Spatial Pleasure

Re-Optimize the City


through Decarbonization of


the Transportation Domain

Mission

Spatial Pleasure's vision is to "build a meaningful urban civilization."
Currently, 40% of cities are dominated by transportation infrastructure, such as roads and parking lots, which do not create any meaningful value for us.
By optimizing transportation from a carbon perspective, we can transform parking lots into parks, streets into coffee shops and bars, and create spaces that enhance the meaning of our lives.

DMRV
Software

Spatial Pleasure is developing DMRV (Digital, Measurement, Reporting, Verification) software to certify and measure carbon credits for transportation operators contributing to the decarbonization of an area.
Through collaboration with bus and bicycle-sharing operators, our aim is to decarbonize the entire region by quantifying the environmental benefits of each transportation operator and issuing carbon credits.

Research

Through interviews with domestic and international planners, transportation operators, developers, researchers, and other stakeholders involved in urban development, we will determine the key parameters for each city and formulate them based on data and algorithms.

  • Interview
  • London

Analyzing Cities from Various Parameters: Interview with Stephen Law (UCL/The Alan Turing Institute)

The importance of data utilization and analysis in understanding cities has long been recognized. However, it is not enough to simply rely on data alone to improve the urban environment. The challenge lies in determining what data to use, how to analyze it, and how to translate it into meaningful change. Implementing data-driven practices can be particularly challenging. To gain insights into this matter, we spoke with Stephen Law from The Alan Turing Institute, who was formerly associated with Space Syntax and has extensive experience in various projects.
  • Interview
  • Okayama

Unveiling the Value of a Local Train Line: Exploring New Possibilities for Public Transportation in Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture

The Himeji Line is a local railway line that stretches from Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture to Niimi City in Okayama Prefecture. This particular line, primarily utilized by local students, has recently drawn attention after JR West disclosed that a section of the line is operating at a loss. As local railway lines throughout the country face financial challenges due to declining birth rates and an aging population, the future of the railway system becomes a topic of concern. To explore fresh possibilities for public transportation beyond the debate of whether to shut down the line or not, a discussion took place involving Tetsuhiro Mifune and Kodai Masaki from the Living Environment Department of Maniwa City in Okayama Prefecture, Kazuki Fukumoto from Fukumoto Taxi, a transportation service provider in the city, and Soma Suzuki, the representative of Spatial Pleasure.
  • Interview
  • Jakarta

An Ecosystem of Cross-Corporate Data Analysis to Reform Public Transportation in the Congested City of Jakarta

Chronic traffic congestion poses a significant social issue in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. JakLingko, an initiative that integrates public transportation data, and Nippon Koei, a Japanese general construction consulting firm, are collaborating to address this problem through the utilization of data. In the rapidly developing city of Jakarta, how are these two companies working together to harness the power of data?

Team

CEO

Soma Suzuki

Born in Osaka in 1993, Soma Suzuki studied physical engineering at Kyoto University. During his studies, he spent three years living in Australia, Boston, and South America. After completing his undergraduate degree, he pursued a master's program in urban spatial analysis at the Institute of Spatial Analysis, University College London (UCL Bartlett School). In May 2019, he founded Spatial Pleasure. Suzuki is particularly interested in evaluating urban externalities and contributes a series of articles titled "Cultivating The CityOS" to Wired Japan.

CTO

Kazuyuki Morishita

Born in 1992, graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Australia. His areas of specialization include discrete mathematics, optimization, and decision theory. After university, he joined the business analysis department of a U.S. financial institution, where he conducted traffic analysis and earthquake risk analysis using GIS information. Morishita has been involved with Spatial Pleasure since before the company's establishment and is responsible for algorithm development and research direction.

COO

Kotaro Takekata

Joined ITOCHU Corporation after graduation from the university, engaged in ICT and Communication Business. After being responsible for businesses development in Japan and venture investment to VC/startups in Silicon Valley, U.S., he joined Plug and Play Japan in 2022. At Plug and Play Japan, he managed the accelerator program as the head of Smart City Tokyo, and placed a partnership agreement with Tokyo Metropolitan Government and led the project.
In 2023, he joined Spatial Pleasure as COO, leading business administration and risk management.

Data Scientist

Alexander Van-Brunt

Born in 1993, grew up in New Zealand. He obtained a PhD in Mathematics from Oxford University and gained experience in statistics, mathematics, physics, and software development. Van-Brunt is passionate about bridging cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs with software and computational possibilities. Currently, he works on fuel cells and batteries at the Bosch Technology Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Advisory

Osamu Koyanagi

After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, Osamu Koyanagi joined the Japan Development Bank (now Development Bank of Japan Inc.), where he played a key role in dealing with the authorities during the bank's privatization. He was involved in the management of Japan's first carbon credit investment fund, the Japan Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and its operating company, Japan Carbon Finance, Ltd., during his tenure.

VP of Carbon Development

Santonu Kashyap

Santonu Kashyap has worked as an external CDM registration and issuance expert for the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and is currently serving as a methodological expert for the UNFCCC Article 6.4 Mechanism. He advised the Government of Maldives in the preparation of its INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) submitted to the Paris Agreement Negotiations and involved in the launch of the India operations of Asia Carbon Exchange, the world's first online trading platform for primary carbon credits. He is recognized as an expert in climate change and decarbonization with more than 15 years of experience in project start-up and development, management, finance, policy, and carbon markets.

Advisory

Takashi Oguchi

Takashi Oguchi obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1993. After working at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne as a visiting professor, he was appointed to his current position in 2011. He specializes in Traffic Engineering and Traffic Management and Control. His research areas include traffic signal control, road network traffic flow management, integrated traffic system design including automatic driving, and hierarchical planning and design of road traffic systems and road/street plans. His awards include the MLIT (Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) Award of the Industry, Academia and Government Cooperation Contribution (2014), the Research Award of 'Kometani-Sasaki' Award (2011), and the Research Paper Awards of Japan Society of Traffic Engineers (2005, 2023).

Data Scientist

Yuta SatoYuta Sato

Born in 1996. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Hitotsubashi University, with specialisation of corporate strategy and econometrics. Sato firstly joined Nissan Motor Corporation Ltd. for enhancing cybersecurity of the internal infrastructure. After his leave at the company in 2022, he gained a Master’s degree in Geographic Data Science from the London School of Economics (LSE), where he majored spatial econometrics, graph representation learning, remote sensing, and urban planning. He will commence his PhD program at the Geographic Data Science Lab in the University of Liverpool in September 2024.

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Recruitment

Join Us!

Spatial Pleasure is currently recruiting for several positions. We are experiencing an exciting period of growth, expanding not only in Japan but also in Jakarta and Vietnam. With our talented and dedicated team, we are seeking individuals who are passionate about cities, transportation, carbon credits, and externality assessment. If you share our interests and would like to join us, we would love to have a conversation with you.