Research and Development Initiatives-5

Task５

Behavioral Change of Consumers and Producers

Future social and environmental constraints are a concern due to factors like shifts in the labor force and increasingly severe weather disasters. Rapid environmental changes in recent years have altered the supply of ingredients available in local regions. In particular, for fishery resources, the peak seasons and harvest volumes of familiar local seafood have changed drastically, while species with no tradition of local consumption are being caught in large quantities – leading to declines in fisheries’ productivity and a rise in untapped resources. Research has revealed that when urban consumers learn about the state of rural food environments, their values and consumption behaviors related to food can change. To adapt to climate change on both the production and consumption sides, it is necessary to connect rural producers and urban consumers in co-creative forums where they can influence each other, thereby prompting behavioral changes that encourage the appropriate selection of food resources.

Research Task Leader

Ryuzo FURUKAWA

Research Task Leader

Center Director・Professor, Advanced Research Laboratories, Research Center for Sustainability Science, Tokyo City University

▶︎ Laboratory website｜JP

Ryuzo Furukawa is a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Advanced Research Center, Tokyo City University. He received a BS in 1996 and a MS in 1998 from the University of Tokyo. From 1998 to 2005, he served as a researcher in the Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., during which time he got interested in innovation research. He received a PhD in innovation research from the Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, the University of Tokyo, in 2005. From then on, he has been at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, and developed new methodologies such as lifestyle design by backcasting, nature technology, lifestyle analysis by using ontology engineering, behavioral change by art, and solution creation methods. He has interviewed more than 600 90-year-old people to research old lifestyles and find sustainable ones and is dedicated to finding a framework of lifestyle innovation that makes possible a sustainable society living in harmony with nature. He is also the founder of “Mirai no Kurashi Sozo Juku,”and association for learning about social innovation. It is running several projects with the local government and companies. Prof. Furukawa has authored or coauthored more than 74 academic papers and 24 books and won 10 awards.