Toyota has completed the first phase of ‘Woven City’, a development in Susono City near Mount Fuji with buildings designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels as part of a masterplan by architect Nikken Sekkei.
Akio Toyoda, the chairman of Toyota, announced the completion of the phase at the CES 2025, a global technology trade show held in Las Vegas.
The idea is to replace a former Toyota research and development facility called Higashi-Fuji into a district powered by hydrogen and acting as a living laboratory for AI-enhanced infrastructure.
The first phase includes residences for 360 people. Some 100 are expected to move in by the autumn.
The fully completed city, covering a 70ha site, will eventually accommodate 2,000 people and integrate housing, offices and shops.
“Woven City is more than just a place to live, work and play. It is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products and ideas,” he said.
He called it “a living laboratory where the residents are willing participants giving inventors the opportunity to freely test their ideas in a secure, real-life setting”.
The “woven” element of the design comes from the city’s grid, which combines paths for autonomous vehicles, personal transport lanes and parks. Vehicles such as Toyota’s ePalette will navigate the primary roads; other zones will cater to bicycles, scooters and walking.
Construction of the next phase, which will include a manufacturing hub, is now under way.
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