Little Tokyo Design Week: Future City celebrated the power and energy of cutting edge design and technology now emerging from Japan and its intersection with current trends materializing in Los Angeles. Design’s ability to move us towards a more sustainable and creative urban lifestyle was at the heart of this four-day festival, held from July 14 – July 17, 2011.

Community Arts Resources was pleased to produce Little Tokyo Design Week: Future City in collaboration with Hitoshi Abe, Chair, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design & Principal, Atelier Hitoshi Abe; Jon Kaji, President, Kaji & Associates / Nikkei Center; and the Little Tokyo Design Week Steering Committee.

Spanning the geographic breadth of the neighborhood, Future City presented a series of programs that integrated Little Tokyo’s Big Three cultural institutions (JANM, JACCC, and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA), community partners, retailers, and restaurants. Temporary steel shipping containers sited throughout Little Tokyo’s plaza spaces were transformed into small galleries by teams of designers, educators, architects and artists based in Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Symposia featuring progressive talent in the fields of design, technology, and the environment, a Pecha Kucha night, an outdoor film screening, a fashion-inspired outdoor dance party, product demonstrations, student exhibitions, music, and an awards ceremony rounded out Future City’s exciting schedule.