Città intelligenti” e rifiuti zero. Sfide ambiziose del Giappone del XXI secolo

This city has shown itself to be a privileged point of interest in developing eco sustainable strategies. In the “intelligent city,” sustainability is first pursued through implementing more efficient processes thanks to responsive and proactive citizens participating in data generation and environmental monitoring. Citizens become active sensory hubs or, more simply put, “citizen sensors.” Discussing the eco-sustainable city of Fujisawa, which is 50 km from Tokyo, is a relevant example. This city deserves highlights regarding its aspects of the flow of energy and mate rials and its natural cycle of resources. The colossal giant Panasonic obtained au thorization to proceed with the construction of an entire city based on the label of eco-sustainability and environmental protection. This major company has al ways been involved in upgrading projects for the country and joined another ele ven company partners to clean up a vast area of 19 acres previously occupied by Panasonic factories. Eventually, they transformed it into the model of a smart city equipped with 1,000 zero-emission homes. In this context, my principal objective is to illustrate and analyze how Kamikatsu, a small village in the Southwest of Japan, is flourishing with the idea of “zero trash.” The village is located in green rice fields, and mountainous forests on the western island of Shikoku and has as few as 2,000 inhabitants. In 2003, it took on this rigorous program for carrying out a crackdown on trash and thereby sup porting eco-sustainability. At this location, we propose an analysis of eco-sustai nability in two contexts: one at the urban level and the other at the rural level.