Required Knowledge and Abilities

The Department of Community Design is primarily concerned with the "software" of community development, focusing on the social sciences to study the nature of social systems such as communities and institutions. However, it also equips students with the knowledge and scientific skills of the "hardware" side (e.g., multivariate analysis methods, geographic information systems, etc.). In this way, the department cultivates the knowledge and abilities to integrate regional research and analysis with proposals for new social systems. In addition, the Department of Architecture and Urban Design and the Department of Civil Engineering and Regional Design are mainly concerned with the "hardware" of urban development, with students focusing on acquiring practical knowledge and skills related to architecture and construction. However, the departments also train students in the "software" side, cultivating the knowledge and skills that will enable them to design the physical environment, social environment, and local community in an integrated manner. In order to cultivate such knowledge and abilities, the School of Regional Design will develop and implement a new educational program unlike anything available in existing universities and faculties, that integrates the humanities and sciences.

Regional Responsiveness Across the School of Regional Design

In addition to learning and acquiring the relevant specialized knowledge and skills, it is important for professionals who support community development to be able to communicate and act as members of a team to solve local issues in a practical manner. To this end, we will develop and implement a common educational program across the School of Regional Design for students to develop the following three skills: the ability to face the community, the ability to survey and analyze the state of the region, and the ability to solve regional issues.

The Ability to Face the Community

In order to solve regional issues, the first step is to fully understand what the issues are, as well as what the target and structure of the issues are. In order to do this, it is necessary to be able to observe the community and discover issues while actively communicating with local people.

The Ability to Survey and Analyze the State of the Region

In order to understand regional issues and solve them by utilizing regional resources and regional characteristics, it is essential to be able to survey and analyze the region. It is necessary to acquire groupwork methods and communication skills to be used as community research methods, and to have the ability to visualize and quantify the actual situation of the community as well as to analyze the structure of the issues.

The Ability to Solve Regional Issues

The ability to integrate and apply specialized knowledge and skills related to "hardware," "software," and "connections" at a high level is necessary for the practical implementation of community development.

The Specialized Knowledge and Techniques to be Developed in Each Department

Department of Community Design

Developing talent that can design the social groups and institutions that make up regional societies (i.e., communities)

  • The ability to understand the current state and origins of the local community from a broad perspective
  • The ability to identify and analyze issues in the local community
  • The ability to utilize local resources for new community development
  • The ability to design institutions and propose policies for new community development
  • The ability to act independently and collaboratively in the community and contribute to the formation of a vibrant community

Department of Architecture and Urban Design

Developing talent that can design living spaces based on practical architectural techniques

  • The ability to understand the mechanisms of natural phenomena and apply them to architectural and regional design techniques
  • The ability to understand the requirements and conditions of humans and society, and to construct buildings, regions, environments, and institutions
  • The ability to conceptualize resource utilization and construction processes and realize them in the form of architecture and community development
  • The design skills necessary to create goal-oriented architecture and regions while respecting history and culture
  • The ability to develop a balanced sensibility between engineering and regional design studies on the one hand, and art and culture on the other

Department of Civil Engineering and Regional Design

Developing talent that can design social infrastructure based on practical construction techniques

  • The ability to understand the basic theories of natural science and the fundamental specialized knowledge and theories for the development of social infrastructure
  • The ability to apply and develop expertise to address practical issues in social infrastructure development
  • The ability to grasp global trends in social infrastructure and to develop technologies globally
  • The ability to propose appropriate measures to resolve problems arising from social infrastructure development
  • The ability to steadily implement social infrastructure development and measures in an appropriate manner