Production for Reduction

Abstract

Today, the city of Tokyo is confronting several prominent social issues, such as extreme aging, growing single population and beginning of population shrinkage. There are around 820,000 empty houses in the city while many new apartments are still being built, replacing family owned factories with small rooms for singles.

As the new technology in urban factories trigger the shift from “how to make” to “what to make” in production, more focus shall be given to production steps such as “meet”, “talk”, “inspire”, “think” and “share”. Coincidentally, these steps are what is often missing from the daily lives of those living alone in the new apartments, isolated from the existing neighborhoods.

What if there’s a factory which aims at combining the production of living activities with production of the products.? A theoretical project has challenged this question as part of a pursuit of new ideas for the time of reduction.