HI-TECH RECOVERY? DISASTER-HIT AREAS, SMART CITY STRATEGIES AND EU-JAPAN CONVERGENCES ON URBAN TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT.

• Author: Zappa, Marco

1. Introduction

   A clear epistemological paradigm-shift (particularly in the perception of the citizenry as users and consumers) in the way urban space have been interpreted in recent at the policymaking level in recent decades is notable. The emergence and dominance of the 'smart city' as a policy idea is exemplary. Conventionally, smart cities are defined as cities that use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to achieve a series of targets such as ecological sustainability and a better quality of life, thus attracting new residents and enhancing the local place brand, or to tackle specific social issues (DeWit 2013, European Commission 2015, Gassmann et al. 2019, Gonella 2019, Gonella et al. 2019, Trencher 2019). Post-disaster urban recovery and reconstruction is one of said issues that governments across the global North tend to tackle by deploying technology. National and local governments, particularly in high-income economies, have been promoting a growth framework which is based on the preeminence of technology and economy by sponsoring the implementation of ICT in order to promote a supposedly 'green' and sustainable reconstruction, resilience and future growth (DeWit 2013, Gonella 2019, Kashiwagi 2010, 2018, Komiyama et al. 2011, Nakazawa 2014).

   In the light of this consideration, how have these ideas contributed to informing cooperation at the international level between the EU and Japan? But more importantly, how have they shaped local policies for reconstruction and recovery in disaster-affected areas since the late 2000s? This puzzle is relevant for the study of EU-Japan strategic cooperation and ICT-based urbanization projects in disaster-hit areas such as Central Italy (Alexander 2010, 2018, Contreras et al. 2014, Contreras et al. 2018, Contreras et al. 2020, Fois and Forino 2020) and the Southern part of the Tohoku region in Japan (Kainuma 2011, Oguma 2014). In particular, Abruzzo and its prefectural capital L'Aquila have been hardly hit by two of the most deadly earthquakes in Italy's recent history (in 2009 and 2016) and have been at the centre of several consecutive state-led reconstruction initiatives which are still ongoing (Alexander 2010, 2018). Similarly, the government of Japan (GOJ) has taken steps to promote reconstruction and economic revitalization in the three prefectures (Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate) that were most affected by the 2011 'triple disaster' in what has been long considered Honshu's backwater and underdeveloped frontier (Kawanishi 2016, Kainuma 2011). Both the areas at the centre of the present paper have been testing sites where to tackle present vulnerabilities (such as structural exposure to earthquakes and tsunamis) through technological interventions in the environment, and for preventing future crises (such as aging, unemployment, progressive rural abandon). Iniatitives range from the resettlement of evacuee communities, the adjustment of seawall heights, green embankments, and IT utilization (Strusihska-Correia 2017). According to Appadurai and Alexander, however, these epistemological shifts are not politically neutral. Rather, they reshape existing social arrangements in favour of new ones (Appadurai and Alexander 2020). In fact, to say it with Geels, technology fulfils its functions only "in association with human agency, social structures and organizations" (Geels 2002: 1260). In fact, however, such state-led and corporate-oriented programs have relatively failed to promote resilience through the rebuilding of solidarity and physical social networks (Aldrich 2012, 2019, Fois and Forino 2014). Usually, these measures are wrapped up in a narrative that prioritizes the establishment of a new city model based on innovation, on the attraction of 'value creators', and on the efficient use of data for goods and service provision to citizen-customers. Such a narrative however often leads to 'cognitive dissonance' in so far as the cities they are targeting "do not exist and are not going to exist" (Gonella 2019). Moreover, smart city models that are now widespread in Europe and Japan are clearly sponsored 'green' energy, jobs, power, research, mobility and even parking without however addressing key issues outside the "Global North" such as poverty, violence, welfare (as opposed to well-being) or inequality (Gonella et al. 2019: 8). Smart city critics like Gonella and Cristiano argue for a paradigm shift in the way we interpret cities and urban planning and development 'systemically', which might be more considerate of the flows of energy, resources, people and information which characterize and cut across the urban ecosystems (Cristiano 2018, Cristiano and Gonella 2020, Cristiano and Krahmer 2022, Gonella 2019, Gonella et al. 2019).

   Against this backdrop, this paper will offer a comparative analysis between the experiences of L'Aquila (Italy) and Aizuwakamatsu (Japan). These two cases present similarities in so far as they both (a) are small to medium-scale cities within a relatively rural and depopulated area with a potential for the tourism industry; (b) sit in or close to a disaster-hit area; (c) they have been the recipient of financial aid from the central government of their respective nations aimed at recovery and reconstruction; (d) smart city initiatives have been so far relatively unsuccessful for they have not contributed to the actual solution of major socio-economic issues such as demographic decline and economic stagnation. Thus, through a close reading of available literature, official documents and press reports, this paper will engage with the following issues. First, it will offer a preliminary assessment of EU-Japan strategic cooperation in the sector of sustainability and urban 'smart' technologies in the light of the success and diffusion of the smart city policy idea across the global North. Second, by confronting the two aforementioned cases, the application of the smart city policy concept in reconstruction initiatives in disaster-hit areas in both the EU (Italy) and Japan will be discussed.

2. Converging Japan-EU efforts on 'smart' cities and communities

   It is not surprising, then, that in recent years the government of Japan and the EC have pledged to strengthen their partnership on smart cities. Since 2013, the two parties have taken steps to promote bilateral cooperation in science and technology, particularly seeing ICT, aeronautics and raw materials as 'key areas of mutual interest' (sogo kanshin bun'ya) by establishing ad hoc fora and committees and promoting mobility and exchange opportunities for researchers between Europe and Japan through the existing European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Sklodowska Curie (MSC) Actions schemes (European Commission and Government of Japan 2015, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan 2015). Cooperation between Japan and the EU in research and innovation applied to urban environments led, among the others, to the creation of several projects including the ClouT project, a 2.3 million euro-worth research project aimed at enhancing the Internet of Things in four model cities across Europe and Japan (Bristol, Grenoble, Fujisawa and Tsukuba) enhancing sensors across the model areas and developing specific citizen-oriented applications to collect, store and publicly share data for a more efficient use of infrastructure and natural resources (European Commission 2019).

   In the light of such trailblazing projects, the 2018 EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement further highlighted the need for bilateral cooperation on (a) preserving the environment, particularly as regards the promotion of an efficient use of resources (art. 23); and on (b) tackling climate change, something that had actually been on the negotiating table for a decade, since the 16th EU-Japan Summit in Berlin (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan 2007). Recognizing the importance of cities as catalyst of economic growth and innovation, as well as frontiers of climate change mitigation, Art. 25 of the SPA specifies that

   The Parties shall enhance the exchange of experiences and good practices in the area of urban policies, in particular to address common challenges in this area, including those arising from demographic dynamics and climate change. The Parties shall also encourage, where appropriate, such exchange of experiences and good practices among their local governments or city authorities ("Strategic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Its Member States, of the One Part, and Japan, of the Other Part" 2018). On top of this cooperative endeavor, the GOJ elicited smart cities as an item of its plan to promote a "next generation mobile communication system" (6G) in the framework of its 2020 Growth Strategy. The document mentions designated towns and cities as potential 'test beds' for cloud-based service implementation in areas such as mobility, public safety, energy and environment, disaster risk reduction and medicine and healthcare, in view of export of know-how and problem-solving at a regional and global level and of investment attraction (Government of Japan 2020: 119). In the 2021 Action Plan, the GOJ further declares its resolve to enhance digital connectivity throughout the country by promoting ICT-based solutions into 'priority development areas' while supporting the creation of Super Cities, where a wide range of issues are tackled by large-scale implementation of cutting-edge technologies and IoT (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan 2020, DeWit 2018, Government of Japan 2021: 47). Concomitantly, the EC has pledged to further push ahead with actions specifically aimed at cities as crucial nodes to achieve the targets of the European Green Deal, aimed at decarbonizing the EU's economy by 2030, and, particularly upon the 2022 Russian military escalation in Ukraine, of the RePowerEU, aimed at tackling EU's structural dependence from imports of Russian gas and oil (European Commission...