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NATURE STUDIO, in the former Minatoyama primary school, Hyogo Ward, Kobe

Kobe (兵庫区), Japan · Operator: 有限会社リバーワークス

Overview

A community complex created by renovating Minatoyama municipal primary school, closed in 2015, around the theme of "making nature and everyday life". An aquarium, an edible botanical garden, a herb shop, a brewery, a supported-employment facility, childcare and after-school care and welfare services sit side by side, cultivating a place where people, nature and neighbourhood connect. As a partner organisation of the Kobe Compost Project it sets out to work with users to find forms of cycling that are easy to sustain in daily life.

Citizen participation

An aquarium, an "edible botanical garden", a herb shop, an open-air brewery, a supported-employment facility, childcare and after-school provision and welfare services all share the same site, so visitors encounter a way of living connected to nature inside the city.

Operating model

A private company operates the complex in the renovated buildings of a public primary school closed in 2015. The source does not describe its finances.

Impact

An example of a large piece of public stock — a closed school — reborn as a neighbourhood hub bundling food, nature, welfare and childcare. The source gives no visitor figures.

Land tenure

Unknown

A private operator uses the buildings of a closed public primary school after renovation. The source does not specify the contractual form.

Crops

  • herbs
  • edible plants

Scale

神戸市兵庫区雪御所町2-18。2015年に閉校した旧湊山小学校をリノベーションした複合施設。面積は出典に記載がない。開業年は出典に明示がないため未記入。

Sources(2)

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NATURE STUDIO, in the former Minatoyama primary school, Hyogo Ward, Kobe — Urban Farm DB