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Urban Management Lab
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A lab that explores sustainable cities and regions through how land is used.
AboutAbout the lab
Shaping the future of cities through land use
The Urban Management Lab studies urban and regional planning systems related to land use in order to create sustainable urban and regional spaces.
Its subjects range from the district level to the wide-area level, and from central urban districts to rural areas, covering not only Japan but also towns overseas.
The lab builds planning theory for physical space, develops techniques for making plans, and designs the social mechanisms that make those plans happen.
In recovery from catastrophic disasters, the lab also takes part in hands-on work supporting plan-making in affected municipalities and districts.
Key terms
- Land use
- How a piece of land is used, such as for housing, shops, farmland, or factories
- Urban planning
- A system for deciding how land is used and where roads and facilities are placed in a town, and for envisioning its future form
- Seawall
- An embankment built along the coast to protect inland areas from tsunamis and storm surges
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies urban and regional planning systems related to land use in order to shape sustainable urban and regional spaces. It considers planning theory and techniques together with the social mechanisms that support them.
*Illustrative imageLand-use planning systems
Working in a variety of fields in Japan and overseas, from the district level to the wide-area level and from central urban districts to rural areas, the lab builds planning theory for physical space and develops techniques for making plans.
*Illustrative imageRecovery from catastrophic disasters
Recovery requires more than restoring the previous situation or improving disaster-resilience performance. It calls for creating spaces that simultaneously solve the issues a community already faced, such as those related to industry, the environment, and social welfare. The lab studies the planning theory and techniques for this.
*Illustrative imageSupporting recovery planning
The lab has examined resident participation processes that make use of the resident community-building councils that existed before the earthquake, as well as planning approaches for tsunami protection facilities such as seawalls. It also supports the making of recovery plans for affected municipalities and districts.
*Illustrative imageUrban space in an era of population decline
As the population declines, reorganizing urban functions that have been supplied in a dispersed way has become a challenge. The lab investigates and evaluates the spatial characteristics of public facilities provided by municipalities in relation to urban policy and urban structure.
MembersFaculty
The Ubaura Lab consists of faculty members, administrative assistants, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students. It also serves as the Spatial Design Strategy Division of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science.As of 2026
- ProfessorMichio Ubaura
- Project Associate ProfessorTomohiro Kariya
- Assistant (Joshu)Yuta Yamanashi
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: “Sendai city - Hirose river 2005” Kinori / Public domain (cropped)
- Land-use planning systems: “Japan, Tochigi, Nikko - Inari Daiya rivers 2016” Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Recovery from catastrophic disasters: “Onagawa Sports Park” 国土地理院 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Supporting recovery planning: “20090523 Yokkaichi Port Spray Breakwater” おてらやさん / Public domain (cropped)
- Urban space in an era of population decline: “Nozaki Village2010” ぱちょぴ
（投稿者） 撮影 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped) - Related lab (社会システム計画学): “Philadelphia skyline-daytime” Jeffrey M. Vinocur / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (先端社会基盤学): “Levee breach site of the Chikuma River in the Hobo district, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, during Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon No. 19) in Reiwa 1 (2019)” 国土地理院 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (福祉建築学分野): “Classroom” strngwrldfrwl from Japan / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (地域計画学・
空間 デザイン戦略): “Architecture Site Masterplan Miniature Scale Model” iKix 3D Prints / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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