One year after disaster, Japan aims for 'smart' reconstruction

One year after the devastating triple disaster — earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown — in Japan, the government hopes to not only rebuild shattered communities, but to rebuild in ways that make those places smarter and more sustainable.

The March 11, 2011, disaster killed more than 15,000 people and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings across a wide swath of northeastern Japan. Then-prime minister Naoto Kan said rebuilding would be the greatest challenge the nation had faced since the end of World War II.

Shortly before the first anniversary of the quake, Japan’s ministries of foreign affairs, economy, trade, industry and environment hosted an international gathering on “smart communities” in Fukushima City, the capital of the prefecture where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located. More than 400 experts, government officials, students and residents attended the “International Energy Seminar on Smart Community Proposals for Reconstructing Disaster-Affected Areas.”

An initiative that came out of discussions that day is aimed at rebuilding communities in ways that improve sustainability, disaster prevention and low-carbon living.

The Tohoku Smart Community Initiative (Tohoku is the region in which Fukushima is located) states:

“The following five elements will be crucial for the regional community model: 1) citizens at the center; 2) the ensuring of security and safety; 3) the promotion of renewable energy; 4) the creation of new industries and employment; and 5) the compatibility of economic efficiency and comfort. This kind of model should be shared with the world, and a contribution should be made to international society.”

The after-effects of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant disaster have presented the country with difficult questions, especially related to energy. Concerns about nuclear power safety have led to officials shutting down most of the country’s nuclear power plants, which had provided around 30 percent of Japan’s energy. They’ve also prompted new discussions about the need to develop renewable energy sources.

Under plans announced last year, Japan aims to introduce new feed-in tariff incentives for solar and wind energy, increase the amount of electricity generated by renewables to 20 percent by 2020, cut carbon emissions by 25 percent by that time and install solar panels on more than 10 million rooftops by 2030.

“The key to building a smart community is integration,” said Alamira Noor Bani Hashim, an urban planner in the United Arab Emirate’s Masdar City smart-city project and one of the attendees at the Fukushima energy seminar. “A smart community should display intelligent mixed land use. It should also integrate environment and geographical conditions of the location in its design. For example, at Masdar, simply shifting the orientation of the buildings to a southeast-northwest direction during construction allowed increase of wind flow at no cost, and in fact reduced the overall cooling requirements. Integrating the environment is also crucial when choosing renewable energies.”

Bani Hashim continued, “Tohoku is going through a difficult time but this is also an opportunity to revisit plans of the new city, create a new smart community and bring back traditions that are probably forgotten. For Masdar City, we integrated traditional Arabic designs with new technology such as smart grids and smart transportation, meeting the challenges of a harsh climate through sustainable means.”