Research Center for Sustainability, Resilience, and Well-being, what is it?
Hello everyone.
My name is Akira Hosoda, Director of the Research Center for Sustainability, Resilience, and Well-being at Yokohama National University.
The Research Center for Sustainability, Resilience, and Well-being was established in April 2023. We will engage in research and education with the goal of creating a “Hojo” society.
What is a “Hojo” society?
I think this is the most important question.
The image I have of a “Hojo” society is “a rich and fruitful society in which all people make full use of their innate and acquired qualities and abilities, live vibrantly, and continue to cultivate an environment in which they can live with dreams and hopes for future generations”. The Center will conduct comprehensive academic and practical research and education with the goal of achieving a “Hojo” society.
Why should we strive for a “Hojo” society?
Because I believe that current Japanese society is rapidly moving away from a “Hojo” society. Why are we moving away from it? The members of the Center are studying the basic causes, and we will continue to provide information as we learn more.
Yokohama National University is considering the establishment of a research center that will contribute to “disaster prevention and mitigation”, with the goal of opening in April 2023. YNU's Research Center for Disaster Mitigation, which has been conducting research and education on disaster prevention and mitigation in the field of civil engineering, was selected to establish the Research Center for Sustainability, Resilience, and Well-being after repeated discussions.
When I think of disaster prevention and mitigation, I do not think only of natural disasters. Rather, I believe that the goodness and strength of Japanese society are increasingly being damaged by what I would call man-made disasters. We recognize that there is a risk that we could be hit by an even more massive natural disaster in the future.
Therefore, we have established a research center for a “Hojo” society through research on infrastructure that supports society, research on disaster prevention and mitigation using digital twin technology, and research on how to connect people for a happy society, including civil engineering, which is the center director's field of expertise.
The Research Center for Sustainability, Resilience, and Well-being brings together researchers from various fields within Yokohama National University, as well as excellent researchers and practitioners from outside the university who share the center's vision and engages in research and education for a “Hojo” society, making the most of their respective strengths.
In addition, we plan to establish consortiums for the “Long-life Healthy Infrastructure Laboratory” and the “Social Network Management Laboratory” in FY2023, respectively, where government agencies outside the university, infrastructure managers, general contractors, consultants, material manufacturers, and various players interested in connectivity research will meet, discuss, and build a system that allows free and open implementation of collaborative research.
In the “Digital Twin Mega City Laboratory”, research will be conducted in collaboration with the city of Yokohama using the digital twin technology of “whole city analysis”, and practical research will be initiated to improve disaster prevention planning and urban resilience to massive disasters.
If you are interested in the activities of the Center for the Study of Abundant Society, please do not hesitate to contact us!