On March 5, 2025, I had the honor of speaking at the "Takehara City × The University of Tokyo Partnership Agreement Public Seminar for Citizens," co-hosted by Takehara City in Hiroshima Prefecture and the Center for Spatial Information Science (CSIS) at the University of Tokyo.
This seminar was organized as part of the comprehensive partnership agreement on digitalization signed in November 2024 between Takehara City and the Collaborative Research Organization for the Digital Spatial Society, where CSIS serves as the core department.
During the event, I delivered a presentation titled "Co-Designing Inclusive Disaster Preparedness with Persons Requiring Special Consideration: Data-Driven Strategies and Lessons from Research & Practice". In my talk, I highlighted the structural challenges where disaster damages disproportionately affect "persons requiring special consideration," such as the elderly and those with disabilities, and emphasized the critical need to tightly integrate welfare with disaster prevention.
To address this, I proposed the "SAFE Action" (Survey, Adjust, Facilitate, Evacuate) framework as a data-driven Digital Transformation (DX) strategy for welfare and disaster preparedness. I also introduced our research and regional success stories aimed at realizing an inclusive evacuation environment where no one is left behind. These approaches included visualizing disaster risks using hazard maps, managing community support timelines via ICT, and leveraging drones and IoT for real-time evacuation shelter support.
Following the presentations, I participated in a panel discussion alongside Takehara City Mayor Toshihiko Imae and other speakers under the theme of "Urban Development Utilizing Data through Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration". We had a highly productive exchange of ideas regarding the sustainable development of the region and initiatives contributing to the SDGs (specifically Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities).
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the citizens of Takehara City who attended, as well as to everyone involved in organizing this meaningful event. Moving forward, I remain committed to contributing to the enhancement of regional welfare-disaster resilience and sustainable urban development through spatial information and data-driven approaches.
For more details about the seminar, please visit the official CSIS news article below.
