Designing a "Shikake" to revitalize local community: A case of Miyakejima university project

Based on a "capacity-focused" approach (e.g., Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993), this paper proposes a conceptual framework to identify various local "resources," and to convert them into a set of local "assets." To anchor my discussion, I will refer to an on-going research project in Miyakejima, Tokyo. By focusing on the roles and functions of a "university," as a metaphor, we are currently designing a series of workshops and learning programs for the "university." This Project can be understood as an attempt to design a "shikake," in that participants attempt to expand their capacities to organize their ideas within given settings. I suggest that such form of learning may promote one's reflection, as well as communication among participants, through the set of goals, roles, and rules that constructs the organization of the "university." This "shikake" may contribute to stimulate and revitalize local community members in order to enrich their practices of community development.