Teaching activities are engaged in a search for new principles of planning and design founded in landscape ecology, considerations of global environmental planning and environmental design based in these planning and design principles and achieved through the collaboration of industry, government, academia and civil society, in addition to the social implementation of the same.
Subjects Taught
【Gardens and Urban Landscapes】［Graduate Level Subject］
Classes provide students with a deep understanding of the essence of landscape ecology. Students learn about how ecological and social processes impact the structure and functions of urban, garden, and forest landscapes. Students gain an appreciation for conflicts of interest relating to land usage and the rapid deterioration in ecological foundations of recent times. They study methodologies of land use planning and global environmental planning to contribute to the renewal of green infrastructure, alongside contemporary techniques of ecology management.
【Environmental and Heritage Design Project】［Graduate Level Practicum］
The Environmental and Heritage Design Project involves on-site learning at a designated site. Students develop communication and presentation skills while gaining exposure to a wide range of debates from diverse perspectives.
【Urban Environmental Design】 ［Undergraduate Level Subject］
Students gain an understanding of the pre-modern formation of urban Japan, before studying in-depth examples of urban planning, design, and green area planning in modern Japan and comparing them with examples from European and North American cities. The modern era is divided into the four periods of: modernization, rapid economic growth, stable growth, and maturity/decline. Students study in detail the thought and technologies of each period as well as the urban and green spaces that emerged from them. With regard to planning and design in the present period of maturity/decline, the urgent importance of engaging comprehensively with new considerations such as landscape ecology, climate change, disaster prevention and reduction, biodiversity, and multi-actor partnerships is stressed.
【Spatial Representation Practicum I】【Analysis of Spatial Information Practicum】［Undergraduate Level Practicum］
Students acquire basic skills in drafting landscape architectural plans and the fundamentals of spatial analytic techniques using GIS.