2019.10.11About KUT / Academics / Research / Students Life

International symposium on extreme concentration in metropolitan areas

The 12th International Symposium of the Society for Social Management Systems, initiated by KUT, was held September 11­-12, 2019 at the University of Tokyo's Hongo campus. This year's theme was "The Rise of Mega Metropolitans: the challenges of super concentration of population/resources on sustainable and resilient society."

The Society for Social Management Systems was established with KUT as its hub when KUT was selected as a 21st century COE program by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of the society is to promote international collaboration and information exchange among researchers and engineers from various fields, and to contribute specifically to the improvement of social systems through symposia and the compilation of research reports. Those activities are currently under way, centered on the Research Center for Social Management Systems, part of KUT's Research Organization for Regional Alliances (RORA).

On the first day of the symposium, 66 presentations focused on the benefits and challenges of the concentration of population and economy in metropolitan areas. Five guest talks were given by Prof. Satoshi Fujii, Department of Urban Management, Kyoto University; Prof. Taikan Oki, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo; Dr. Apiwat Ratanawaraha, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Chulalongkorn University; Prof. Naoyuki Yoshino and Dr. KE Seetha Ram, Asian Development Bank Institute; and Prof. Yoshitsugu Hayashi, Institute of Science and Technology Research, Chubu University. Some 100 participants from around the world took part in valuable exchanges.

On the second day of the symposium, participants were taken on a technical tour of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics facilities now under construction. The participants were unanimous in voicing positive evaluations of that valuable opportunity.

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