Green Float: furture cities on the ocean | Masayuki Takeuchi | TEDxTokyo

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How do you think we should build our cities in the future in Japan where we have a lot of earthquakes? Masayuki Takeuchi talks about constructions of seismic isolation structures and the conceptual plan for future cities on the ocean.

I am the fourth speaker
to give a speech in Japanese.

(Laughter)

Please bear with me.

Let me introduce myself first.

My name is Masayuki Takeuchi.

I am the project leader for GREEN FLOAT,

our environment-friendly
future city concept.

I work for the Shimizu Corporation.

I am in charge of technology
for urban planning and buildings.

Before talking about the concept
for future cities

I would like to talk about
what we can do with architecture

to cope with earthquake problems.

First earthquake.

Some places in Tokyo very far
from the epicenter of the earthquake

had a lot of damage such as
collapsed furniture or ceilings.

No matter how sturdy
we make our buildings,

I'm afraid it doesn't guarantee
the safety of people's lives.

This is the Great Buddha of Kamakura.

Actually the history for our earthquake
countermeasures began here.

About 90 years ago,
in the Great Kanto Earthquake,

this Buddha statue suffered damage.

Several decades after that happened,

in the reconstruction of the statue,

a new technology called
"seismic isolated structure"

was used for the first time to prevent
its damage in another earthquake.

That technology isn't
as difficult as it may sound.

Between the Buddha statue and the pedestal

a sheet of stainless steel plate
was inserted, that's all.

When an earthquake occurs

the whole body of the statue slides
sideways on the stainless steel sheet,

leaving the statue intact.

But today's seismic isolation technology

is a little more advanced than that.

The concept is that of converting tremors
into a gentle swaying motion like a willow

by isolating the building
from the ground movement

during an earthquake.

The part that actually sways like a willow

is the damping rubber structure
under the building like this.

This is called "seismic isolation rubber"
that can sway as a willow does.

In a big earthquake,
it can stretch up to 50cm.

I think that when the quake
occurred this time in Tokyo

that rubber structure in the buildings
must have stretched between 5~10cm.

Because of this, the building
above it sways slowly.

As you see in this slide the building
on the left is an ordinary one.

It shakes, the furniture in it falls over,
and the ceiling collapses

when an earthquake occurs
and the ground shakes.

The one on the right
is a seismically isolated building.

Because of the damping rubber
under the building,

the building on top of it gently sways
as if it were on a big ship.

So, the ceiling and the furniture
would be safe.

We can ensure our safety by investing
only 3% of the total cost in this.

About 2,500 buildings in Japan
are seismically isolated.

So, you may ask, what would happen
to the existing buildings without it?

This picture shows historical buildings
you must be able to identify easily.

These were jacked up
long after their construction

to put a damping rubber beneath them.

So this protects the buildings
from earthquake damage.

Recent new seismic isolation technology
is not only for sideway shakes

but also for vertical jolts.

The seismic isolation technology
is finally getting into 3D.

Next is environment.

Have you ever imagined that an earthquake
would rob us of this much energy?

On the Yahoo top page

that we now have "Electric Forecast"
instead of Weather Forecast

is well known.

I am sure you work in offices

with the lights off
when it is sunny outside.

Have you ever seen this kind
of window blind?

This window blind is computer programmed

to allow sunlight in
according to the height of the sun

by controlling the angle
of the blind slats.

This blind would help light up
your office a little bit more

even when you don't use
the electric lights in your office.

We can also contrive the way

to control the condition
of the air inside a building.

Cool air usually comes out of the ceiling
through the air ducts,

cooling the whole room at full blast.

However, remember that when we get
into a tunnel, it feels cool inside,

although no cool wind is coming in.

It's because the cool temperature
of the materials used in making the tunnel

robs our bodies of heat.

This principle is embodied
by a radiant cooling system.

Making the surface of the ceiling
- in this case it's metal - cool,

lowers the room temperature,

making our environment comfortable.

Some of you may not like
a cool draft blowing directly on you.

With this it won't happen.

Comfortable and very energy-saving.

There is also technology for offices
that can detect where people are

and adjust for those
who like a warm or a cool temperature.

By using a sensor to detect such things

we can save energy
and make offices comfortable

without wasting electricity.

This is cutting-edge technology
for offices right now.

We will complete the construction
of the new headquarters building

for our company next spring.

All those technologies
I have just mentioned

are incorporated into this building.

Energy usage and CO2 emission can be
reduced by about a half in this building,

so, we call this a "carbon-half building."

Within our ambit after this
"carbon-half building"

is a plan to make a "zero-energy building"

using a lot of natural energy.

The word "building"
isn't visible in this slide,

but it's "zero-energy building" or ZEB.

Beyond that, GREEN FLOAT
- I'll talk about that after this -

will even absorb CO2
from around the structure.

That is to say that our goal is
to aim at a "carbon-minus building."

What I've talked about so far
are the technologies

that we can incorporate
into architecture right now.

So, do you think

that these technologies would make
the environment of our future cities

rosy and safe?

Do you think these would ensure that?

I think the answer is no.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't go that way
unless the current situation changes.

That means that no matter how hard
individual buildings tried

to accommodate new technologies,

there would never be
a big paradigm shift.

Now is the time for us
to have a distinct paradigm shift.

We need to consider a city as one unit

to solve the safety
and environmental problems.

That is the way to adapt to the new era.

We have been proposing the concept

of an environmentally friendly city,
GREEN FLOAT, for the past 3 years.

The current dense living conditions on
the 30% of the Earth's surface that's land

is causing many
environmental problems worldwide.

So, this project is to focus on the oceans

that take up 70% of the Earth's surface.

Japan is a country
with advanced environmental technologies.

Japan is also surrounded by oceans.

With all the most advanced technologies -

environmental technology as in GREEN,

and ocean technology as in FLOAT -
incorporated into it,

this is a completely
new concept for cities.

We are innovating technologies,
aiming at breaking ground for it in 2025.

Please watch the video.

(Video starts): GREEN FLOAT
is a new conceptual model

for environmentally friendly cities.

The idea is to construct
artificial islands in the equatorial ocean

with the aim of achieving self-sufficient
and carbon negative cities

with zero waste.

On the Equator it's hot,
but the temperature is stable.

Also, the Equator isn't prone to typhoons

so that the climate is stable, too.

The idea is to build towers
like this, 1,000m high

At that elevation it's cooler,

we'd create "cities in the sky"

with a year-round temperature
of 26 degrees C.

Each cell of GREEN FLOAT
has a radius of 1km, a walkable distance.

One cell is defined as one town,

and a module consisting of cells
is defined as a city,

and one unit consisting of modules
is defined as a country.

As its population increases,
it could grow like water lilies.

The part between 700 and 1,000m high
is the urban area.

On the periphery, there are
residencies and hospitals.

In the center, there are offices
and commercial facilities.

The tower has a plant factory
which grows vegetables.

In the lower part, cereals are grown,

and in the shallows, fish
and seaweed are cultivated.

The CO2, waste water and garbage
from the urban area

become nutrients
for the plant factory below.

They also become nutrients for arable
and marine cultivation at the bottom.

In other words we want
to achieve a natural cycle,

where the city gets back fish
from the shallows,

cereals from the fields,
vegetables from the plant factory.

In consideration
of the marine environment,

to ensure sunlight is not blocked
from going into the ocean depths,

GREEN FLOAT drifts slowly as it floats
with the ocean currents,

instead of being fixed in one place.

Smart marine construction techniques
using the buoyancy forces of seawater

will enable it to be built
safely and efficiently.

The main issue is how to construct
new cities and buildings;

that is, the technology needed to build
floating cities or aerial cities.

Another issue is how to create
a new environment on the Earth.

This involves such fields

as satellite solar power
and waste circulation.

We also have to think
about new economic systems

such as trading in CO2 emission rights

and systems
for international coordination,

as it wouldn't be fair for the cities
to belong to individual countries.

So, the three big themes are construction,
the environment, and social systems.

(Video ends)

I have introduced GREEN FLOAT,
a new paradigm,

with the idea that a city
is considered as one unit.

Thank you.

(Applause)