From Japan the push for a new humanism

The Japanese Expo for Sustainability and a New Harmonious Humanism tries to map out an alternative scenario to the violent times we are living in. It points to the path of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals as the only possible route to preserving the human habitability of the planet and improving the living conditions of eight billion people and future generations. The message coming from the World Expo in Osaka, from 13 April to 13 October, is reflected in the title chosen: 'Designing the future society for our lives'. The aim is therefore to become a laboratory for the future society, promoting respect for human life and the power of spiritual and digital connections.

Italy, in this scenario, shows the way through the paradigmatic example of its pavilion, a crystalline manifesto of the circular economy designed by sustainability archistar Mario Cucinella. Studio MCA - Mario Cucinella Architects has conceived a wooden construction that fuses architecture, art and nature, with an Italian-style garden on the roof: an immersive scenic machine open onto a Renaissance square sprinkled with works of art and products that symbolise Italian genius. A shrine in harmony with the natural environment, made of short chain materials and largely recycled, which at the end of the Expo will become a mine of raw materials. Each element of the pavilion has material, design and technological characteristics that will allow it to transform naturally at the end of the Expo. The life cycle of the modular elements used will continue over time, without undergoing further processing, so that they can adapt to new needs and new uses.

Even the themes chosen for the debates that will animate it - including those of the schedule curated in media partnership with Gruppo 24 Ore - will contribute to the debate useful to seek new solutions for sustainable development that are positive for all peoples, from a commercial, cultural, and artistic point of view. It is no coincidence that 'Art regenerates life' is the theme chosen for this Italian Pavilion, which reinterprets an ideal Renaissance city, with its theatre, porticoes, piazza and Italian-style garden: typical places of Italy's urban and social identity. Places of great attraction for the Japanese public, which in two recent surveys organised by Japanese media placed it at the top of the list of pavilions to visit.