Overview
From major metropolitan areas to local cities and mountainous rural regions, communities across Japan face a wide range of mobility and transportation challenges. These issues not only reduce the convenience of daily life for residents, but also have adverse impacts on health, lead to social isolation, and ultimately diminish overall well-being. At NSRI, we do not just focus on urban transportation phenomena but also on the relationship between people’s lifestyles and urban space. We aim to enhance regional attractiveness and vitality and to realize stress-free, mobility-oriented urban development. From this perspective, we support initiatives such as regional transportation planning, comprehensive transportation strategies, mobility-oriented urban development plans, and the formulation of station-area urban development visions (including surveys and research).
Features and Approaches
We focus on the “lifestyles of people who live in the community” and examine how urban spaces and urban structures should be designed to encourage human movement and enhance local attractiveness, as well as what forms of mobility and urban/spatial structure are desirable to realize such visions. From this perspective, we conduct planning and policy studies that integrate both mobility and urban design considerations.
Specifically, we leverage the extensive expertise accumulated within the Nikken Group in urban development, community design, regional planning, and urban spatial planning, while advancing research and analysis that incorporate evidence-based policymaking (EBPM), along with advanced approaches such as the use of digital technologies and simulations. In addition, we have a strong track record of consulting on the application of new mobility solutions to urban development, including automated driving, MaaS, green slow mobility, personal mobility, and AI-based on-demand transportation systems.
Specifically, we leverage the extensive expertise accumulated within the Nikken Group in urban development, community design, regional planning, and urban spatial planning, while advancing research and analysis that incorporate evidence-based policymaking (EBPM), along with advanced approaches such as the use of digital technologies and simulations. In addition, we have a strong track record of consulting on the application of new mobility solutions to urban development, including automated driving, MaaS, green slow mobility, personal mobility, and AI-based on-demand transportation systems.
Service Details 1
Support for formulation of local transportation plans
We provide support for national-level surveys and the formulation of guidelines, as well as for local governments in developing regional public transportation plans and transportation strategies. In the planning process, it is essential to appropriately position emerging mobility solutions—such as automated driving, MaaS, and AI-based on-demand transportation—in accordance with local characteristics. We have extensive experience supporting a wide range of regions, from major metropolitan areas to regional and local cities.
Service Details 2
Consulting services for urban introduction of advanced mobility systems
We provide consulting services for the urban implementation of new mobility solutions, including automated driving and green slow mobility. With extensive implementation know-how across a wide range of regions—from major metropolitan areas to regional and rural areas—and diverse urban environments, we propose optimal systems tailored to the specific characteristics of each urban space. We also support mobility implementation initiatives that are coordinated with urban development projects, leveraging the Nikken Group's strengths in integrated urban development.
Service Details 3
Support for planning and introducing mobility hubs
Focusing on the functions of mobility hubs that enhance urban accessibility while also serving as catalysts for vibrancy and activity, we are conducting research on advanced mobility hubs. Rather than pursuing mobility hubs designed solely “for mobility,” we seek mobility hubs that can enhance local attractiveness and create value for communities. Through demonstration projects conducted in Japan, we have accumulated extensive know-how and practical insights in this field.
Service Details 4
Consulting for health-oriented community development
Ease of mobility is closely related to citizens’ health and social participation. In areas where the level of mobility services is low, challenges such as negative health impacts and social isolation may arise. From this perspective, we provide a wide range of support, from conducting surveys and research on healthy community development to the formulation of related guidelines.
Service Details 5
Consulting on pedestrian and human flow
In examining mobility-oriented urban development, it is important to understand not only transportation services but also patterns of human movement. Through the analysis of people flow data, such as GPS-based data, and the analysis of how pedestrian spaces are used using pedestrian simulation, we support the planning of walkable spaces that encourage encounters among people and enhance circulation in urban streets, commercial facility corridors, and other urban environments.
Service Details 6
Surveys and research on support for building inclusive societies
Building an inclusive society is an important initiative for realizing the SDG goal of "leaving no one behind," and it is closely related to mobility and urban development. We are conducting the following surveys and research activities* to realize a society in which all people can move about safely and securely as they go about their lives. We will use the expertise born from these activities to support studies.
*Surveys and research activities
- Consulting to support the establishment of universal access at the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, venue
- Research activities on inclusive design (a Nikken Group initiative)
- Research on preventing falls by older adults (joint research with the University of Tokyo)
*Surveys and research activities
- Consulting to support the establishment of universal access at the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, venue
- Research activities on inclusive design (a Nikken Group initiative)
- Research on preventing falls by older adults (joint research with the University of Tokyo)
Service Details 7
Study Group on the Future of Mobility and Cities
Nikken Group is undertaking policy proposal activities regarding the introduction of advanced mobility systems in cities to enhance the appeal of cities, and in collaboration with the Nagoya University COI-NEXT My-Mobility Co-creation Center, is currently operating the social co-creation platform "Study Group on the Future of Mobility and Cities," which has the participation of many people from government agencies and private companies.