A Free-School Style AI Workshop: Building a Local Map App in Isahaya

On June 20, 2026, I will run a hands-on AI workshop at Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu, a community learning space on the second floor of AER Isahaya.

The local Japanese announcement focuses on the event itself: bring local favorites, use AI, and build a map app together.

This English version is slightly different.

I want to explain why I am doing this as part of my independent work.

The workshop is part of a free-school style project

As an independent operator, I am interested in building practical learning spaces that sit somewhere between a class, a lab, and a small community project.

In Japan, the phrase "free school" often refers to alternative learning spaces. I use the phrase here in that broad sense: a place where people can learn by making, asking, trying, and reflecting, rather than only receiving a lecture.

For AI education, I think this matters.

AI tools become easier to understand when learners are not only told what the tool can do, but are invited to make something concrete with it.

This workshop uses a simple theme:

Can we turn everyone's local recommendations into a usable map app?

Why a map app?

A map is a good learning object because it starts from real knowledge.

People already know places:

• a cafe they like
• a good lunch spot
• a scenic view
• a historical place
• a small local event
• a recommendation they would give to a visitor

That knowledge is easy to talk about, but it is also structured enough to become software.

A place has a name, category, comment, location, and context. Those pieces can become map data. Map data can become a prototype. A prototype can become a conversation about what is useful, what is missing, and what should be improved.

That is a better way to learn AI than only looking at a blank prompt box.

Learning by building, not by lectures

The workshop is not designed as a technical lecture.

The goal is to create a small experience where participants can see how AI changes the process of making software.

In a traditional workshop, the instructor might explain the whole design first, then show a finished result.

Here, I want the group to experience a different flow:

1. Gather local recommendations.
2. Ask what kind of app would make those recommendations useful.
3. Use Codex to turn the idea into screens, data structures, and a working prototype.
4. Review the output together.
5. Discuss what should be changed.

That loop is important.

AI is not only a tool for generating text or code. It can also become a partner for making ideas visible enough to discuss.

What Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu adds

Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu is not just a meeting room.

According to Isahaya City's official page, it is a facility that supports citizens' community-building activities. It can be used for event planning meetings and practice spaces for event participation.

The AER central shopping street also describes it as a lifelong learning room where lectures and events can be held, managed by Chinzai Gakuin University under a commission from Isahaya City.

Chinzai Gakuin University lists the operation of Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu and the lifelong learning room as a recurring industry-government-academia collaboration project with Isahaya City.

A Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges article gives more background: when AER Isahaya opened in 2006, the university placed Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu and a lifelong learning room there as part of a broader effort to support central city revitalization and a "learning community."

That context is why this venue makes sense for an AI workshop.

The point is not only to teach a tool. The point is to connect local knowledge, community learning, and practical making.

What I want to keep developing

For my independent education work, I want to keep building small programs like this:

• practical enough that participants make something visible
• open enough that beginners can join
• concrete enough that experienced people can still contribute
• connected to real local knowledge, not abstract examples only
• careful enough that AI is used as support, not as a replacement for people

This is also part of how I think about AI literacy.

AI literacy is not only knowing which model is newest. It is knowing how to use AI to clarify an idea, structure information, test a small prototype, and improve it with other people.

That is why I am using a local map app as the theme.

The app itself is useful, but the learning process is the real product.

Event outline

The Japanese announcement page is here:

6/20(土) まち研AI勉強会：生成AIで、みんなの「推し」が地図になる

Sources

• Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu Public Course - Isahaya City
• Machizukuri Kenkyushitsu at AER Isahaya 2F - AER Central Shopping Street
• Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration - Chinzai Gakuin University
• Community co-creation feature - Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges

---

Author: Kotaro Izumida
Last updated: June 14, 2026