Toyota Woven City

SUSONO, JAPAN

2018

CLIENT

Toyota Motor Corporation

TYPOLOGY

Urbanism

STATUS

IN DESIGN

In 2020, BIG and Toyota Motor Corporation revealed Toyota Woven City – the world’s first urban incubator dedicated to the advancement of all aspects of mobility at the foothills of Mt. Fuji in Japan. Envisioned as a living laboratory to test and advance mobility, autonomy, connectivity, hydrogen-powered infrastructure and industry collaboration, Toyota Woven City aims to bring people and communities together in a future enabled by technology yet grounded in history and nature.

Located at a 175-acre former factory site in the city of Susono in Shizuoka, Toyota Woven City creates a new equality among vehicles, alternate forms of movement, people and nature, streamlined by the promise of a connected, clean and shared mobility.

MOBILITY TYPES — Typical streets are shared by vehicular, pedestrian, and other mobility types. The road is mostly dedicated to car traffic and parking lanes, while pedestrians occupy a minor portion of the street. Woven City treats each mobility type equally, creating three separated streets with different functions.

WOVEN GRID — The three street types interweave to create a 3x3 block module, 150 m wide. The streets on the perimeter of the woven block module provide vehicular access for logistical and infrastructural services.

WOVEN BLOCK — The Woven City block becomes more porous than traditional city grids, offering a more human scale environment. The 3x3 typical module has eight building blocks around a central courtyard for pedestrian mobility to weave through.

WOVEN CITY — The woven module can be replicated to form a city characterized by a variety of neighborhoods. Each district is connected by perimeter vehicular roads, pedestrian trails, and slow mobility networks.

MAIN SQUARE — By distorting the grid, the central courtyard is enlarged to create a large plaza or park that can function as a city-wide public space.

CENTRAL PARK — Thanks to the distortion, the woven grid system continuous seamlessly throughout the whole city while accommodating a variety of scales, programs, and outdoor areas.

The Woven City is conceived as a flexible network of streets dedicated to various speeds of mobility for safer, pedestrian-friendly connections. The typical road is split into three, beginning with the primary street, optimized for faster autonomous vehicles with logistical traffic underneath. The Toyota e-Palette – an automated, clean, multi-purpose vehicle – will be used for shared transportation and delivery services, as well as for mobile retail, food, medical clinics, hotels, and workspaces.

The recreational promenade is occupied by micro-mobility types such as bicycles, scooters and other modes of personal transport, including Toyota’s i-Walk. The shared street allows residents to freely meander at a reduced speed with increasing amount of nature and space.

"A swarm of different technologies are beginning to radically change how we inhabit and navigate our cities. Connected, autonomous, emission-free and shared mobility solutions are bound to unleash a world of opportunities for new forms of urban life. With the breadth of technologies and industries that we have been able to access and collaborate with from the Toyota ecosystem of companies, we believe we have a unique opportunity to explore new forms of urbanity with the Woven City that could pave new paths for other cities to explore."

Bjarke Ingels — Founder & Creative Director, BIG

The third type of street is the linear park, a path dedicated to pedestrians, flora and fauna. An intimate trail provides a safe and pleasant environment for leisurely strolls and nature breaks through the ecological corridor connecting Mount Fuji to the Susono Valley.

The three street types are woven into 3×3 city blocks, each framing a courtyard accessible only via the promenade or linear park. The urban fabric of the woven grid expands and contracts to accommodate a variety of scales, programs and outdoor areas. In one instance, a courtyard balloons to the scale of a large plaza, and in another, to become a central park providing a city-wide amenity.

VEHICULAR ROAD

RECREATIONAL PROMENADE

LINEAR PARK

A mix of housing, retail and business – to be built primarily of carbon-sequestering wood with photovoltaic panels installed on the roofs – characterize each city block, ensuring vibrant and active neighborhoods at all times of the day. Toyota’s R&D spaces house robotic construction, 3D printing and mobility labs, while typical offices flexibly accommodate workstations, lounges and indoor gardens.

Residences in the Woven City will test new technology such as in-home robotics to assist with daily living. These smart homes take advantage of full connectivity using sensor-based AI technology to perform functions such as automatic grocery deliveries, laundry pick-ups or trash disposal, all while enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Fuji.

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Hidden from view in an underground network lies the infrastructure of the city, including hydrogen infrastructure, storm water filtration and a goods delivery network. The buildings at the Woven City will advance mass timber construction and strive towards carbon neutrality.

By combining the legacy of Japanese craftsmanship with modern technology, Japan’s construction heritage lives on, while building sustainably and efficiently into the future

Bjarke Ingels Daniel Sundlin Leon Rost Agla Egilsdottir Alvaro Velosa Jason Wu David Iseri Gary Polk Isabella Marcotulli Kristian Hindsberg Lingyi Xu Linqi Dong Minjung Ku Nasiq Khan Pauline Lavie-Luong Ryan Duval Shane Dalke Tara Abedinitafreshi Thomas McMurtrie Wes Thompson Yi Lun Yang Yu Inamoto Jialin Yuan Andrea Hektor Einat Lubliner Louise Mould Benjamin Caldwell Giulia Frittoli Bartłomiej Lew Lucrezia Picinali Yumiko Matsubara Alessandro Sciolari Will Chuanrui Yu