Faculty and Research Themes - Field of Urban System Engineering

Research on re-design of environmental infrastructure focuses on water and wastewater infrastructure and waste treatment facilities, aiming to construct high-value-added service supply points and networks. Studies include facility renewal scenarios and policy formulation/evaluation. Research on climate change adaptation design aims to realize an adaptive society that can coexist with climate change by improving urban vulnerabilities. Studies focus on adaptation measures in water disasters, water resources, and natural ecosystem sectors.

Geotechnical disaster prevention engineering is an engineering field that aims to mitigate damage from natural disasters and design structures rationally from a geotechnical engineering perspective, in cooperation with various related engineering and science fields. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, heavy rains, and landslides occur frequently worldwide. In Japan, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake tsunami caused devastating damage to civil engineering and architectural facilities. It is extremely important to properly evaluate the ground amplification characteristics of the Osaka Plain and ensure the seismic performance of public structures against the Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake, which is certain to occur within the next few decades. This laboratory conducts research from geotechnical and earthquake engineering perspectives to challenge strongly demanded social problems. Through such research, students acquire knowledge and tools for conducting research, while developing problem-finding and problem-solving abilities.

The theme is "Mitigation of coastal disasters caused by tsunamis, storm surges, and high waves, and adaptation to climate change." Aiming for safe and secure coastal protection, research is conducted on how to reduce human and property damage from coastal disasters such as tsunamis and storm surges. Furthermore, research is undertaken to propose effective adaptation measures against sea level rise and extreme weather due to emerging global warming, and the resulting intensification of water disasters.

Research to establish a real-time inundation prediction method with low uncertainty using river monitoring camera information.

This laboratory develops a wide range of research by integrating measurement data obtained from in-situ measurements and model experiments with numerical simulations to enhance the possibilities of geotechnical engineering problems, and connecting them to proposals for effective countermeasure works and design methods against ground disaster mechanisms related to hydraulics in soil and various problems.

Infrastructure structures must be used safely for a long time, requiring design and construction with excellent strength and durability, as well as appropriate maintenance. This laboratory develops technologies for long-term safe use, focusing on infrastructure structures, particularly steel bridges. Research is also conducted on the application of new materials to infrastructure structures.

Research targets all phenomena related to the design, construction, and maintenance of concrete structures, aiming to approach their essence by utilizing experiments and analysis. Using knowledge from materials engineering, structural engineering, and physical chemistry, phenomena at micro, meso, and macro scales are clarified, and numerical models are constructed to perform life cycle simulations of concrete structures.

Concrete is an indispensable construction material for building important infrastructure facilities such as bridges, tunnels, dams, and port facilities. Research is comprehensively conducted on material construction aspects such as selection of concrete materials, mix design, construction, and quality control, as well as performance of concrete structures including safety, third-party impact, usability, appearance, restorability, repairability, and durability, considering environmental load, biological symbiosis, and carbon neutrality. Life cycle examinations including maintenance of existing structures and enhancement of functionality, strength, and longevity during new construction are also performed.

This laboratory engages in research on "Project Management" aimed at advancing disaster prevention and maintenance. Research themes include geological risk assessment methods using artificial intelligence (AI) in construction projects, and establishment of early warning systems for sediment disasters aimed at reducing slope disaster risks. Research guidance covers in-situ measurements, numerical analysis, and artificial intelligence.

We conduct empirical research focused on building efficient, safe, and environmentally sustainable urban transportation systems. Our research centers on examining policies for the urban transportation sector to build a decarbonized society, quantitatively assessing environmental impacts using traffic distribution models and traffic simulation models, and logistics policies. We also examine transportation aspects for creating healthy communities.

Infrastructure involves many diverse stakeholders, with large and long-term impacts. Therefore, planners must approach it with high insight and abundant knowledge. Wise decisions are required to bring together many different opinions, conduct fair evaluations, and respond flexibly to changes in real time. The ability to select transparent planning methods and practice them is necessary. Therefore, the goal is to acquire this ability by learning basic to applied planning theory and conducting empirical studies.

Research is conducted on system intelligence and optimization for solving various problems in engineering and social systems through cooperation between humans and computers. From the standpoint of actual users, applied research is also undertaken on infrastructure system maintenance planning problems and disaster prevention system development.

The goal is to clarify what landscapes have been formed and how they have been interpreted by people—the history of places and mechanisms of landscape formation—and to discover and demonstrate the attractiveness and value of contemporary landscapes, thereby obtaining knowledge useful for future regional development and national land planning.

To deal with various risks existing in complex urban systems, consideration from a comprehensive perspective is necessary, not only applying engineering technology but also incorporating economic methods. Against this background, the goal is to acquire the ability to evaluate the reliability and risk of urban systems and structural systems using stochastic system theory.

The field of information technology for operating infrastructure facilities has expanded to a broader area including social systems related to people and organizations, beyond just the development and use of information systems. Based on infrastructure informatics that integrates civil engineering and informatics, research is conducted to solve various issues related to the life cycle of infrastructure facilities through information and communication technology and information systems, and to create new services. In particular, research is conducted on road information management systems, maintenance work support systems using 3D spatial data, and construction and visualization of BIM/CIM models for urban spaces.

The research goal of this laboratory is to enable dynamic configuration of information processing service spaces that support human activities in diverse urban environments. Specifically, research is conducted on information processing technology and network technology that dynamically combines information processing appliances ubiquitous in activity spaces using wired and wireless networks in constantly changing individual human social activities, sensing and recognizing the situation of human activity environments in a timely manner, and providing services needed by humans in real time.

Acquire methodologies for system construction to convey useful information to humans as appropriate media according to usage and purpose. Particularly focusing on human behavior and actions, research is developed with applications in mind, dealing with systems that perform visual measurement and information processing. Furthermore, work is undertaken on the nature and functional design of information systems centered on humans in a larger framework including living environments and social life.

Today, information processing technology, particularly communication systems, plays an important role in the configuration and operation of infrastructure systems. In the future, the integration of infrastructure systems and information and communication technology is expected to proceed even further throughout urban spaces. This laboratory engages in the development and research of new communication technologies that will support future infrastructure.

Regional community sustainability and revitalization are reconsidered from the perspective of sustainability of residential environments, and hardware with embedded soft mechanisms—namely, sustainable residential environments—are researched and proposed based on various specialized engineering fields. "Revitalization" refers to efforts to reform sustainable communities while being conscious of historical continuity.