Background

Shizuoka is an industrial city in Japan with many small factories. The city leads especially in plastic model production, with more than 80% of model kits in Japan made in Shizuoka. Plastic models are toys that many Japanese people become obsessed with at an early age. They inspire children’s creativity.

However, most people don’t recognize Shizuoka as the city of plastic models, and the number of tourists had declined. We challenged ourselves to make this town more famous through the excitement of plastic models and with the power of design.

Idea

The Model City 1:1 Scale.

A city redesign project to transform an ordinary city into a plastic model. The theme was “What if the city itself was a plastic model…?”

We made a postbox resemble an unassembled plastic model. It might look like a model, but you can still drop your postcard in it, just like a regular postbox. We also transformed a phone booth. Of course, it can still make calls. Other things we reshaped include tourist signs, benches, street lights, photo spots, and more. Our idea was to transform the city’s traditional industry into tourist attractions.

Results

The Model City 1:1 Scale transformed a city’s traditional assets into new tourist attractions. The city’s tourism industry, which had been severely affected by the pandemic, was revitalized, with the plastic monuments drawing more tourists to the area.

The city also promotes the eco-cycling of plastic models, and installed collection boxes for discarded plastic model parts.

The city was flooded with inquiries about the plastic model project.