Toride-kita NeopolisTsukubamirai, Ibaraki Prefecture

The Toride-kita Neopolis was developed in 1979 in Tsukubamirai City, in the southwest of Ibaraki Prefecture.
Being made up of 356 lots on a 118,967.64 m² site, the development is a comparatively compact example of the sort of suburban housing complex that was becoming commonplace in Japan around that time.
Constructed at a time when expressways were being built, especially around metropolitan areas, the development had the character of a Tokyo “bedtown” (dormitory suburb).

Among the housing complex’s challenges is a lack of people to sustain community activities, with the number of residents on a downward trend (falling from 979 in 2000 to 738 in 2020) and the percentage of elderly being approximately 47%, as well as the loss of second-generation residents. The result is an aging of the resident population and fewer younger people. The housing complex also suffers from a lack of interaction among residents, with the number of people shut in their homes by COVID-19 being a contributing factor.

Taking note of the applicable town planning restrictions (the site is zoned as a primary low-rise residential district) and existing use of nearby facilities, which include retail, healthcare, and nursing homes, Daiwa House has started consultations with local residents at Toride-kita Neopolis on how it can be made into a place where people can reside for a long period, with the local Kokinu neighborhood serving as a benchmark.

We will launch initiatives that help residents at Toride-kita Neopolis enjoy lives that are both mentally and physically healthy. Along with building mutually beneficial arrangements whereby residents, whether small children or the elderly, can look after and help one another, these also include equipping ourselves with knowledge and information about how people live at the housing complex so that we can grasp opportunities for learning ways to prevent the number of vacant homes in the area from continuing to rise in the future.