LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Urban Design Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab reads the intent behind urban spaces and proposes future visions for towns and cities.
AboutAbout the lab
Becoming a design center that supports community development.
The Urban Design Lab undertakes a wide range of work, from fundamental research on urban space to research on methods.
The lab aims to serve as a design center that is open to society and local communities, supporting community development through the accumulation of information and research.
The lab considers its task to be the study of "public space", meaning physical space that citizens can share and social space in which citizens can act freely, and the development of methods to realize it.
Working with communities across Japan, the lab proposes desirable futures for towns in the form of plans and designs for space and systems.
Key terms
- Urban design
- Creatively integrating the people, institutions, and fields involved, through the physical environment and space
- Public space
- Physical space that citizens can share, and social space in which citizens can act freely
- Two-region living
- Living with bases in two regions, such as a city and a rural area
NewsLab news
Held the FY2025 project report meeting
Held a lab information session for external applicants to the master's program
A master's student won the top prize at the Daito Kentaku Rental Housing Competition
ResearchResearch themes
Urban design seeks to creatively integrate the stakeholders, elements, institutions, and fields involved in urban development and community building, through the physical environment and space. The lab takes on a wide range of work, from fundamental research on urban space to research on methods, and is also involved in actual community-development activities to help these approaches take root.
*Illustrative imageTwo-Region Living Project
A project running since 2022. Using two-region living as a starting point, the lab works with local communities to envision a desirable future for the town and proposes it as concrete plans and designs for space and systems.
*Illustrative imageMinakami Project
A project running since 2021. On the theme of a model for revitalizing a hot spring town that coexists with an Eco Park, the lab works with the local community to draw a vision of the future and proposes it as spatial planning and design.
*Illustrative imageUji Project
A project running since 2019. On the theme of drawing a vision of the future town within the layers of history and culture, the lab continues to carry out surveys and proposals in collaboration with the local community.
*Illustrative imageFujiyoshida Project
A project running since 2017. In collaboration with the local community, the lab works on the themes of creating a vision for the town in light of a road-widening project, and of taking action in the town.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Urban Design Lab consist of faculty, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, working-professional students in the community development graduate program, research students, researchers, and technical staff.As of 2026
- ProfessorNaoto NakajimaPublications ↗
- LecturerShun YoshiePublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorYoshifumi HashimotoPublications ↗
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.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
On a 4-point scale, ● marks where students' answers fall
Who is this lab for?
What's great about this lab?
What did you learn after joining?
What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
Where do graduates go?
RelatedLabs similar to Urban Design Lab
Urban Information and Safety Systems LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Urban EngineeringCreating safe and secure cities and regions
Kato LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Urban EngineeringResearch on disaster prevention and mitigation and post-disa…
Machizukuri Lab (Koizumi Lab / Collaborative Community Design Lab)Faculty of Engineering, Department of Urban EngineeringUrban governance, regenerative design, community design, col…
Housing and Urban Analysis LabFaculty of Engineering, Department of Urban EngineeringUrban housing and urban analysis as two pillars, with an ove…The information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “Honcho Street with Mount Fuji in the daytime, Fujiyoshida, 2016” DimiTalen / CC0 (cropped)
- Two-Region Living Project: “Kiiji, Haratani village 02” Indiana jo / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Minakami Project: “Narada Onsen Shiranekan” Yasu (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Uji Project: “Uji river, Kyoto” Motokoka / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Fujiyoshida Project: “Honcho Street with Mount Fuji in the evening, Fujiyoshida, 2016” DimiTalen / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Urban Information and Safety Systems Lab): “Fire of Great Hanshin earthquake Seen from Portisland” 神戸市 / CC BY 2.1 jp (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Looking roughly east from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office Building South Tower )” Joe Mabel on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US This photo was taken with Nikon D5000 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Machizukuri Lab (Koizumi Lab / Collaborative Community Design Lab)): “Narai-juku-facing-north-east-2019-Luka-Peternel” Luka Peternel / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Housing and Urban Analysis Lab): “Tokyo Olympic bid city” Atr1992 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.