Urbanix Co., Ltd., an urban design firm, has joined the "Outbound Villa Project — A Survey to Visualize the Potential of a Lodging Business," a pilot initiative under the "Munakata City Industry-Government-Academia Empathy Platform" in Fukuoka Prefecture, as an urban planning and spatial analysis partner.
Project Objectives
This project verifies the feasibility of a "destination-type lodging facility" conceived as a new business for the KBC Group. In Munakata City's coastal area — accessible from Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu City and rich in tourism resources — the study explored the potential for developing a lodging facility with the distinctive character of a broadcasting-group operator, making use of vacant lots and vacant houses.
Hypothesis
Rather than relying on conventional, intuition-based judgment, we placed weight on data-driven visualization. We hypothesized that quantifying and mapping tourism potential and challenges would raise the likelihood of the lodging business succeeding, and we also tested whether a business model built around local characteristics — such as reusing vacant houses — rather than large-scale investment, could raise the value of the area as a whole.
Survey Content and Findings
Spatial Challenge Analysis (Using Social Media and Location Data)
URBANIX was responsible for social media post analysis and visualizing the area's challenges, and identified the following:
- Social media posts frequently reference "eating" and "experiencing," but verbs related to "staying overnight" are rarely seen — indicating low awareness of the area as a lodging destination
- The Kanezaki area mixes old and new buildings, and while it has popular spots such as a fishing port and roadside station scattered throughout, they are not connected as a coherent area, creating challenges for pedestrian circulation
- Content is concentrated in the daytime, leaving the appeal of morning, evening and nighttime hours underdeveloped
- A need to introduce options such as shared bicycles or tuk-tuks to cover the "last mile" and improve circulation around the area
Partnership Structure
This project was carried out through a partnership among the following three companies, each contributing its own expertise.
- KBC Development Co., Ltd.: Overall project management and planning of the new lodging business concept
- Logian Inc.: Causal analysis of tourism survey data and target audience analysis
- Urbanix Co., Ltd.: Urban planning and spatial analysis, social media post analysis, and visualization of area challenges
Findings and Future Direction
The survey concluded that, beyond simply developing lodging facilities that make use of scenery and location, it is important to build an "outbound-style community" — one that draws people in by sending out the area's appeal as a whole. Future initiatives under consideration include developing a lodging facility with an attached radio studio space, creating mechanisms that encourage people to walk around the town, and building a "region people root for."
Drawing on our expertise as an urban design firm, URBANIX will continue to contribute to data-driven area visualization and to the industry-government-academia collaboration that Munakata City and other regions use to test and create value.
For similar survey and analysis work, please see our Services page; for inquiries about this project, please use our contact form.
Source
This article is based on information published on the Munakata City Industry-Government-Academia Empathy Platform website.
[Report] Outbound Villa Project — A Survey to Visualize the Potential of a Lodging Business (Munakata City) ↗