Maebashi’s MDC paves the way in private sector-led revitalization

Maebashi, a city in Gunma Prefecture in the northern Kanto region that once had a thriving silk industry, boasts a rich history and culture. However, like many other provincial cities, it faced the challenges of urban decay as times changed. To address this, the Maebashi Design Commission (MDC) was established in 2019 as a private sector-led organization aimed at revitalizing the city.

The MDC received the 2024 Sustainable Japan Excellence Award presented by The Japan Times in recognition of its achievements, particularly the successful completion of the Babakawa Street Urban Design Project in March 2024, which has resulted in increased numbers of pedestrians and shops.

In a recent interview with The Japan Times, Shin Higeta, the director and secretary-general of the MDC, talked about the organization’s work and how it has transformed the city.

In 2016, Maebashi introduced its vision, called Mebuku (to sprout) and described in English as “Where good things grow,” which served as the foundation for the Maebashi Urban Design Plan in 2019, outlining a strategy for revitalizing a 158-hectare area in the city center. “In contrast to government-led initiatives where policies may change abruptly with a change in leadership, we established the MDC to ensure that urban design was driven by the private sector,” Higeta said. The MDC aims to create a city where people can live, work and play, fostering a sense of community and sustainability with a focus on local characteristics and resources.

However, when the private sector takes the initiative in community development, fundraising and unifying the will of the citizenry can present significant challenges. Maebashi has a history of overcoming these challenges. During the Edo Period (1603-1868), the area suffered a severe flood and fire, which resulted in the relocation of the domain’s castle to the city of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture. Higeta said that Maebashi, once a thriving castle town, faced a period of nearly 100 years without this symbol of civic pride. “It was a period of disgrace. However, the silk industry started to flourish in Maebashi, enabling the citizens to independently rebuild the castle at the end of the Edo Period,” he said. This historical context is deeply ingrained in the people of Maebashi, fostering a strong sense of community and self-reliance as well as a culture of creating a city of their own under the leadership of the local business community.

To leverage the city’s history and potential, the MDC is not intended to function like a local government or to assume all of the responsibilities related to the city’s development. Instead, it creates prototypes by designing and developing small sections of the central area, and shares the consistent urban design concepts embodied in the prototypes to inspire diverse stakeholders in the city, including individual homeowners, to participate in the development and management of the city in their own ways.

The Babakawa Street Urban Design Project is one such example. This project transformed a central street into a pedestrian-friendly waterfront area, with the goal of reviving the formerly prosperous shopping district. The transformation involved removing asphalt and replacing it with brick pavement, installing wooden decks and benches, and creating a more inviting atmosphere along the river.

The process and results of the project not only enhanced the aesthetics of the area but also strengthened people’s connections to the river and the city’s history. “For over a century, since the city’s heyday as a silk manufacturing center, Maebashi has maintained a water-control system for all the rivers that flow through it. This history of coexisting with rivers has made this project possible,” Higeta said.

Out of the project’s total cost of ¥430 million ($2.7 million), ¥300 million was covered by donations from the local business association Taiyo no Kai. To secure the remaining funds, the MDC has explored innovative financing mechanisms including social impact bonds and Maebashi City Urban Design Funds, established using a support system created by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism through the Organization for Promoting Urban Development.

Higeta hopes that these efforts contribute to transforming the investment culture in Japan: “For institutional investors, investment should mean more than financial gain. It is a statement of their social stance and interest in the communities.” He further noted that the city can benefit greatly from its interactions with the business sector.

The MDC’s achievements have garnered attention from other cities. Higeta believes that Maebashi’s strategy can be replicated in other cities. “We could provide consulting services based on our know-how and IT solutions such as the use of AI-based pedestrian tracking and analysis in marketing. The financial gains from potential collaborations with other municipalities and areas can be reinvested into the continuous development and improvement of our own city,” he said. The flexibility to allocate resources in this manner is a significant advantage of being a private organization.