NEC, in Collaboration with Meiji University, Researches the Impact of Stroller Depictions on Urban Appeal: Verifying that Including Families with Strollers in Redevelopment Renderings Enhances City Attractiveness

NEC Corporation (hereinafter NEC) is engaged in activities to uncover the underlying context of products and spaces (such as environmental products) that require social value, creating opportunities for them to be chosen by consumers. Focusing on data utilization and methods for proving value, NEC has been conducting issue organization and hypothesis testing rooted in the practical fields of its customers, while collaborating with Associate Professor Takumi Kato of the Meiji University School of Commerce on academic verification and validity research.

In this instance, when considering the improvement of sustainability in urban redevelopment, we focused on the types of people depicted in architectural renderings (perspectives). To realize a city where diverse people can spend time as they wish, it is considered important not only to focus on the space itself but also on the expressions and designs that make it feel attractive. In this verification, we used a redevelopment space as the subject to examine the impact of stroller depictions on the appeal of the city.

One factor in achieving sustainability in urban redevelopment is creating places that diverse people find attractive and want to visit. Municipalities and related companies responsible for redevelopment depict the city in renderings to communicate its appeal to many people. However, discussions regarding the content of these renderings often focus primarily on spatial components such as buildings and facilities.

This study analyzed the differences in urban appeal based on the depiction of people spending time in these spaces. The element we focused on was the stroller. The presence of children and families raising children is expected to bring vitality to a city and, much like family restaurants, lower psychological barriers to entry. A randomized controlled trial verifying the difference in urban appeal with and without strollers revealed that depictions including strollers received significantly higher evaluations. This effect was valid regardless of gender or age. This finding can be utilized not only for promotional appeals in renderings but also for institutional design in urban planning. By creating spaces that are easy for strollers to access, it is expected that the appeal of the city will increase for a diverse range of people.

This research result, as a joint study between NEC Corporation and Associate Professor Takumi Kato of the Meiji University School of Commerce, has been accepted for the 2026 International Conference on Management, Tourism and Technologies and will be published in Business and Economics (Springer).

Key Points of This Research: - Cities around the world are engaged in fierce competition to attract residents, and urban branding is an important policy tool for municipalities and urban developers. Parks are positioned as symbols in urban branding. As represented by Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York, greenery functions as a symbol of a city. Furthermore, because greenery plays an important role from the perspective of increasing sustainability, parks and green spaces are utilized in many redevelopment projects. - Sustainability requires not only environmental consideration but also the revitalization of the local economy through the gathering of diverse people. Therefore, municipalities and related companies responsible for redevelopment depict the city in renderings to communicate its appeal to many people. - Discussions regarding the content of renderings tend to lean toward buildings and facilities, and there has not been sufficient accumulated knowledge regarding the impact of the "people" depicted. Given that in general marketing communications, consumers tend to pay more attention to the characters using a product or service than the product or service itself, it is assumed that the depiction of people in city renderings is also important. - In this study, we prepared images of an urban park redevelopment as a rendering without a stroller (control group, Figure 1) and with a stroller (treatment group, Figure 2), and randomly assigned participants to be shown one or the other. Afterward, we asked them to evaluate the appeal of the city. As a result, while 64.4% of the control group felt the city was attractive, 74.1% of the treatment group felt it was attractive, showing a significant difference of approximately 10 percentage points. - The effect of the stroller was confirmed regardless of gender or age. An improvement of 11 points was seen in women (68.2% to 79.2%) and 7.9 points in men (61.0% to 68.9%). By age, an improvement of 10.7 points was confirmed for those aged 20–44, and 8.4 points for those aged 45–69. Furthermore, the effect was even greater among those with low attitudinal involvement with parks (13.0 points; 37.7% to 50.7%) and those with low park usage frequency (14.0 points; 61.0% to 75.0%). In other words, the stroller functioned as a factor to newly attract segments that previously had little interest in parks, demonstrating that it contributes to the expansion of a city's potential participant base. - This study extends the knowledge of urban branding into the realm of marketing communication and provides valuable evidence regarding the value of strollers in renderings. The finding that the presence of children and families raising children symbolizes the vitality of a city and lowers psychological barriers to entry is something that can be directly applied to future urban development and town planning practices. By creating spaces that are easy for strollers to access, it is expected that the appeal of the city will increase for a diverse range of people.

Future Initiatives: NEC will continue to work on creating products and spaces that are valuable to both the environment and consumers through data and scientific verification. With an eye toward balancing the resolution of social issues with economic viability, we will challenge ourselves to derive concrete suggestions that lead to expressions that reach consumers and inform decision-making through co-creation with companies, regions, and research institutions.