Nagoya City launches the citizen‑participation online platform “Idea Café ‘Meianya’” as it moves toward its first Basic Concept revision in about 50 years.

Liquitous Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture; President and CEO: Hiroyuki Kurimoto, hereafter “Liquitous”) has been commissioned by Nagoya City (Planning Division, General Affairs Bureau) for the “Citizen‑participation online platform operation and related services” contract, and will support the construction of a system to reflect citizens’ voices in the Basic Concept and the next Comprehensive Plan.

Furthermore, starting Wednesday, July 1 2026, Liquitous will begin operating its proprietary citizen‑participation consensus‑building platform “Liqlid” under the nickname “Idea Café ‘Meianya’” in Nagoya City. Users can easily submit opinions from smartphones or PCs and can comment or react to other citizens’ inputs. In the future, face‑to‑face workshops and children‑focused projects will also be combined to incorporate the voices of a broad range of generations into the concept and plan.

Background of the initiative

The current Nagoya City Basic Concept is the oldest among designated cities. It has long served as a compass for urban development, but the surrounding social environment has changed dramatically, with continued net out‑migration of young people to the Tokyo metropolitan area. In addition, with the future opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen, Nagoya is poised to become a central hub of a massive exchange region linking Tokyo and Osaka, marking a major turning point.

In this era, because future social changes are difficult to predict, addressing complex urban challenges requires sharing directions and collaborating with diverse actors such as citizens, businesses, universities and NPOs, while maintaining a medium‑ to long‑term perspective and advancing strategic urban development. Based on this background, we have launched the platform operation as a mechanism to gather a larger and more diverse set of voices.

Overview of the initiative

This initiative targets all Nagoya residents and aims to envision the future of Nagoya together with its citizens.

Citizen‑participation online platform “Idea Café ‘Meianya’” URL
https://www.meianya.city.nagoya.jp/

(1) Building a mechanism that not only allows opinion submission but also fosters dialogue

Regarding the Nagoya City Basic Concept and the next Comprehensive Plan, opinions can be posted anonymously from smartphones or PCs. The comment and reaction functions enable a shift from one‑way “opinion submission” to citizen‑to‑citizen “dialogue.”

(2) Support for reflecting opinions

Submitted opinions will undergo a first‑level analysis using AI, allowing both citizens and administrative staff to grasp overall trends. Using this function, Nagoya City plans to continuously provide feedback on how it receives citizens’ opinions and how they will be incorporated into the plan, achieving a highly responsive and transparent consensus‑building process.

(3) Upcoming schedule

Comments from Nagoya City

With changes in population structure, diversification of values, and the impending opening of the Linear Shinkansen, Nagoya is entering a major turning point, making it more important than ever to envision the city’s future.

Therefore, it is essential to consider future directions while carefully listening to the thoughts and experiences of each resident of Nagoya, not only the administration and deliberative councils.

‘Meianya’ follows Nagoya’s café culture and aims to be a space where people of all ages and positions can easily exchange opinions.

It does not have to be a grand proposal. Your honest thoughts about what you love about Nagoya, the scenery or culture you wish to preserve, and your hopes for Nagoya’s future become valuable clues for shaping the city’s tomorrow.

Please share what you consider the “appeal of Nagoya” or what you think is unique to Nagoya on the Idea Café ‘Meianya’.

Comment from Liquitous Co., Ltd. President & CEO Hiroyuki Kurimoto

I am deeply honored to be involved in designing and implementing the dialogue process between citizens and the administration for Nagoya City’s next Basic Concept and Comprehensive Plan.

Today, the qualitative significance of the Basic Concept and Comprehensive Plan is evolving from a mere administrative plan into a shared compass that guides actions from both citizens and the administration. Especially for a city like Nagoya, where the Linear Chuo Shinkansen is planned as a new national transport axis and whose position among Japan’s major cities is therefore expected to change, the meaning of co‑creating a new shared urban compass together with citizens extends beyond the final product; the dialogue process itself will deepen mutual understanding and lay a foundation for continuous joint action by citizens and government. We aim to carefully nurture a process in which people of diverse generations and positions can discuss the future as their own concern.