has been working on community development through collaboration anddialog for a decade. The city has promoted “dialog, facilitation, and creating an amiable
atmosphere.” It has designated citizen volunteers as “collaboration facilitators in community
development,” established the basic autonomy ordinance and the citizen participation ordinancethrough cooperation of the government and the people, and promoted plans for tsunami
prevention and community development using a so-called “men-women collaboration salon”(place for dialog). Particularly in the area of regional revitalization, the municipal government
and the citizens used workshops to collectively consider how public facilities should be used andoperated. Given such a background, we were able to smoothly move things forward through acitizen-led approach concerning the utilization policy of Katahama Elementary School. Thus, wecame to the conclusion that we should proceed with specific and technical discussions on topics
such as renovation work on the buildings and the establishment of an operating structure after
renovation, through a citizen-led approach as much as possible.
4. Current status of Makinohara City
4-1 Declining population
The population of Makinohara City has been declining gradually since its peak in 1997.
According to the estimates of the city, the population is expected to decrease to 40,790 by 2022.
According to the demographic breakdown, the elderly population is increasing.
4-2 Difficulties in maintaining the public facilities
Buildings built over 30 years ago, which are generally considered to be in need ofrenovation or reconstruction, account for 56.0% of the total. Because these facilities will reachthe end of their service life one by one, they will require repairs in the short run and renovationsin the medium term. Therefore, measures, such as making public buildings more compact, will
be necessary. In terms of the buildings that do not need to be renewed yet, like Katahama
Elementary School, the city must effectively utilize them through discussions with the citizens.
Therefore, we adopt a method to operate, maintain, and manage the buildings with independent
funds by separating the operation of the renovated school buildings from the city’s finances. To
realize this, advisers familiar with economics and company management must be involved, but
we need to promote a utilization plan that will let citizens, who will actually operate and manage
the buildings, take the initiative.
図 6. 牧之原市の人口変化

Figure 6. Population shift in Makinohara City

万人

Unit: 10,000

7年

1995

図 7. 年齢別にみる人口構成の変化

Figure 7. Shifts in the demographic structure
by age人

Persons

14 歳以下Under 14

15~64 歳

14 to 6465 歳以上65 and over

図 8. 市保育施設の更新費用の推計

Figure 8. Estimates of the renewal cost ofchildcare facilities in the city

修繕ピーク時期

Peak period of repair

立替えピーク時期

Reconstruction in peak period

図 8. 要補修建物（築 30 年）の割合

Figure 7. Proportions of buildings that require
maintenance and repair (built 30 years ago)

築 30 年以上

Built over 30 years ago

築 30 年未満

Built within the last 30 years(3) The flow of activities leading up to the realization of the idea (disclosed)
Please explain briefly the general flow of activities leading up to the realization of the idea,
including the body in charge of the realization of the idea, specific processes, milestones, etc.
within the following section. (You may use figures and tables as needed).
1. A structure to promote utilization
As a team to promote utilization while incorporating the opinions of the citizens, “Katahama
Agents” was formed with 12 members living in and outside of Makinohara City. The members are
personnel of the regional revitalization division of Makinohara City, representatives of thecommunity residents, and volunteers from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya who specialize ineconomics, architecture, and branding, and who got together for COG.

Items to be discussed□ Whether the structure, the equipment, and the building plan are viable□ Whether the space setup and layout are appropriate□ Whether the construction cost is reasonable□ What do users want?
□ Whether the facility contributes to the community□ Whether understanding of the citizens has been achieved□ Is a reasonable operation possible?
□ Are the types and the sizes of the equipment appropriate?
□ Is the concept of the facility easy to understand?
Design proposal
Tagata: Manager of the regional revitalization division of Makinohara City

Honma: Chief of the regional revitalization section of the regional revitalization division of
Makinohara City
Ichii: Graduate student, architectural design, building plan
Hatashima: Graduate student, building economics, branding
Collection of opinions
Yamamoto: Head of COG, representative of the citizens
Kato: Senior director of policy creation for Makinohara City
Taniguchi: Business owner, community development collaboration facilitator
Miyazaki: Director of the regional revitalization division of Makinohara City
Operation plan
Masuda: Undergraduate student studying law, local resident
Nishio: MUFJ, research & consulting
Watanabe: MUFJ, research & consulting
Takeichi: Undergraduate student in the faculty of international relations, local resident
Realizing utilization

We were able to come up with a more multifaceted and practical utilization plan throughinvolving technical considerations with Katahama Agents. Katahama Agents took the initiative tohold a citizens workshop to understand and organize the expectations and requests that thecitizens had for Katahama Elementary School. We discussed these opinions from a technicalperspective and created a Katahama Elementary School utilization plan [Ver.1.0]. We looked into
this plan from the perspective of laws, regulations, and building plans, and decided to use it as adesign proposal. We are planning to promote the utilization plan using an action research
approach (a method to harmonize views by talking both to the users and to experts) in the future
as well.
While opinions go back and forth between the citizens and experts through action research,
we update the utilization plan [Ver.1.0] and repeat this process from [Ver.1.0]→[Ver.2.0]→[Ver.3.0]…. Thus, we will be able to critique the plan both from the viewpoint of users/citizens
and from the viewpoint of operators and experts, which allows us to create a higher quality planfor the renovation and operation of the school buildings.
研究活動計画

Research activity plan

9～12 月

September – December

1～3 月

January – March

4～8 月

April – August

9～12 月

September – December

Phase 1 体制づくり

Phase 1: Establishing a structure

Phase 2 地域との協議

Phase 2: Discussions with the community

Phase 3 アクションリサーチ

Phase 3: Action researchPhase 4 改修工事

Phase 4: Renovation work

①カタハマ・エージェントの成立

1. Formation of Katahama Agents②資料制作、分析

2. Creation of information materials, analysis③ワークショップ

3. Workshops④データの整理、COG の提出

4. Data organization and submission to COG⑤アドバイスなど

5. Advice, etc.

⑥アクションリサーチ

6. Action research⑧ 最終調整、図面化

7. Final adjustments, Drawing a construction

⑧ 改修

plan
8. Renovation①意見回収

1. Collection of opinions②運営計画

2. Operation plan

③ 設計提案
図 5. 今後の活動スケジュール( 予定)

3. Design proposal
Figure 5. Schedule for future activities(tentative)

2. Overview of action research
To realize a plan that users, operators, and experts are comfortable with and which does
not involve compromise, we harmonize views using action research. This is a method of making
views consistent as the initiative for the plan alternates between users and experts, using a 1:50
scale model as a medium for exchanging opinions. This will allow everyone from citizens to themunicipal government to the experts, to exchange opinions while considering how the buildings
will change after renovation. The model will encourage opinions and ensure more meaningful
discussions.
(4) Others (disclosed)
Briefly explain the selling points of the idea, restrictions upon realization of the idea if any,near-term solutions, and potential for the future (for example, “if the limitation of XX can beeliminated in the future, we can also do YY”) within the following section.
1. Forming the grounds for open governance
Makinohara City has followed the path of citizen participation and collaboration for a decade
now since the city was born. The city enforced “Makinohara City Basic Autonomy Ordinance” in2011 while working on the cultivation of collaboration facilitators in community development andrunning a men-women collaboration salon. The city was also one of the first to realize various
projects, such as plans for tsunami prevention and community development. Taking theopportunity of COG, we are trying to take a further step toward “citizen participation” andimplement this plan as a “citizen-led” public project. Such a forward thinking attempt can only berealized in Makinohara City, where the grounds for open governance have been formed over theyears.
2. Collaboration among citizens, the municipal government, and experts
For the agenda “Building a system to establish a new way of utilizing Katahama Elementary
School,” which was submitted by Makinohara City to COG, a number of motivated volunteers
gathered from inside and outside the city. In response, the city provided places where thevolunteers could exchange opinions, hold study sessions, invite specialists when necessary, andarrange inspection visits. Through these processes, Katahama Agents was formed with 12
volunteer members, which led to the launch of a citizen-led utilization plan for Katahama
Elementary School.
Thus, Makinohara City’s COG team members have established a system to proceed withthe project while facilitating collaboration among citizens, municipal government, and experts.
3. Novelty of the method for realizing a “private-sector-led” projectIn this plan, we use action research (a method to harmonize views by talking both to theusers and to experts) to promote the utilization plan. In specific terms, we will repeat the processof 1) collection of opinions, 2) operation plan, and 3) creating a design proposal to explore ideas
for the renovation plan. We will also use a large model to explain the utilization plan and facilitate
an exchange of opinions by letting the participants directly write on the model or use sticky notes.
This method, where the initiative for the utilization plan alternates between citizens/users andthe municipal government/experts repeatedly is a novel one.
Traditional opinion harmonization methods using workshops tend to generate a plancatering to common interests of the municipal government and citizens through mutualcompromise, but with the action research approach, we can come up with a plan withoutcompromise while exchanging the valuable points from the municipal government and fromcitizens.
COG チーム（カタハマ・エージェント）による調整

Adjustments by COG team (Katahama
Agents)模型を使ったワークショップによって回収した市民の意見

Opinions of citizens collected throughworkshops using a model of the site・エリアマネジメント

・Area management

・運営の経済的な妥当性

・

Economical appropriateness of the・場所のブランディング
・建築計画の成立
実行（2017 年 10 月頃）

operation・

Branding of the location

・

Establishment of the building plan

Implementation (around October, 2017)

・利用者の意見・

Opinions of the users

・ユーザー目線の意見

・

Opinions from the viewpoint of users

・自由な発想・Freewheeling thinking

・建築計画の成立

・

Establishment of the building plan

図 11. アクションリサーチのイメージ

Figure 11. Action research image

図 12. 模型を使った意見回収

Figure 12. Collection of opinions using amodel

図 13. 意見を元に設計した回収案

Figure 13. Renovation plan designed
according to the opinions offered

図 14. アクションリサーチの様子

Figure 14. The action research process