Makoto Murase

By Julian Cribb While the global population has grown threefold since the mid-20th century, our use of fresh water has increased sixfold, threatening major shortages by the 2030s: already, the United Nations warns, 4 billion people worldwide face water scarcity for a month or more each...

For more than two decades, Makoto Murase, generally known as “Dr Skywater”, has campaigned to awake the urban world to the appalling waste of an essential resource, pure rainwater. His mission is to convince city-dwellers that rain is a blessing, not a waste-disposal problem. In his own...

[vimeo]A temple to renewal[/vimeo] Like a futuristic fountain soaring to the heavens, the Tokyo Sky Tree – the world’s tallest broadcast tower – transcends the angular skyline of Japan’s capital. Opened on 22 May, the Sky Tree defines not only the latest in telecommunications – but...

A river of innovations changing the lives of great cities and the poorest of the poor is flowing from the visionary ideas of Makoto Murase – today known in his native Japan and beyond as “Dr Skywater” – who was chosen as an Associate Laureate of the 2002 Rolex...