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Urban and Regional Design Lab
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The lab designs the streets and plazas of snowy regions and the form of towns with shrinking populations.
AboutAbout the lab
Designing the cities and regions of the northern sphere
The Urban and Regional Design Lab studies urban planning and community development for snowy, cold cities such as those in Hokkaido.
Based on simulations and on-site surveys, the lab studies how to create streetscapes and plazas suited to winter winds and snow.
The lab also conducts research on Hokkaido cities, such as compact city development in Yubari, whose population is declining, and planning for coastal cities to prepare for tsunamis.
The lab's philosophy has three parts: research in the northern sphere, contributing to community development in Hokkaido, and joint research with universities around the world.
Key terms
- Compact city
- An urban form in which housing and facilities such as hospitals and shops are gathered in the town center, making it easier to get around and easier to sustain
- Multi-agent simulation
- A method that reproduces the movements of each individual person on a computer to examine what happens as a whole
- Public space
- Outdoor space that anyone can use freely, such as plazas, parks, and sidewalks
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies desirable urban spaces for snowy, cold cities, and urban forms that respond to population decline and disasters. Using wind and snow simulations, field surveys, and AI-based analysis, it explores planning methods for cities in Hokkaido.
*Illustrative imageUrban Design for Snowy, Cold Cities
In cities in snowy regions that face winter cold, heavy snowfall, and the large amounts of energy used for heating and snow removal, the lab studies what makes a desirable urban space, based on simulations of the wind and snow environment and on field surveys.
*Illustrative imagePublic Spaces in Snowy Regions
In cities with harsh winter cold, the lab aims to clarify how to design outdoor spaces such as plazas where people want to stay, using field surveys and AI-based analysis of how people use these spaces.
*Illustrative imageCompact City Planning in Yubari
As population decline leaves the size of a city out of step with its population, the lab aims to clarify how to plan a compact city, a consolidated urban form for building a sustainable city, using Yubari, Hokkaido as its case.
*Illustrative imageDisaster-Resilient Compact Cities
Focusing on coastal cities in Hokkaido, the lab combines future population projections with tsunami evacuation simulations to study planning methods for consolidating towns safely. It also works on multi-agent simulations and workshops using "Nigechizu" (evacuation maps).
MembersFaculty
The members of the Urban and Regional Design Lab consist of faculty, research fellows, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTsuyoshi Setoguchi
- Associate ProfessorNorihiro Watanabe
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Morning of snow in sapporo - panoramio” t-konno / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Urban Design for Snowy, Cold Cities: “Morning landscape - panoramio” t-konno / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Public Spaces in Snowy Regions: “Schwäbisch Hall in winter” Petar Milošević / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Compact City Planning in Yubari: “Yubari river Numanosawa” Bakkai at Japanese Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Disaster-Resilient Compact Cities: “Views from Mount Hakodate at night” Suicasmo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Architectural Planning Lab): “Tactile paving on the sidewalk, Łódź” Zorro2212 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Infrastructure Planning Lab): “Aerial view of Hokuto Chuo Interchange and its surrounding area - Nov 9, 2024” Ryo FUKAsawa / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Environmental Space Design Lab): “FTX-aggregat” Congus / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Architectural Design Lab): “151010 Sapporo Agricultural College Hokkaido Japan02s3” 663highland / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
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