What is Nitobe Café?

Nitobe Café is an activity where you can discuss creative, innovative ideas with your group members.

It is based on the World Café concept created by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs. You can check out the World Café web site here.

www.theworldcafe.com

You can see an example of a World Café event held here in Sapporo in 2012.

http://www.city.sapporo.jp/kokusai/documents/worldcafe_report.pdf

• Explore questions that matter.

• Connect diverse perspectives.

• Listen together for patterns and insights.

• Share collective discoveries.

• Before Nitobe Café, please read the articles and listen to TED talks in English.

• At Nitobe Café, Japanese may be the main language, but you can use any language you like.

In Nitobe Café, you will:

The Future

Nitobe Café wants you to think about . . .

The miracle of your mind isn’t that you can see the world as it is.

It’s that you can see the world as it isn’t. Kathryn Schulz

At Nitobe Café,

we want you to see

the world’s cities as

they can be.

Wait! What did people 100 years ago

think our world would be like? • “Hot or cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the

temperature of a house . . .Homes will have no chimneys, because no smoke will be created within their walls.”

• “Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago.”

• “Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later.”

• “Plants will be made proof against disease microbes just as readily as man is to-day against smallpox.”

• “Strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great-great-grandchildren. . . “

(The Ladies’ Home Journal, “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years, John Elfreth Watkins Jr., 1900)

?

Nitobe Café wants to ask you . . .

“Why cities?” you might ask.

How can we create a comfortable city lifestyle

for all people? In 10 years?

In 100 years?

Let me show you why.

66% of the world’s population is projected to be urban.

So . . .

• With so many people living in urban areas, we will need to think of new ways of life for all of them.

• During Nitobe Café, think about all kinds of people: single people, families, persons with disabilities, children, senior citizens, and pets (not exactly people, but an important part of life).

• Nitobe Café is an opportunity for you to share ideas about the future of cities with classmates, foreign students, and Nitobe Fellows.

• Who knows! You may make your ideas come true in the future!

• Skim • Find key words

(often in Bold letters)

• Read parts that interest you.

• Look up similar articles in your own language.

Tips for reading the supplementary articles

You don’t have to become an expert.

Let the articles inspire your own ideas!

http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf

Read it here!

TED

(Technology, Entertainment, Design)

• TED talk commentators are thinking about the same question. “Our Future in Cities” playlist includes 15 talks. Most of the talks are between 15~20 minutes each. Please watch 6 or more talks (at least 90 minutes) of your choice.

• For those of you new to TED, many of the talks also include transcripts and subtitles in other languages. Check the lower right-hand corner of the screen for those functions.

• Watch the talks here:https://www.ted.com/playlists/29/our_future_in_cities

• Plus check out Shigeru Ban’s TED talk here: https://www.ted.com/speakers/shigeru_ban

Food, Clothing, Shelter • “Ultrect’s Wardrobe Library” http://popupcity.net/utrechts-wardrobe-library/

• “10 awesome innovations changing the future of fashion” http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/10-awesome-innovations-changing-future-fashion.html

• “Beyond the smartwatch: The future of smart clothing” http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/beyond-the-smartwatch-the-future-of-smart-clothing-1298909/1

• Global Alliance for the Future of Food http://www.futureoffood.org

• Food Waste Facts http://www.unep.org/wed/2013/quickfacts/

• “Next-gen urban farms: 10 innovative projects from around the world” http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/jul/02/next-gen-urban-farms-10-innovative-projects-from-around-the-world

• Future of Food http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/our-global-kitchen-food-nature-culture/future-of-food

• Is this the future of city housing? Look inside the high-tech homes designed to revolutionize small spaces” http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/future-city-housing-look-inside-6295215

• “Shigeru Ban: Pritzker winner’s paper palaces could last foreverhttp://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/29/architecture/shigeru-ban-pritzker-permanent/index.html

• “Live small, be Happy? The next new big thing” http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150420-why-small-is-the-new-big-thing ”

Read it here!

Read it here!

Transportation, Work • “Five things you need to know about the future of work”http://www.virgin.com/unite/entrepreneurship/five-things-you-need-to-

know-about-the-future-of-work

• “New Ways of Working” Read the full report of The B Team’s report (highlights are in the above article) . http://issuu.com/the-bteam/docs/150114_newwaysofworking_v12?e=15214291/11024330

• “Working in the future” http://www.economistinsights.com/sites/default/files/EIU-Fujitsu%20Working%20in%20the%20Future.pdf

• “Why Sweden is Shifting To a 6-Hour Workday” http://www.fastcoexist.com/3051448/why-sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour-work-day

• “Never worry about finding a parking space again: Japanese inventor reveals tiny transporter small enough to fit in a backpack” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3189592/Japanese-inventor-reveals-tiny-electric-transporter-small-fit-backpack.html

• “How 3D audio technology could ‘unlock’ cities for blind people” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11210926/How-3D-audio-technology-could-unlock-cities-for-blind-people.html

• “The Future of Transportation Is Not All Flying Cars” http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/10/the-future-of-transportation-is-not-all-flying-cars/381333/

• “10 Futuristic Forms of Transportation We Could See Soon” http://listverse.com/2014/03/26/10-futuristic-forms-of-transportation-we-could-see-soon/

• Walkscore: https://www.walkscore.com

Check it out!

Health, Medicine • “Tech Trends Shaping The Future Of Medicine: Part 1” http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertszczerba/2014/11/23/tech-trends-

shaping-the-future-of-medicine-part-1/

• “Tech Trends Shaping The Future Of Medicine: Part 2” http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertszczerba/2014/11/23/tech-trends-shaping-the-future-of-medicine-part-2/

• “10 Medical Technologies That Could Shape The Future” http://listverse.com/2013/03/22/10-medical-technologies-that-could-shape-the-future/

• “The first 3D-printed pill opens up a world of downloadable medicine” http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2015/aug/05/the-first-3d-printed-pill-opens-up-a-world-of-downloadable-medicine

• Using Wearable Devices to Help Promote Employee Wellness” http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236370

• “New Campaign Encourages More Walking in Cities” http://www.twcnews.com/nc/north-carolina/around-carolina/2015/06/3/new-campaign-encourages-more-walking-in-cities.html

• “Green Space in Cities May Soothe the Heart” http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=187544

• “Here are all the ways living in cities is horrible for you” http://www.businessinsider.com/ways-city-life-is-bad-for-you-2015-7

Read it here!

Environment, Energy, Sustainability

• “Here’s a Lego-brick road made from recycled plastic that you can drive on” http://fortune.com/2015/08/13/recycled-plastic-roads/

• “The Netherlands Gets the World’s First Solar-Powered Bike Lane” http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/11/the-netherlands-gets-the-worlds-first-solar-powered-bike-lane/382480/

• “Towards zero waste” https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/

• Your body is the next battery: New technologies harvest energy from movements, sound and more” http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27162851/your-body-is-next-battery-new-technologies-harvest

• “This stylish rocking chair uses your movement to charge your gadgets” http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2012/08/07/this-stylish-rocking-chair-uses-your-movement-to-charge-your-gadgets/

• “Let’s Generate Electricity by Walking” http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/lets_generate_electricity_by_walking

• “’Run, don’s walk’: The school that gets pupils to generate electricity” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/run-don-t-walk-the-school-that-gets-pupils-to-generate-electricity-8798961.html

• “Growing Crops With No Water, The Old-Fashioned Way” http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680414/the-future-of-composting-turning-food-waste-into-fuel-and-plastic

• “Falling Crime Rates in Big Cities a Key to Sustainable Future” http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/falling-crime-rates-in-big-cities-a-key-to-sustainable-future.html

Read it here!

Read it here!

Public Spaces, Pets • “Playable Cities: the city that plays together, stays together” http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/04/playable-cities-the-city-that-

plays-together-stays-together

• “A playful approach to the future of cities” https://www.move-forward.com/news/details/a-playful-approach-to-the-future-of-cities/

• “City Surfing for Urban Dwellers” http://popupcity.net/city-surfing-for-urban-dwellers/

• “Parks 2050: Growing food, curbing floods, cleaning air” http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131115-green-wonder-your-park-in-2050

• “The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Transformation of Public Spaces” http://www.pps.org/reference/lighter-quicker-cheaper/

• “Streets Made By People” http://popupcity.net/streets-made-by-people/

• “Are pets bad for the environment?” http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/reduce-pets-sustainable-future-cats-dogs?CMP=twt_gu

• “Dino Pet: The Chia Pet of the Future” https://www.thrillist.com/home/dino-pet-is-the-chia-pet-of-the-future

• “We May All Have Robot Pet In The Not-So-Distant Future” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/14/robot-dogs-pets-replaced_n_7275380.html

• “Cat cafes take over world” http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/16/travel/cat-cafes-world/

Final Word

• As I prepared this activity, I tried to chose thought-provoking articles, however, they may reflect my interests or biases.

• And as you may have noticed, all of the articles are in English, many are from the US or UK. This may also cause a bias.

• So, please feel free to Google other articles in other languages for an even deeper understanding.

• Have fun!