Forming a co-creation educational community through collaboration between businesses and high schools and universities in “Gastronomy-Geopolitics”

Abstract

In the context of food-related environments, achieving a sustainable society requires effectively communicating the importance of green jobs to the next generation, fostering a shared understanding of the green jobs needed within local communities, and cultivating a job market in which green jobs—adapted to recent climate change and local ecological conditions—are chosen as career anchors. To this end, it is essential to promote the “greening” of existing local occupations, establish the concept of green jobs within communities, and create conditions that enable younger generations to develop new green jobs. Equally important is the formation of co-creative educational communities that provide opportunities for youth to engage with and focus on these careers. This paper presents a case from Mie Prefecture, Japan, demonstrating that building such co-creative educational communities—supported through collaboration between regional businesses and secondary–tertiary educational institutions—is vital for establishing an ecosystem that nurtures future practitioners of green jobs.