A Study on the Management of a Nature Experience Facility as a Personnel Interaction Base for Regional Innovation Creation

In this study, we aimed at examining the present state of the engagement of the nature experience facility and its effect, the possibility of the third place which contributes to the improvement of the engagement, and the facility management toward it. We selected NEP Center "Foresuto Kōzan", a Nature Center located in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido Prefecture, operated as designated manager by Momonga Club NPO corporation. A volunteer staff questionnaire to grasp the current state of community exchanges (such as the strength of community engagement etc.) in the survey target site as seen from the third place point of view was conducted. The results are as follows: 1)Facility management that contributes to engagement improvement is possible. 2)To change the environment of the facility and the mechanism of the activity changes the consciousness of the survey member\u27s awareness of the whereabouts and the awareness of the activity, to the exchange that is expected to "increase social learning" and "motivation to explore" . It is possible to improve the quality of exchanges to the exchange where local problem solving is expected