April 2, 2010
A joint initiative of the Graduate School of Engineering and Graduate School of Medicine, the Unit for Liveable Cities was launched on April 1 after a period of three to four years' preparation. The Unit has been selected to receive a grant under the "Enhancement of Specialist Education and Training of Advanced Professional Personnel" section of the national government's fiscal 2010 Special Funding (Projects) Budgetary Request for Special Education and Research Funding (Educational Reform). This occasion was commemorated in an opening ceremony held on April 2 in front of the Graduate School of Medicine's Human Health Science Department. Attendees included the Unit's Director Eiichi Taniguchi, Graduate School of Engineering Dean Satoru Komori, and Graduate School of Medicine Dean Masao Mitsuyama.
To begin the ceremony, Director Taniguchi took the podium to thank all those involved for their hard work and support leading up to the Unit's launch, to explain the ideas behind the Unit, and to express the resolve of those responsible for managing it. Next, Graduate School of Engineering Dean Komori and Graduate School of Medicine Dean Mitsuyama each spoke briefly to mark the occasion. The Deans were then joined by Director Taniguchi for the commemorative ribbon-cutting and photograph, which brought hearty applause from the audience. With the cherry blossoms drifting down from the trees and the spring sun showing through the clouds for the first time after several days of rain, the ceremony was brought to a congenial close with attendees celebrating the Unit's opening and expressing their anticipation for its successful operation.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony
About the Unit for Liveable Cities
The Unit for Liveable Cities is oriented to the creation of Urban Human Health Science, a new field of academic endeavor integrating health, medicine and urban engineering. A number of problems have emerged in our cities recently, fueled by developments such as depopulation, declining birthrates and growing longevity, as well as heightened stress levels, dehumanization, environmental degradation, and the threat of natural disaster. Representing a response to these contemporary problems, the concept of "urban wellbeing" involves the realization of "human wellbeing" founded on self-reliance and individual volition, "social wellbeing" through natural and human disaster risk management, development of urban amenity (transport and landscape) and the provision of urban health and medical care services, and "environmental wellbeing" based on the creation of richly productive environments and recycling-oriented communities. The ultimate goal is to foster "urban wellbeing creators" who combine approaches from medicine, physiology and engineering to engage with challenges from new perspectives, and who are capable of leading the processes of design, policy planning, advocacy and implementation of ideal "urban wellbeing" cities where people can live life to the full.
These aims are reflected in the Unit's educational curriculum, which is designed mainly for working adults. This curriculum features both Fieldwork with a strong emphasis on on-site inquiry and identification of problems, and creative Design Education entailing the proposal of community projects. Working in collaboration with local government bodies, hospitals, public health centers, public transport authorities, private enterprises and other partners, the Unit will identify and analyze problems and propose and evaluate solutions thereto. Plans for the future include the development of inter-disciplinary education and research projects with scholars working not only in medicine and engineering but also in economics, sociology, psychology and other branches of the humanities and social sciences.
The Unit is composed of two departments. The Risk Management Department conducts education and research on technologies to support medical service provision at times of disaster, natural and human disaster risk management, and other topics concerned with the development of safe and secure communities. Meanwhile, the Urban Amenity Department pursues practice-oriented education and research aimed at building health and urban amenity through activities such as infrastructure development, transport planning and logistics, urban planning for health, and environmental and landscape planning.
The actual educational curriculum is composed of the elements shown below. It includes intensive education on fundamental, essential issues, interdisciplinary research, practical workshops and project-based instruction, enabling students to acquire an integrated profile of practical abilities.
- Common foundation subjects: Integrated content from the two departments (common ideals of the Unit, introductory content for each department)
- Foundation subjects / practical subjects: Lectures and workshops on fundamental expertise in line with the specific characteristics of each department
- Seminar subjects: Relay-style classes on the latest topics, blending material from each department
- Common development subjects: Content that brings together medicine and engineering and has the potential to develop into new research endeavors
- Practical project subjects: Design education and fieldwork using practical projects, oriented to the creative formulation of proposals
The Unit is set to welcome six new specially-appointed faculty members into the future. Continuing on from the preparatory period, meetings of the Committee of the Unit for Liveable Cities (chaired by the Unit Director), public seminars and other activities will be carried on from the preparatory period and used to advance discussion towards the comprehension and integration of theories and methodologies to be used when approaching the theme of "urban wellbeing" from the perspectives of medicine and engineering. In the lead-up to the start of the educational program in October, Unit staff will be working to develop the curriculum, launch a website, produce admission guidelines and publicity material, as well as beginning the task of recruiting around 20 working adults and 20 regular degree (Master's) students for admission this academic year.