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Urban Transport and Environment (Ariga) Lab
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A lab that thinks about sustainable cities and transportation through data.
AboutAbout the lab
Better cities and transportation, through data.
The Urban Transport and Environment Lab studies better ways to shape cities and transportation, focusing on the relationships among urban structure, human activities, transport and mobility, and environmental burdens and impacts.
The location of cities and facilities affects how people move, and the convenience of transportation has in turn shaped the form of cities.
The lab addresses urban and transport planning issues such as maintaining public transport amid population decline and aging, decarbonization, and responding to extreme heat and heavy rain.
Launched in April 2023, the lab has graduate students who advanced from within the university as well as graduates of other universities.
Key terms
- Space-time constraints
- Limits on where a person can go and what they can do because they must be at a specific place at a specific time
- Compact-plus-network
- An approach to urban form in which housing and facilities are concentrated in hubs that are connected to each other by public transport
- GIS
- A system for layering location-based data on maps to analyze and display it (Geographic Information System)
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Urban Environmental Systems Course Excellent Paper Award (Master's Thesis)
A student received the Urban Engineering Course Excellent Paper Award (Graduation Thesis)
A student received the Urban Environmental Systems Course Graduation Thesis Encouragement Award
A student received the Urban Environmental Systems Course Graduation Thesis Encouragement Award
ResearchResearch themes
Transportation and mobility problems are closely tied to urban structure, human activities, and environmental burdens and impacts. Focusing on these interrelationships, the lab conducts research to plan better cities, transportation, and environments.
*Illustrative imageUrban Structure, Human Activities, and Mobility
The lab studies how urban structure, such as population distribution, facility locations, and transport networks, and people's activities shape travel demand and patterns. One study examined the space-time constraints of households with daycare drop-off and pick-up duties and considered measures to improve their daily schedules.
*Illustrative imageMobility in a Society with a Low Birthrate, Aging, and Population Decline
Maintaining public transport and ensuring access to healthcare and shopping have become challenges. The lab studies how transport services, urban structure, and facility locations can be redesigned to sustain people's activities as demand and funding decline.
*Illustrative imageUrban Transport and Environmental Impact
The lab studies how a compact-plus-network urban structure changes daily life and travel, and how much it can reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector. It also researches urban transport systems that adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat and heavy rain.
*Illustrative imageUncovering Relationships with Statistics and New Data
The lab combines long-accumulated existing statistics with population and movement data obtained from mobile phones. Using statistical methods, GIS, and simulation, it develops methods to model the relationships among transport, urban structure, human activities, and the environment together.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty and students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorToshinori Ariga
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
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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: “Ptld Vintage Trolley at City Hall” Steve Morgan / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Urban Structure, Human Activities, and Mobility: “HSL commuter train at platform 17 of Helsinki Central railway station on a sunny morning in May 2025” JIP / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Mobility in a Society with a Low Birthrate, Aging, and Population Decline: “Mořina, U Pěchotů, autobus v zastávce (01)” ŠJů / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Urban Transport and Environmental Impact: “A1 - Wallisellen IMG 6816” Roland zh / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Uncovering Relationships with Statistics and New Data: “Amsterdam heat map OSM2” Multichill / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (豊川研究室): “Marunouchi Central Plaza with blue sky, Tokyo station and Shin-Marunouchi Building, panoramic view from JP Tower, Tokyo, Japan” Basile Morin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (村木研究室): “Tokyo Tower At Dusk ( )” Foooomio / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (松浦研究室): “Niso-Udatsu-no-Machinami ac (3)” Asturio Cantabrio / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (関口研究室): “2013-igcs-vieux-viel-colluviosols-luvisols (2)” CWALTER / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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