Collaborative project with Keio University

The Department of Architecture is collaborating with Keio School of System Design and Management (SDM) in Tokyo on a project on sustainable urban regeneration. The research is conducted by Dr Minna Sunikka-Blank and Ms Yumi Kiyono and hosted at the lab of Professor Masaru Nakano at Keio University in Tokyo.

There is an increasing pressure in cities like London and Tokyo for high-density housing developments. Yet the impact of these projects on the well-being of their occupants and the existing community is often overlooked. The research asks what kind of urban strategies can be alternatives to the ‘scrap and build’ policy and what kind of spatial organisation can promote diversity and social interaction in sustainable urban districts and encourage outdoor, reducing energy intensity, including case studies such as the Future of Danchi project or Toshima Ward redevelopment. The project discusses observations made during site visits in Tokyo, Kamakura, London and Cambridge, focusing on examples of community-led urban regeneration and questions of social sustainability in a post-industrial context.