New system-design model using action research in a disaster area

Abstract

After the Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and some private companies launched a disaster support project, the “Kesennuma Kizuna Project,” in the disaster area Kesennuma City, Miyagi Pref. We started new activities for implementing smart community technologies, such as energy management, robotic life care technologies, etc., to activate the human connections and the community. This paper briefly reviews the project, shows some of the technological results, generates a discussion, and proposes a new system-design process model for social systems.