Gifu University and Mizunami City (Gifu Prefecture) hosted the "Gifu Future Center¹" meeting on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. A total of 12 people (five Gifu University students, and seven Mizunami City Government officials) held discussions under the theme, "Happiness in community-building."

Mizunami City has been engaging in a wide range of programs and activities to help its citizens feel happy while living in the city. The "Gifu Future Center" on May 17 was conducted as part of the city government officials' policy making training.

The participants spent some time to discuss when and what makes the citizens feel happy, and the measures to help them feel happy from the viewpoints of collaboration among citizens and collaboration between citizens and the government.

Diverse opinions were expressed. For instance, "Residents may feel happy when they have good human relationship with their family members or friends, and when they have no worries in their living environment, health or future. To materialize citizens-government collaboration in Mizunami City, the participants presented Mizunami City promotional plans such as "Tunagari tumugi (forming a strong bond between insiders and outsiders of Mizunami City," and "Heartland Mizunami" programs. The meeting offered a great opportunity to the university students and city government officials to contemplate the meaning of community-building and study government administration.

We are expecting that Mizunami City can draft many new government policies by referring to the points of discussions and future agendas presented at the Gifu Future Center.

1) Gifu Future Center meeting offers people a "place for dialogues" to discuss complex, difficult socioeconomic issues of today from the perspectives of "creating better future" and "producing new values for the future."