I am pleased to report that the selection process has come to a close. From the results, I believe that the winning works and the competition overall will deliver a powerful message about the ever greater endeavors that will launch from Maebashi. I would like to express my gratitude to the organizers and to the applicants for their great efforts along the long and difficult path leading to this point.
The scopes and the time frames of the selected designs vary greatly. While we consider whether the competition's given design conditions are realistic ones, we must at the same time question the feasibility of this endeavor not as a competition of ideas or proposals but as a competition premised on implementable design. Putting together the application guidelines was a daunting task. The unprecedented prize money and the international nature of the competition, matters that had already been decided, further raised the difficulty of envisioning and responding to all possible situations. The duties of the Judging Committee included creating the application guidelines. The competition has been certified as appropriate in accordance with the civil engineering design competition guidelines of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers. That organization's Public Design Competition Study Subcommittee, under the Construction Management Committee, ably assisted us in the process leading to certification.
After working through the process and finally commencing recruitment in October of last year, we passed the baton to the applicants, who poured immense energy into their works. Details of the primary screening process are left to the report by the organizer. Here, I would like to provide general comments on the public presentations and on the five works subjected to secondary screening. I invite everyone to view these comments together with commentary by individual Judging Committee members.

Public presentations were a critical process within the competition. Despite limits on time, the presentations allowed judges to examine matters not explicit in the submitted materials and to affirm the approaches of the presenters through impassioned narratives, finely detailed models, prepared videos, and Q&A sessions. A number of the Judging Committee members reported that the presentations led them to update preliminary evaluations that they had made based on submitted materials alone.
In the screening following the presentations, the judges exchanged opinions on the five proposals and conducted scoring in a predetermined format. The scoring left proposals G445 and G758 tied for first place ahead of the others, turning the discussion toward which of the two to select as the winner. While both proposals were outstanding, the judges agreed that G445 left a stronger message and sense of expectation as a proposal able to undertake its endeavor with the interest and cooperation of stakeholders and citizens. Judging also considered the diversity of proposing teams as sending a vital message. Below are comments on the works by Committee Chair Sasaki, touching on discussions in the Judging Committee.

Grand Prize Winner G445
While the concept of the proposal was evident from the submitted materials, details of the specific space proposal and the plans for proceeding were made clearer in the public presentation and yielded new points for evaluation. The proposal was rated highly for its aim of seeking a globally communicable design, using Maebashi’s streets to express the power visible today in the city and the assets unique to it, including the mountains seen in the distance. The modeling skills of the team were evident in its proposal for well-designed street areas, a citizens' square, and the existing five-way intersection. At the same time, concerns about the need for a bridge-shaped structure and the feasibility of traffic management premised on a smart traffic signal system were noted. However, taking into consideration the plan's process for determining forms through dialogue with citizens and its sense of challenge that meshes with the competition's aims, the proposal was deemed the Grand Prize winner.

Runner-Up G758
This proposal was rated a solid plan for the comprehensiveness of its perspective and the depth of its study, with clearly set goals, proposals that carefully consider local conditions and traffic management, and the framework for advancing the project. The plan also received high marks for its aim of expressing street spaces capable of revealing scenes of everyday life, with connection to the broader landscape and history. At the same time, questions arose concerning the design and function of the proposed citizens' square and cocoon-shaped roof, particularly whether these would hold a unique value not only at present but into the future. The experimental nature of the mobile pots (Self-driving furniture) pose a challenge; operational issues can also be assumed. While the ability of the team to advance projects steadily and flexibly even amid elements of uncertainty was evident, the proposal was deemed to have less of an impact than G445 in terms of a Creative City international competition outcome, and so was awarded Runner-Up status.

Selected Entry G423
This proposal was rated highly for its town hub concept that holds the potential to contribute to urban planning integrated with the roadside, as well as its detail based on careful research on surrounding area. Its possibilities and feasibility as a core for creating a sense of neighborhood were recognized, even if not for all of the 12 proposed locations. Conversely, the proposal was seen as heavily reliant on louvers, and concerns persisted over management, including of the biotope. A lack of power to communicate an outward-facing message was also noted.

Selected Entry G439
This proposal was evaluated highly for a maturity that had advanced from the level of the preliminary proposal, demonstrating an attentive understanding of Maebashi's history and water systems and considerations of traffic management and of times when water cannot be used at the area specified as waterside. The proposal leaves activities in street spaces to citizens, but its stance of securing maintenance of physical infrastructure through public means was recognized for its feasibility. At the same time, issues pointed out included whether the large roof over the prefectural citizens' square would function in the local climate and whether it would impact the shape of the pedestrian bridge, as well as whether people would relate to the distinctive water design.

Selected G503
This proposal was recognized for its powerful impact on surrounding areas of low greenery through the novel concept of an archipelago. Another positive point was its ideas for making effective use of new public facilities in the design process and management methods. Issues recognized included the practicality of long-term greenery cultivation/management decades after the start of the project and of involvement by citizens, concern over negative aspects inherent in the dense forest space, and the feasibility and efficiency of construction given the underground portion.

Through the impassioned submissions noted above and through sincere and fair judging, I am confident that we have selected works that are worthy of this highly challenging design competition.
The truly challenging work begins from here. More than a relationship of commercial order placement and receipt, I hope to achieve a partnership aimed at realizing infrastructure that will serve as an investment in a better future. In particular, I hope to see Gunma Prefecture, the organizer of the competition, build a structure for advancing initiatives that go beyond agency boundaries and that involve Maebashi and the national government. In accord with such public-sector initiatives, I hold expectations that a variety of parties active in Maebashi will positively participate in the design of public spaces based on this competition and will engage in urban planning that derives from it. I hope to see this design competition mark an important epoch in the yet-unknown future of Maebashi.

This competition marks the first urban space international design competition in Japan that is focused on major urban streets. Participating as a member of the Judging Committee has been both a great honor and a valuable experience for me. I would like to thank everyone involved for this.
The competition involved integrating National Route 50, a major throughway in the northern Kanto region, with the revitalization of a central urban area where residents are closely tied to activities, as well as the further acceleration of that revitalization in a locale characterized by Japan's highest degree of dependence on automobiles. This was surely a demanding challenge for the applicants. All of the submitted works boldly stepped up to the task, but the five works that passed primary screening proved particularly difficult to rank based on the submitted documents alone.
What I learned through participation in the design competition is the importance of face-to-face presentations. The presenters’ choice of wording and tone, their passion that came through during Q&A, and above all, the power inherent in their meticulously crafted drawings, models, and videos led me to significantly change the evaluations I had made based only on documents. It was through this process that we were able to determine a Grand Prize winner. Comments by citizens on the works that passed the first round of judging also overwhelmed me with their quantity, quality, and depth, revealing a high level of interest. These comments, too, became valuable input in my evaluations, so I would also like extend my gratitude to those citizens.
Japan's first full-scale urban street space design competition has now ended, but the first step has only just begun. The Grand Prize-winning work's concept will undergo basic planning, basic design, implementation planning, and further growth and evolution. As I mentioned earlier, the area involved includes National Route 50 and Route 17, key roads in the northern Kanto region. This is an area where urban revitalization is powerfully forging ahead through both public and private initiatives. It is also the area where GunMaaS leads Japan in its aim of centralized provision and operation of autonomous driving and mobility services. From here on out, we will need to consider and give form to these things in an integrated and cohesive manner. At the center of all of this are Gunma Prefecture, Maebashi, the national government, and citizens. People's thoughts will take shape, and their passion will continue to powerfully drive the entirety of the endeavor forward. It is my sincere wish that this project takes that path.

This sort of large-scale street design competition is a groundbreaking undertaking, the first such experience for me. As we worked our way through the processes from preparation of the guidelines onward, through the efforts of Chairperson Sasaki and the secretariat we were able to carry out the competition.
The initiative is a new one, and we recognized difficulties along the way. One was the extent to which to present a form for the city. Nearly all of the works propose creation, use, and maintenance together with citizens, highlighting the critical importance of citizen participation. However, in the case of streets, more so than with architecture, matters are often left undecided at the time of proposal. At the same time, in a design competition, proposals are expected to take a number of forms (not limited to man-made objects), a situation that can be challenging to balance. Another difficulty is the question of how to present or adopt practical proposals while keeping an eye on the future, amid the dizzying pace of technological development in transportation. A third difficulty is the question of how to maintain roads and communities as the population continues to decline. In the interest of walkable streets that draw out creativity, it is important that citizens participate and continue using the streets. In reality, though, the number of people playing these roles is on the decline.
The five groups that passed secondary screening presented comprehensive proposals that overcome such difficulties, each attentively working out matters of transportation, spaces, processes, and more to reveal an individual appeal.
The Grand Prize winner is a concrete proposal that meshes abstract concepts with a solidity that ably recycles the familiar but vital processes of discovering, creating, nurturing, and connecting the identity of the city. I found the wide-open prefectural citizens' square leading to the Tone River to be a compelling space.
The Runner-Up work presents attentively designed beautiful street spaces that appear highly feasible. The proposal is distinctive not only in its physical design but also in its attention to guidance on street-side land usage and the incorporation of dynamic elements such as furniture and mobile pots that create places to be and invite activities.
The three selected entries are all distinctive works that made judging difficult. G423 takes the approach of creating a sense of neighborhoods with readily walkable distances and gently connecting these into a whole. G439 aims for the composition and usage of street spaces to meld into the neighborhood. G503 is compelling in its striking proposal to create a large park from streets. Each takes an individual direction without clearly surpassing the others.
With the competition now finished, the key issue before us is how make the ideas a reality. I hope to see Japanese public design turn a new page with its beginnings in Maebashi.

Judging focused on determining the degree to which the proposals could address the purpose set forth under the Maebashi Creative City concept: “A city where all take part in urban development and feel a personal contribution to the city’s future.” Going beyond the design and functionality of spaces in the proposals, we questioned the degree to which the spaces are open to citizens and invite citizens' proactive involvement. In other words, we asked whether proposals took a stance of making the city not a place for "someone" but a place for all.
Each proposal had its own individuality and strengths, and each depicted a new city while addressing its history and terrain. Noteworthy among the proposals were those that did not overlook "shoots" of civic activities and presented ideas and mechanisms that seek to firmly give root to those activities in the city. These represent not one-time participatory events but rather invitations to actions that nurture, build up, and sustain the relationship between people and the city day by day, in what could be called signs of fresh new "shoots" in Maebashi. These "shoots" yield a landscape of abundant co-creation that cannot be birthed through administrative leadership, but that sprouts only through the personal involvement of citizens in spaces.
In terms of perceiving the public nature of the city, too, the proposals went beyond the mere enhancement of convenience and development of physical infrastructure to adopt an awareness of spatial design that lets people feel they belong in the city as they gather, dialogue, create, and travel about. More than the designs and plans themselves, proposals that looked ahead to how projects will be nurtured into the future revealed the flexibility and adaptability that will be needed by Maebashi.
The judging was a task of selecting a new landscape for the city, as well as a task of choose the future of the outlooks and actions of citizens. Whichever plan is implemented, I hope that it will generate "shoots" for people and connect to a chain of actions that nurture further "shoots." I want the city of Maebashi to remain a place where all who live, work, and visit there can feel a personal role in shaping the landscape.

The launch of the Transit Mall concept and the global recruitment for an international competition by Gunma Prefecture, the prefecture with Japan's highest number of cars per capita, embrace a very powerful message and significance. Furthermore, the competition not only aims to solicit ideas; it is also premised on their implementation. The high hurdles presented for submissions highlights the seriousness of the competition's organizers.
In the judging process, the points that I emphasized most were whether proposals were broad enough to encompass the diversity of values appropriate to an international competition, and whether the proposals exhibited the creativity to communicate the concept of Maebashi Creative City. I also paid attention to the potential for deepening and expanding the proposed plans through co-creation with community residents. Meeting face-to-face with the proposing teams in the final presentations, the judges placed importance on whether the teams were equipped with the diversity to adapt to changing times and social conditions.
Many of the proposals sought to intentionally create "locations" by placing human-scale places for people to be throughout street spaces, which tend to be linear and uniform. In a number of the proposals, the envisioned depiction of users was abstract and concerns arose over the practicality of managing and operating the "locations." By contrast, the Grand Prize winner exuded a sense of prioritizing the enjoyment of walking and an enthusiasm to work long-term with community residents to create new value that includes places for people to be, all while facing up to the realities of street and pedestrian spaces.
Turning this project into reality holds great potential as a message globally communicating the endeavors of Japanese regional cities. I anticipate that the Grand Prize-winning proposal will, through co-creation with community residents, grow into a unique and singular plan that symbolizes the city of Maebashi in Gunma Prefecture, and sincerely hope that the project will prove to be a lasting endeavor beloved by the community.

This competition received proposals to rejuvenate the main street of Maebashi, which runs through the city center from the prefectural office to Maebashi Station, into a public transportation- and people-oriented street space with spatial design worthy of the prefecture's capital city. The proposals also included considerations of a long-pending issue: how to make use of the five-way intersection in a way that harmonizes with the neighborhood while ensuring safety and smooth flow. Many groups took part in the competition, working under design concepts that took advantage of the rich nature, history, culture, and unique assets of Maebashi to propose wonderful designs that finely incorporate area characteristics, regional activities, connection, and expansion. There were proposals well suited to Gunma Prefecture, which aims to be "a leading digital prefecture in Japan" through initiatives such as the establishment of mobility systems geared to future technological innovation. I hope that the winning work will become a reality in the near future, with the national government, Gunma Prefecture, and Maebashi working together while envisioning a more compelling Maebashi that people will want to return to again and again.

I would first like to express my appreciation for the interest shown by not only architecture and landscape experts but also by prefectural citizens, students, and many others in this international competition, one of the largest of its kind in Japan. As a judge and as an organizer, I also want to convey utmost respect for the outstanding works submitted from within Japan and abroad.
This competition was a considerably difficult one, directed at about 1.5 kilometers of street spaces, including the long-pending matter of the five-way intersection of Honmachi 2-chome, the citizens' square in front of the prefectural office, and the overall urban space containing these. Proposals came in from several groups, including overseas firms, each of which conveyed a strong enthusiasm for the project.
In judging, I attached particular importance to whether a proposal would entice people to visit the prefectural capital of Maebashi and whether it would help build a city that would keep those visitors coming back.
My remarks on individual works are below.

Grand Prize Winner G445
The presentation for the proposal clarified design concepts that had been left unclear by the documents submitted for secondary screening, raising my evaluation.
At the five-way intersection at Honmachi 2-chome, which has long presented an inconvenience for pedestrians, an inclusive bridge will yield a space that everyone can use safely and that creates connections within the neighborhood. Capitalizing on Maebashi's distant views of landscape largely unhindered by buildings, the proposal creates viewing spots where a magnificent spread of sky and the Akagi mountains can be seen, plus locations offering a bird's-eye view of the changing cityscape. I recognize the proposal as one that invites dreams and hopes for the future and as a design that will support change in the city with a view toward the next hundred years of urban planning. Moreover, the plan's creation of a future-oriented mobility hub while retaining flexible use of the citizens' square makes it is a design that fuses the present and the future.
Regarding the designs of the Honmachi 2-chome five-way intersection and the citizens' square, I anticipate further refinement of these based on flexible responses to dialogues with local residents.

Runner-up: G758
I recognize the high design quality of the plan's cocoon-shaped roof and the outstanding functionality of its design for the citizens' square. At the same time, I was unable to sense significant change in the street spaces, and could not square away the question of whether the proposal would create spaces that would draw visitors again and again.

Selected Entry G423
I appreciated the proposal's device of creating opportunities for encountering Maebashi's appealing neighborhoods through urban hubs placed at intervals of 100 to 150 meters. However, I was also left with concerns over the need for the louvered roofs and over questions of whether the plan would spark urban activity and whether it captured the uniqueness of Gunma and Maebashi.

Selected Entry G439
This proposal conveys a sense of the history of Maebashi as a city of water, greenery, and poetry. I appreciate that its consideration extends to details including traffic management through traffic cells. Conversely, it is lacking in consideration of regional characteristics, such as appropriate maintenance and management of water for creating the waterside area, the form of the pedestrian bridge at the Honmachi 2-chome five-way intersection, and the structure of the large roof over the citizens' square.

Selected Entry G503
I recognize the proposal's creation of a new urban park that combines street functions and that creates urban activity, as well as its process of urban development hand-in-hand with citizens and its spatial design that will draw people again and again. At the same time, I was left with concerns over appropriate maintenance and management and over feasibility when the spaces are considered as streets.

I would like to thank everyone who submitted entries in the Urban Space Design International Competition for the utilization of street spaces. The proposals by the five teams that passed final judging all excelled in creativity and original perspectives and embrace potential for enriching the future of the city.

【G423】
I believe that the proposal's ideas for urban planning and for an urban hub with local involvement are items that could be undertaken right away. But while the plan is high in practicality, I would like it to go further in presenting concrete impacts on the region and cooperative measures.

【G439】
I see the waterside Transit Mall, created through the construction of a network of roads and waterways, as a novel and groundbreaking proposal for street spaces. But while the proposal holds a near-future appeal, I felt some uncertainty over year-round maintenance and preparation, including aspects of management and water treatment.

【G445】
The Maebashi Ridgeline concept appears in a proposal that places value on process while rooting itself in a future vision based on the regional nature of Maebashi. With its story of involving the region in discovering and nurturing high points, it was selected as the competition winner due its overall plan that heightens development effects. Regarding design and the presence or absence of three-dimensional slopes at intersections, I think that establishing a consensus with the region and constructing a framework for sustainable public-private cooperation will be key points.

【G503】
The proposal's overall vision of streets as a new park is a novel and impactful. Its archipelago is also unique in presenting street spaces that can flexibly adapt and change according to conditions at the time in the city. At the same time, there were concerns over management and safety assurance once the whole is made into an urban park.

【G758】
This proposal exhibited novelty and feasibility in features such as the cocoon-shaped roof and the 100 nursery beds. It also excelled in its traffic planning and sense of design unity. Although overall evaluation of the content of the proposal content and the project promotion structure was high, the plan was awarded Runner-Up status over questions of whether new value can be realized from the proposal.

I feel that this international design competition has provided an opportunity to deepen discussions about new street spaces more than ever before. Maebashi has to date promoted urban planning through public-private cooperation under its vision of "shoots." I believe that by connecting with this movement, a Creative City concept that creates new value can make a start.
As we continue advancing urban planning for Maebashi in cooperation with Gunma Prefecture and the national government, I ask everyone for your ongoing support.
I want to thank you all for your sincere participation in this project, and extend my wishes for the continued success of all those who submitted proposals.