One of the discussions and conversations I have over the years talking to people is their dream and idea of creating a town/community. People have a vision to create a whole village, compound, mini-city where the dream is to build a new community to start new and fresh.

We see examples of this where people create communes in Thailand and Costa Rica. We see people creating RV communities like the movie Nomadland. Then we have Próspera which built communities in economic zones around the world for startups. These are all lightweight efforts.

Rural revitalization is the real actual effort at the attempt to modernize rural communities in the 21st century by Japan and China. Japan is good on the innovation while China is excellent at the implementation of the patterns and practices. We want to discuss those practices in this article.

The practice is to modernize rural areas with digital-first services that can quickly turn small cities to be on the cutting edge than the effort it would take for large cities. The practice has been perfected in China where they have revitalized villages at a huge pace and scale, eliminating extreme poverty in rural villages.

Our platform Toshikiso is capable of doing this. It was designed for digital infrastructure from businesses to facilities to cities. We specifically designed our platform based on what we learned in Japan and China. We are fully capable of using our technology for rural revitalization and it is something we studied ourselves for years as we designed our platform.

Rural revitalization is a potential major boom for this century to create new spaces around the world that is modernized and digital-first. We are talking a big future for South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and you know the funny part – these are Dream and Hustle biggest followers outside of brothas and sistas and they are following our business enterprise as well.

So stop the lightweight dreams and realize this is the new gold rush and oil boom this century.

This article is for those who are interested in the topic of rural revitalization. I will first talk about the concept and solution. But what I also want to discuss is more future-facing alternatives such as urban revitalization. So, let’s have a discussion.

Is Rural Revitalization Possible in USA?

The answer is no, plain and simple. The reason why is modern American society has been degrading and declining to perverse levels where we are at now. Even if you look at the beginning of America, they built New Salem, then they started burning people at the stake accusing them of being witches.

Then look at the Wild West with small towns being overran by robbing gangs, street duels, drunken saloons with one sheriff and a few deputized men. This was back in the 1800s. Small rural places in America were never great. Some can argue that Black rural towns were better and safer than most White rural towns during that period.

You try to modernize or build a town in the USA today; you should already know what is going to happen. The drug abusers, the homeless, the motorcycle gangs, human traffickers, illegal migrants, the racists and religious nutjobs, and scammers because you have a digital-first setup rural village for them to exploit. This is no different than me having to protect Toshikiso from scammers, darknet users, and sex traffickers.

The only way you can do it in America is to focus on revitalizing a suburb not far from a major city and tap into existing resources. The USA is too wild to be dreaming of rural revitalization and we have 400 years of proof of what I just stated.

Rural Futurism

Rural futurism is the practice of patterns of bringing digital and infrastructure innovation to small regional areas. This has actually started in Africa and Asia when smart phones made it easier for rural villages to start applying digital solutions such as check grain and wet market prices around nearby villages using SMS, they could not do that before.

Today, we see in America where rural areas are being outfitted with fiber optic broadband. This makes it possible for tech talent and professionals to become digital nomads in rural Tennessee and create startups that can serve global markets. This is also the pattern for entrepreneurs and talent going to places like Bali or Mexico City.

In rural futurism, the goal is to setup the digital and physical infrastructure to modernize these rural areas where you can work in an advanced digital economy. The goal similar to China and Japan is to allow people to move out of the big stressful cities into smaller rural areas.

This is how you can create your new village or town by establishing this infrastructure. One thing I’m going to throw in and this is based on what we learned in Japan – you can build this “digital infrastructure” within an existing city and build your village that way and we already have this feature in our Toshikiso platform called Realms and Spaces.  

Revitalization Infrastructure

If you watch the video in this section on Japan rural revitalization efforts, you will see the diagram where I’m going to discuss the infrastructure with more details that I added.

Mobility. This is setting up the paths for cars, pedestrians, e-scooters, bus station, drone ports.

Manufacturing. This drive employment and entrepreneurship. Handcrafts, food unique to the area,

Energy. What is the power plant? You may need a mix of solar, fuel generators, coal, wind and possibly water. The best is always be situated yourself near a nuclear pipeline.  

Waste. This is critical, how are you handling the garbage and poop? These requires treatment plants, incinerators and recycling plants.   

Education. Both kids and adults need education and this can be done with remote learning, virtual classrooms. Private education such as international schools can be established.

Administrative. This is like the city hall to pay parking tickets, get a business license, pay city utility bills and more.

Disaster Management. This is protection from extreme weather or a violent incident. Emergency notification, a shelter or bunker, emergency food and water bank.

Healthcare. In the digital age, rural areas can have telemedicine and small minute clinic and if serious, get the person to a regional hospital designed for emergency care.

Tourism. A revenue generator for the area is to have a tourist attraction with hotel lodging. The best option is to attract a high-quality tourist who have money to spend.

Payment. I see this in Japan and China but I want you to realize this is not necessarily alternative currency. You can create currency exchange, gift cards, coupon books, prepaid vouchers.

Food & Agriculture. This is where to grow local food and possibly sell to others.

Marketplaces and Exchanges. These are farmer markets and places to sell gifts and local specialty for tourists.

Retail. This can be a commercial center for shops and services. I would avoid a crappy strip mall and focus on a promenade design.

Advertising. These are sidewalk signage, billboards, jumbotrons that brings in advertising revenue for the area. People will want to advertise in a tourist area.

Emergency Services. There need to be a police, fire, and ambulance service to protect the people. There also need to be emergency prevention that is cheaper than handling it after the fact.

Internet. This is setting up fiber optic or 5G broadband and can power digital nomads and startup entrepreneurs to establish in the area and have a good tax revenue base.

I want to give an example of spaces that can be established in the rural area that can draw tourist and revenue. Some of these are required and some are novel businesses that can be established.

Co-working Space. This will attract professionals to the area to get a taste of the business culture.

Fitness Gym. Membership or short-term membership for travelers as every hotel cannot have their own gym. The area can have a recreational center similar to a YMCA model.

Library Study. This is not the same as a co-working space. This can be a place to study and have books to read and research like a college campus.

Book Bar. Will cover this in detail but this is a small bookstore with a gathering spot for authors to have release parties and readings and allow book clubs to visit your area and have a getaway.

Laundromat. This allows people to do their laundry and a place to gather and gossip.

Parks and Recreation. These are green spaces or other outdoor spaces like a pavilion for people to gather and enjoy as a third space.

Art Gallery. Can host digital art or physical art for sale and establish a creative industry or sell on behalf of artists worldwide.

Pop-Up Space. These are empty storefronts that can quickly convert to a pop-up space for retailing or other type of services, including a traveling chef to host a supper.

Share Lounge. I heard of these in Tokyo but these are places like a gaming café, card playing café, car meetup space and more.

Restaurants. A mix of high-end, low-end, and everyday eating should be planned to attract a variety of tourists.

Café. These are sitting spaces but can that different themes from crypto café to live music café. I would go beyond coffee and look into mocktails as well.

Live Streaming Studio. This is a space where people can run their podcast or video show or even e-commerce shopping. This is for influencers to broadcast live from your area to attract new tourists from their area.

Indoor Sports. This can be a table tennis league, local wrestling or MMA matches, mechanical bull, 3 on 3 basketball or soccer tournaments that people can travel and watch as a tourist draw.

Trade Hall. This is a space for merchants to go auction with suppliers and can be done digitally with screens. Hold video feeds for a used car auction to sell at the auto lot or sell flowers to buyers from the local flower

Jumbotron. These are large screens that provide information and news and weather. It is a way to keep everybody informed and also can run advertising as well.

Projection Mapping. There are indoor and outdoor projection mapping. You may seen indoor exhibits like Van Gogh come to life projection mapping. Also some of the buildings can be projection mapped to have a show for the tourists to watch and see.

Convention Center. This is where businesses around the world can visit your area and run their convention or conference or business meeting. This can be a major revenue generator.

China Spotlight: Digital-First Services

The following video has some great solutions out of China such as setting up a 5G network and all of the capabilities that can be offer using that network.

Japan: Digital Residences

This is interesting to me where a rural village in Japan created an NFT “digital resident” card that allow people to be considered a resident that get perks everytime they visit. What is interesting about this , the people who visit as a digital resident are mingling among the locals and this is an excellent way to market a small rural village to city dwellers who at least want to be attached to a rural area.

Moving Forward on This

This is the biggest opportunity this century – turning rural areas around the world into digital-first communities. This is the globalist dream where they can go anywhere in the world and still work their global job and enjoy the local culture.

I would suggest if you are interested in pursuing digitization of small communities, go into countries that are safe and open to innovation. Another thing and this is what I done in the development of Toshikiso – you can build a simulated digital rural area with a bunch of cheap computers and a simple routers. Then you can scale up to an enterprise level once you see your model is working in your lab.

And last which is something I mentioned before – you can create this solution within a major city. You just use “membership” or the digital NFT resident card that you saw Japan using. You don’t need to run out to a rural area. You can cobble together existing cafes, co-working spaces, hotels and exhibitions and create your own virtual village then move to a physical village later.