Solution × Lifestyle The Present of Portland, the City of Enriched Living, and The Future of Tokyo

The SPOLUTION team is a solutions unit that attempts to create new business opportunities by viewing sports content not just as media slots, but also as solutions. Team members will introduce upcoming sports-related business opportunities from their respective perspectives in a relay column format.

Hello! I'm Ami Ito from the SPOLUTION team.

This time, I'll briefly share what I discovered in Portland, Oregon, about a lifestyle centered around sports, and the changes likely to come to Tokyo in the future.

Portland, Oregon, is a small city in the northwestern United States, but it's recently been called the most livable city in the entire country.

The reasons for its livability seem to include cost of living, safety, environment, and more. Hearing that sports are also thriving in Portland, the Sporolution team headed there to research the relationship between livability and sports.

The conclusion? Portland truly deserves to be called a "city of fulfilling living," and the role "sports" play there is incredibly significant.

Below, we share some of the phenomena we discovered there.

① Low obesity rates!

This was a very frank surprise.
Obesity is a social problem in the United States. The adult obesity rate is 35.3%, which clearly shows the severity compared to Japan's 3.6% (OECD Obesity Update 2014).

Personally, when visiting several American cities, I often noticed many larger-bodied people. I even had the impression that this was part of the "American look." But walking around Portland, I didn't see it. I rarely saw what you'd call obesity. When I shared this discovery with a local American resident, they said,

"Well, this is a Healthy City,"

they replied cheerfully.
Needless to say, this only fueled my curiosity about what exactly was fostering their health, intensifying my desire to investigate.

② Cycling Every Day!

Portland is famous as a bike-friendly city.
The city is equipped with dedicated bike lanes, bike racks, and bike-specific signage.

Since 1991, Portland has measured bicycle traffic crossing bridges as an indicator of cycling adoption. By 2012, this traffic had increased approximately 6.5 times compared to 1991. During this measurement period, automobile traffic remained largely constant, highlighting the significant growth in cycling (PORTLAND BICYCLE COUNT REPORT 2012).

We actually rented bicycles and rode them ourselves, finding it a very comfortable way to get around. While the infrastructure already seemed well-developed, we learned that the length of bicycle lanes continues to grow even now. The city has set its next goal as achieving over 25% of total traffic volume by bicycle by 2030.

③ Morning walks are trekking!

Portland has a very clear philosophy in its city planning. To prevent the city from sprawling endlessly, they established a "city boundary" to protect surrounding forests and rural landscapes.

As a result, the city and nature are closely intertwined. A 20-minute bike ride from downtown takes you to lush forested areas.

Time spent in these forests is an indispensable part of Portlanders' daily lives. Morning walks bustle with residents enjoying their time in various ways: trail runners proudly showing off their toned bodies, pregnant women walking their pets, grandfathers and young boys chatting as they stroll, fathers and young children engrossed in river play, and groups of women deep in lively conversation.

In Japan, "extreme commuting"—like hiking before work—was a trend for a while, but here, it seemed like just another normal way to start the morning.

④ Walk, walk, walk!

It's not just about trekking. People walk a lot in the city center too.
America is often called a super-car society, with one car per person, but here too, true to Portland's urban planning philosophy, the city center is zoned to be "walkable" in size.

In the U.S., many suburban cities are completely inaccessible without a car. Some areas suffer from a vicious cycle: people become less active from not walking, and reduced foot traffic leads to worsening neighborhood safety.

Portland, too, was once a sprawling suburban city with dilapidated warehouse districts. However, it made a major policy shift in the 1970s. Over 30 years, it invested $60 million to develop bike lanes and sidewalks, steering the city toward walkable urban planning.

It's said that about one-fifth of Americans' income goes toward transportation costs today, but in Portland, that cost is 20% lower. The money saved on transportation is then spent on restaurants and various recreational activities, creating an upward spiral: more attractive shops and spots emerge, making walking around town even more enjoyable (Jeff Speck, The Walkable City, TED talk).

⑤ Physical Presence Everywhere

As mentioned earlier, nature is right at your doorstep in Portland.
Many ingredients used in meals are locally sourced, and in some cases, restaurant owners are personally committed to farming. Residential areas feature numerous community gardens where citizens grow vegetables, and weekly farmers' markets regularly serve as the kitchen for residents.

While these activities aren't conventional sports, they seem to provide opportunities for people to become more aware of their bodies. This happens through daily contact with the work of creating sustenance—touching with their hands, feeling the ground beneath their feet.

The Future of Sports Lifestyle in Tokyo

Portland, renowned as a city of fulfilling living, the most desirable place to live in the US, and a culinary destination, seems to incorporate broad-based sports as an essential element of daily life. Sports are one key to this lifestyle envied around the world.

This kind of sports lifestyle is expected to spread in Japan as well.

For example, Tokyo Governor Masuzoe has announced plans to install bicycle lanes along 120 kilometers of the city's 2,155-kilometer road network by the time of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The "Tokyo City Cycling" event, held on September 21st this year, saw approximately 2,000 participants of all ages cycle a 43-kilometer course within the city. There are high hopes that this event will grow into a major event like the Tokyo Marathon.

Bike-sharing services have already started at the ward and local community levels. If the metropolitan government strongly promotes this policy, Tokyo's transformation into a bicycle-friendly city could accelerate rapidly. This would significantly change how people move around and also bring major changes from the perspective of personal sports lifestyles.
Furthermore, the perspective that walkable cities attract young people and gradually transform into more appealing places offers valuable lessons for Japan's regional cities, where car-dependent lifestyles and depopulation are advancing.

While change at the national and municipal levels takes time, shifts at the individual level have already begun. The sight of people boasting about unhealthy habits like reckless work or play, treating them like heroic tales, is gradually becoming a thing of the past. A lifestyle focused on valuing one's body, aiming for "healthy, enjoyable longevity," is starting to be practiced.

This health-conscious trend is unlikely to be a passing fad. Over the medium to long term, it will likely bring significant changes to people's values, decision-making criteria, and work styles.

Sporolution members are now initiating research into this future way of life and the direction of these changes. We plan to continue related activities and information sharing, so please stay tuned.

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★ What is the "Sporolution" Team?
Sporolution is an internal unit within Dentsu Inc. that approaches sports content not merely as "media assets," but as "solutions" to address business challenges and project objectives.
The team brings together diverse talents including strategic planners, promotion planners, copywriters, art directors, technologists, consultants, and producers, all with extensive experience in sports planning. Through our Solution Director system, we provide not just "ideas for expression," but also "ideas for solutions" in a one-stop service.