BIG and Toyota unveil 175-acre “Woven City” in Japan that tests out the future of urban mobility

Design 7-1-2020 Archinect 262

BIG has drawn up the masterplan for the “Toyota Woven City”, which will transform a 175-acre former factory site in the city of Susono in Shizuoka into a new smart city that will be fully “dedicated to the advancement of all aspects of mobility”. Bjarke Ingels and Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda presented the prototype town at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday.

Currently scheduled to break ground in early 2021, the multi-phase project features a flexible network of streets dedicated to various speeds of mobility, which allows for safer, pedestrian-friendly connections, BIG says. It will also incorporate solar energy, geothermal energy, and hydrogen fuel cell technology. Plus, the city's hidden infrastructure will include a goods delivery network called the “matternet”.

Woven City splits the typical road into three street types. The first is a street optimized for faster automated vehicles, with logistical traffic underneath.