Development of a Streetscape-Simulation System to Support Regional and Historical Culture: Fujisawa-Shuku Post-Station Town on the Former Tokaido Road during the Late Edo Period

Abstract

This paper concerns our creation of a streetscape-simulation system to support regional and historical culture in a clear and simple fashion. Our simulation is an interactive system powered by a game engine that gives the user a first-person perspective of the streetscape of Fujisawa-shuku, a post-station town that was situated on the former Tokaido road during the late Edo period. To recreate the town, we designed period buildings and urban facilities, referencing Ukiyo-e (woodblock print during the Edo period) and old documents stored in Fujisawa City's archive to inform our process. Further, in order to include dynamic spatial element that could capture users' attention, we created non-player characters that walk around the town and speak lines about characteristic points of the old street. The proposed system is currently on permanent exhibition at the Fujisawa-shuku Intersection Hall, and it is widely accessible to the public.