PORTLAND, Oregon

Strategic destination branding with varied stake holders.

City-level place branding is often talked about in the context of tourism. Like product and service branding, place branding can be done by narrowing down the target group, such as “parenting generation (future resident)” and “artist (transforming generation)”.

Portland, Oregon. In 2010, most Japanese did not know about this city, and it was not well known in Asia and Europe. However, it was becoming a remarkable city in the United States. “Green Neighborhood” (Published by Senken Shinbunsha, written by Ryohei Suita) , has moved the hearts of many people who are in the field of urban design / urban development in late 2010. There is (surprisingly) a city in the United States that embodies the concept of a new era.

BAUM members also visited the city and had conversations with people from government and companies, as well as people from the town council and streets, and were thrilled to see a futuristic model in which counterculture and urban design coexist at a high level.

Community development school “Morning University of Portland” (2012-2015)

Designing community was unescapable topic among urban designers and thinkers after the great earthquake in March 2011.Japanese urban designers and community designers needed to experience this new sense of community in Portland and learn from it. The school opened in 2012 as a class of Morning University of Marunouchi, an innovation school in the heart of Tokyo business district.
3 days intensive sessions was designed to learn Portland’s urban development. It had a great diversity of the lecturers; directors of neighborhood association, principal of a local university, president of a design company involved in local activities, director of a tourism association, Portland City Hall, transportation network designer, and experts from municipality. Learning how Portland was developed from various layers. Participants are various, such as real estate developers, civil servants, and those who are thinking about starting a business in the area. With this opportunity, activities with the concept of Portland-style urban development spread in Japan.

Organized by: Morning University of Marunouchi, BAUM LTD.
Cooperation: Ecozzeria Association, City of Portland, Travel Portland, PNCA, PDNA, First Stop

We Build Green Cities (2013)

“Green Urban Innovation-How to Create and Use Green City, learned from Portland” was held in Otemachi, Tokyo as a joint project named “We Build Green Cities”It was sponsored by the Oregon State Economic Affairs Bureau and the Portland City Development Bureau with Japan. An up-and-coming urban design expert from Portland came to Japan, and many people involved in urban planning and urban development participated in this event. Since this event, Portland’s urban designers will begin to be involved in projects in Japan.

Speaker: Tom Hughes President, Oregon Metro Government
Mitsuhiro Yamazaki Portland City Development Bureau Business / Industrial Development Manager
Kirk Davis GLUMAC CEO
Charles Kelly ZGF Architects Associate Partner
Dick Shihi CH2M HILL Advance Running ・ Site Selection Director
Scott Murase Murase Associates Chief Designer
Organized by: Portland City
Cooperation: Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., Ecozzeria Association,
Step change, Delta Air Lines, BAUM LTD.
Secretariat: Archinetics

Portland Library (2013)

At that time, the only materials to learn about Portland culture and American urban design were books that are available locally. We held monthly events to share more than 100 related books from Portland locally. People who were interested in urban design and new culture came to this event, and people visited who brought books from Portland.

Cooperation: Travel Portland

Mizubeling Inspiration Forum (2015)

In collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s river basin area utilization promotion project “Mizbeling” and Portland’s urban design studio “PLACE”, lectures and workshops about urban design were held in Tokyo. In order to realize an idea with a Portland-like feeling with 300 people in a short time, there were sessions for several days and created a working program. PLACE will continue to be involved in projects throughout Japan.

Organizer: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Cooperation: City of Portland

We Build Green Cities “Shibuya Field Work” (2015)

WBGC team and BAUM visited the Shibuya area and conducted fieldwork and workshops to explore the possibilities of neighborhood design along the Shibuya River.

Participating companies / organizations: ZGF, PLACE, Biohabitats, Pearl District Neighborhood Association
Cooperation: Portland City, Nikken Sekkei