Forget Me Not
From Isolation to Integration; Urban Interventions for Japan’s Marginalized Hikikomori
Y. Lu (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
G. Bracken – Mentor (TU Delft - Spatial Planning and Strategy)
Cinco Yu – Mentor (TU Delft - Urban Design)
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Abstract
Pattern language is used in this research as an analytical tool to study the social and spatial systems of care within Bethel House, a mental health community in Urakawa, Japan. Twenty-two interconnected patterns were identified to describe how reintegration emerges through shared routines, mutual recognition, emotional rhythms, and local participation. Rather than being built around treatment or correction, Bethel’s structure is shaped by trust, repetition, and small, voluntary acts of engagement. The method of tojisha kenkyuu plays a central role, allowing individuals to reflect on their lived experiences and contribute to the ongoing shaping of the system.
To reach individuals who remain outside this structure, a set of five additional patterns, known as the Extension Pack, was developed. These patterns respond to the early thresholds faced by socially withdrawn individuals such as hikikomori. They support forms of non-intrusive contact, digital engagement, and personalized pathways into care. The Extension Pack acts as a bridging layer, allowing systems to enter the withdrawn space on the individual’s terms.
The full network of patterns reflects a model of social reintegration that aligns with the principles of machizukuri, an approach to community-building grounded in shared responsibility, local knowledge, and slow, collaborative change. Using the metaphor of a shape sorter, the re search asks how systems might adjust their forms to hold those who do not fit. Rather than requiring people to change in order to participate, it proposes systems that begin by listening, waiting, and staying close.