"Building better places to
live through partnership between
the public and private sectors" In Toyama, a city that exemplifies the future of sustainable urban development, Daiwa Lease teamed up with the city to undertake a public-private partnership for creating more vibrant urban spaces.

Pursuing sustainable urban development while experiencing a falling population, Toyama has attracted attention not just from elsewhere in Japan, but also from overseas. In 2012, Toyama was selected by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as one of five case studies of leading compact cities* from around the world.

Toyama City makes up approximately one-third of the land area of Toyama Prefecture and its population is widely scattered. The city center is served by public transportation infrastructure that includes a next-generation light rail transit (LRT) system. The city has put in place a variety of policies aimed at encouraging residents to move closer to these transport corridors, including subsidies and the provision of attractive facilities. The results are clearly evident with the city center seeing an influx of new residents and elementary schools enjoying rising rolls.

Following this, the next step in the city's mission to create vibrant urban spaces and provide a high quality of life was a plan to redevelop the site that was formerly home to Sogawa Elementary School in the city center. The plan involved use of a public-private partnership (PPP) to deliver public services. After reviewing proposals, a team lead by Daiwa Lease (part of the Daiwa House Group) was selected.

* A city in which functions such as healthcare, employment, housing, and transportation are concentrated in the city center, the aim being to provide greater convenience for residents with lower administrative costs.

Sogawa Legato Square was opened in April 2017 as a place where the public and private sectors could come together. A public facility on an 8,700m² site, the square features a patio-style plaza and an integrated community care center called the Toyama-shi Machinaka Sogo Care Center. The six private-sector facilities on the site are: Aoike Academy, a school that specializes in healthcare and the culinary arts; Gunze Sports Toyama Legato Square, a sports club; Barzer, a café run by Kokando, a Toyama-based pharmaceutical company; the first Lawson Healthcare facility in the Hokuriku region, which combines the Sogawa Toyama branch of Lawson with a Pharma Mirai Kokando pharmacy; and the Legato Square parking building of D-Parking, part of the Daiwa House Group. The Toyama Nursing School will also be constructed at the site, with relocation from the outskirts of Toyama having been part of the plan from the outset.

Toyama-shi Machinaka Sogo Care Center

Aoike Academy

Gunze Sports Toyama Legato Square

The Daiwa Lease proposal was for a health center that would bring people of different generations together with a focus on “medical services, welfare, and health”. Mr. Kishi, who works for Toyama City, had the following to say about Daiwa Lease’s skill at attracting private-sector businesses that were a good fit with this concept.

“The most important point of all was how they managed to attract the vocational schools. It means that the site will be frequented by the pupils of Aoike Academy and Toyama Nursing School, a combined roll of 880 students. This will bring in people to a site that has been left vacant by the consolidation process, generating vibrancy in the neighborhood.”

Toyama-shi Machinaka Sogo Care Center brings together childcare support, in-home healthcare, and other functions that foster the local community. What comes as something of a surprise is how the center prompted a change in national rules.

The nursery for sick children on the second floor operates a system whereby, when a child at a daycare facility or similar becomes unwell, they are picked up by taxi and brought to the nursery to be cared for after examination by a general practitioner. Negotiations with national government led to this pick-up-based approach to sick children being added to the national guidelines, meaning that reimbursement for taxi fares is available. The Machinaka Clinic that only operates via home-visits provides in-home care when the patient's own doctor is unavailable. The clinic deals with many end-of-life patients and others who need a high level of care, providing support to busy local doctors. The post-natal care facility on the third floor provides overnight and daycare to mothers and babies. While the fact that it offers stayover services meant that it had no choice but to register as an accommodation provider, a new category of post-natal care center was added to the guidelines for post-natal care businesses after repeated requests to national government.

Nursery for sick children that offers taxi pickup

Machinaka Clinic that only operates via home-visits

Post-natal care facility with Japanese- and European-style rooms for staying overnight

The child development support clinic on the first floor offers therapy and consultations for children when there are concerns about developmental delays. The clinic saw a total of 11,505 patients during the 2018 financial year. The Machinaka Salon on the first floor is a community drop-in center and holds social events run by local residents. It bustles with people on a daily basis, hosting health courses and yoga classes among other activities.

Atsuko Sakai, Head of the Toyama-shi Machinaka Sogo Care Center, believes that the attractiveness of Sogawa Legato Square as a whole contributes to this high level of activity.

"I believe the center on its own was somewhat cut off, being used by only so many people. Now that we have a sports club and cafe as neighbors along with the schools, the neighborhood has become much more attractive. As a result, I believe that more local people choose to come here and that brings more people to the center. It gives me a sense of the synergies that arise from a mix of public and private."

Daiwa Lease has proposed a variety of ways in which people of different generations, rather than consuming goods, can mingle together while enjoying intangible experiences.

The second-floor deck that links the cafe and sports club is called the Gathering Space, with three structures set up and made available for rental. The first of these, the Gallery, is a popular venue for commercial meetings and the like. The second, called the Bar, was the scene of long queues when a shaved ice pop-up store appeared for a time. The third is outfitted in the Japanese style with an interior by a well-known plasterer. The route through the middle of the complex that serves as its main street can also be rented for events.

Multi-level design that links multiple buildings

The second-floor deck that gives access to various facilities

The Gathering Space, available for rent by residents

The patio courtyard started out as just a lawn in the plans, only to evolve into a place of Toyama apple trees and 100-year-old olive trees in which local residents can relax or stroll about. It has become a playground for children from the nearby kindergarten.

The management of the Gathering Space and the administration of the Machinaka Salon is handled by Machizukuri Spot Toyama, an NPO supported by Daiwa Lease.

The establishment of the Sogawa Legato Square Council was prompted by recognition that a collaborative arrangement between the public and private sectors would be essential to sustaining and developing the vitality of the complex over the long term. Company and city personnel gather on a monthly basis to plan and run events. The family garden event held every summer attracted about 2,000 people in 2018. Other examples include a flea market held in the main thoroughfare, Aoike Academy's snack-making class for children, Gunze's exercises for people with back pain, and a Nursing School event that let children see what it is like to be a nurse.

Sogawa Legato Square regularly receives official visitors from around the country. In the 2018 national rankings for local government visits (ranking by population size)*, Toyama came out top with Sogawa Legato Square (Toyama-shi Machinaka Sogo Care Center) in second place. These visits are not just from Japan, with people also coming from South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe to inspect the site.

Masahiro Kasuya, a manager at the Toyama Office of Daiwa Lease, expressed his delight by saying, "I never expected to attract this level of interest. All our hard work has paid off." He also added, "I hope that the local government officials who come here from around Japan can learn something from Sogawa Legato Square that will help them address the challenges they face." Masayuki Doi, manager of thePrefabricated Industrial Buildings Business at Toyama Office, commented that, "I am grateful that this state of affairs has been helped by the leadership of the Toyama mayor and the forward-looking initiative of his staff."

The land for private-sector facilities is leased from Toyama City to Daiwa Lease on the basis of a fixed-term commercial lease. Toyama City's Sosuke Kishi expressed his hopes for the future by saying, "While this project lasts for 30 years, the fact that we are dealing with Daiwa Lease makes me confident that it will run smoothly over the long term."

The founder of Daiwa House Industry left behind the words, "How do we keep up with changing times?" Sogawa Legato Square is a leading example of a project that Toyama has undertaken to adapt to changing circumstances. Thinking back over the ideals and actions of the city, Masahiro Kasuya had this to say:

"There is still much that can be done. I hope we can keep on working with our customers, make progress day by day and come up with initiatives that suit the times."

* Source: Survey conducted by Shin Komin Renkei Saizensen website of Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.