Urban Regeneration: Fostering More-Than-Human Communities by Digital Tokens

Why We Care

We believe in the vital importance of "forests" within our cities. As development accelerates here in Tokyo, green spaces are vanishing, and the Eurasian sparrows and Japanese rice fish (medaka) that were so familiar in our childhood are disappearing — a reality that fills us with a profound sense of urgency. In exchange for urban convenience, humanity is losing its deep connection to nature.

Yet, most conventional urban greening initiatives have relied heavily on the self-sacrifice of a few volunteers or public budgets, leaving them fundamentally unsustainable.

That is precisely why we leverage our newly developed "Digital Community Token." Our goal is to create a mechanism where everyone stays motivated to engage with nature daily, without strain. Through this sustainable system, we will multiply Comoris’s "micro-forests" and reclaim expansive urban habitats for the wildlife we are losing.

What We See

Currently, Tokyo is rapidly losing its greenery and wildlife habitats. Over the past 10 years, tree canopy cover in Tokyo's 23 wards has decreased by 20% due to urban and private housing developments. Remaining street trees face the threat of being cut down due to the harsh soil environment trapped under concrete, and vacant lots are often turned into parking lots for economic efficiency, continually destroying the natural environment.

Even more critically, there is a deep disconnect between urban dwellers and nature. While cities have parks for "looking at" nature, there are no public spaces where anyone can freely touch the soil and actively participate in caring for it. Consequently, people are losing their tangible connection to the earth, left as mere bystanders to environmental decline.

The Project

Specific

We will build a new community forest in a vacant lot (about 200 sqm) in Yoyogi-Uehara, Tokyo. This site was originally destined to become a concrete-paved parking lot. Instead, we are planting around 30 trees and regenerating underground ecosystems using ancient indigenous techniques—utilizing pruned branches, fallen leaves, and bamboo charcoal from neglected forests to revitalize the soil—transforming it into a unique "parking lot-meets-community forest."

At the same time, we will introduce a regenerative coin named "FoR" to build a community-led, sustainable forest care system. This digital community token will motivate people to take part in care activities and create a network where different Comoris sites can support each other.

Measurable

Over 1 year, we will triple soil microbial diversity from the baseline via soil DNA analysis and measure increases in green coverage and wildlife visits using environmental sensors. Concurrently, we will on-chain verify 1,000 care activities by 80 users and 15 item/experience exchanges via "FoR/Toban," measuring the success of this project through the correlation between real and digital data.

Achievable

We have a strong track record of success in two stages: environmental restoration in a 1.3-hectare forest in Yamanashi Prefecture, and running an urban forest in Yoyogi-Uehara, Tokyo for two years (which successfully became a local community in just six months). Also, our human and technical resources are completely ready. A community management app built by "Code for Japan," an engineering group that uses technology for the public good, is already running. Through this, 35 passionate members autonomously handle daily forest care. In addition, our plan is highly realistic because we receive advice from experts in architecture, urban planning, and nature restoration.

Relevant

In the face of urban climate change and biodiversity loss, this model represents a highly innovative and crucial demonstration. Rather than conventional greening, it focuses on revitalizing communities while leveraging blockchain technologies to maintain urban green infrastructure through a bottom-up, autonomous approach.

Time-bound

Phase 1: 2 Months

[Urban Afforestation]

• Spatial design: designing the layout for tree planting and site fixtures.
• Selection of approximately 30 native tree species to be planted, and sourcing of materials such as pruned branches, fallen leaves, bamboo charcoal, etc.

[Sustainable Community Building]

• Designing the incentive structure: determining how much FoR is rewarded for specific care activities such as watering, organizing pruned branches, and litter pickup.
• Community onboarding for FoR.

Phase 2: 3 Months

[Urban Afforestation]

• Conducting hands-on workshops for tree planting and for regenerating underground ecosystems using ancient indigenous techniques.

[Sustainable Community Building]

• Creating touchpoints with the local neighborhood, such as setting up a farm stand / pop-up market.
• Developing practical use cases to spend and utilize accumulated FoR.

Phase 3: 6 Months

[Urban Afforestation]

• Carrying out daily care for plants and living creatures, including regular watering.
• Monitoring the environment and biodiversity.

[Sustainable Community Building]

• Visualizing care activities powered by FoR.
• Expanding the ecosystem of goods and experiences exchangeable with FoR.

Phase 4: 1 Month

Final Evaluation & Reporting

Our Approach

We integrate two main approaches. First, we use　indigenous forest restoration techniques that regenerate underground ecosystems to circulate water and air in the soil. Second, we introduce a regenerative coin called "FoR." FoR is a coin designed to "care for" nature. It has a system where part of everyday spending and activities is automatically pooled as tokens for maintaining the forest. This token acts as an incentive and a communication medium, establishing a system to maintain the urban forest as a sustainable infrastructure instead of relying on the hard work of just a few people.

Our Team

Comoris is co-founded by Ryuichi Nambu, who runs a systemic design firm in Tokyo, and Kakuro Odagi, an expert in architecture and urban planning. Today, the forest is operated autonomously by 30 share-members and 5 secretariat staff working together. In addition, Code for Japan is in charge of developing the blockchain system that powers this project.

Community Engagement

Our project fosters robust community engagement by seamlessly integrating hands-on ecological restoration with our unique "FoR" token. To begin, we will host open workshops to plant approximately 30 native trees and to regenerate underground environment in Yoyogi-Uehara, engaging local residents and elementary school students to cultivate a deep sense of place through the shared experience of regenerating the earth. Furthermore, by partnering with Shibuya’s merchant associations, local universities, and the NPO Green Connection TOKYO, we are expanding FoR token pilot programs into shopping districts and co-creating biotopes along culverted rivers, thereby building a community-driven green infrastructure that enhances urban biodiversity across the entire city. Simultaneously, community members will actively participate in environmental monitoring—such as measuring underground mycelial networks in collaboration with university researchers and citizen science organizations—as well as the co-design of token use cases, establishing an autonomous governance model based on collective decision-making.

Our Track Record

• Construction and management of an urban forest in Yoyogi-Uehara, Tokyo, establishing a sustainable operation model in collaboration with 60 community members and the local merchant association.
• Development of DAO governance expertise, driven by the onchain-based community management app "Toban." 
• Implementation of diverse ecological experiments and prototyping within Comoris, in active collaboration with multiple experts and researchers.
• Exhibition of project concepts and experimental outcomes at major institutions, including 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT.

Project in Numbers

• Planting of approximately 30 native trees at the site using indigenous forest restoration techniques.
• Achieved a 3-fold increase in underground microbial diversity compared to the baseline.
• Social implementation and ecosystem deployment　of FoR (Regenerative Token) driven by 80 active token users.
• Recording of over 1,000 forest care activities (watering, soil restoration, etc.), with verifiable on-chain proof via FoR and Toban.
• Creation of 15 local use cases (goods and experiences) exchangeable with the FoR token.
• Collection of environmental biodiversity monitoring data and comparative validation against the on-chain activity logs.

The Change We're Creating

Not only will a small forest grow in an urban gap, but a "Comoris economic zone" will emerge, mediated by the regenerative coin "FoR," where harvests and care rewards are exchanged. This will trigger behavioral changes—like seeing fallen leaves as "treasures to nurture the forest" rather than "trash"—enabling urban dwellers to live highly resilient lifestyles in harmony with nature, without over-relying on global supply chains. Furthermore, using the insights gained here as a model, we will expand the "Comoris" initiative to other urban gaps. As these small, locally rooted forests are created in various towns and networked together, we aim to transform the entire city into a rich environment where diverse wildlife can thrive.

Additional Resources

• Wired Common Ground Challenge Grandpix: https://wired.jp/wired-common-ground-challenge/
• Here’s What the Regenerative Cities of Tomorrow Could Look Like: https://www.wired.com/story/heres-what-the-sustainable-cities-of-tomorrow-could-look-like/
• Regenerative Coin: FoR (Coming Soon)