Minna no Butai – ‘A Stage for All’ – showcased in JABS

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An article showcasing みんなの舞台 Minna no Butai – a Stage for All was recently published in the Japanese publication the Journal of Architecture and Building Science (JABS):

「みんなの舞台」の建設震災後3、4年目における仮設住宅地支援の可能,
Construction of ‘A stage for all’—
Attempts for Temporary Housings 3-4 years After the Disaster

みんなの舞台 Minna no Butai – a Stage for All was built in Summita-cho, Irate-ken by the 2014 MIT Japan Design Workshop in collaboration with the University of Tokyo’s Otsuki Lab.

The author, Saori Imoto, is a Research Associate at the University of Tokyo and a 2005-2006 Veneto Experience alumna.

The full article (in Japanese) can be read and downloaded here.

 

New Yorker Article – ‘The Really Big One’ Forewarns of Pacific NW Event

Link

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An article from Kathryn Schulz of the New Yorker raises awareness of the potential for the US Pacific Northwest coast to experience a major subduction earthquake and tsunami not dissimilar to the 3.11 event in Japan.  The article, which was published last week, not only describes the potential similarities to 3.11, but the ways in which communities in the Northwest are in many ways much less prepared than those in Japan.

It also describes the collaborative detective work of how scientists came to understand the potential for an event:  Native American oral tradition, offshore core samples from the US, and historical records of a 300+ year old ‘Orphan Tsunami’ in Japan — before which no quake was felt — were pieced together to form evidence to the story we have today.

The full article can be found at the below link:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Shun Kanda and Matthew Bunza speak at Columbia University / Barnard College in New York

On the 2nd anniversary of the Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative director Shun Kanda, along with Matthew Bunza (Lecturer in Architecture at MIT) took part in a symposium at Columbia University / Barnard College entitled, “The Great East Japan Earthquake: Creative Responses & Social Imagination.”

Great East Japan Earthquake March 10, 2013 Symposium, Part 2 of 8 – Matthew Bunza & Shun Kanda (MIT) – YouTube

Alongside other speakers such as Chim↑Pom, Jake Price, Shimpei Takeda, Yuhei Suzuki, Alisa Prager, Kirsten Homma, Susan J. Onuma, Dr. Robert Yanagisawa, and Dr. Shunichi Homma; the symposium highlighting the diverse ongoing efforts of the respective speakers, asked questions about role of creative response, and reminded us all of the enormity of the work still left to be done in Tohoku.

Special thanks to Daiyu Suzuki, Nat Andreini, and the Consortium for Japan Relief for making the event possible.

More info can be found at:

About the Symposium | NYJAPAN311 | Consortium for Japan Relief

NTTdocomo funds Visualizing Iriya project

Visualizing Iriya:「生きてくる入谷物語」

NTTdocomo タブレットを活用した被災地復興プロジェクト
a joint project with NTTdocomo & MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative 入谷の人に、会いに行こう。

南三陸町の入谷という土地が元来もつ性質、及び歴史的な価値を、地域の生活空間や自然空間等の、緑地、 または自然環境と構造物の総体としての環境を認識し、失われつつある地域独特の生活文化を呼び起こす。 入谷の中で、時間を過ごし、場を感じとり、地元の人と出会う。口から口へと伝えられてきたこの土地に まつわる伝承、民話に関してヒアリングする。ひとつの土地にまつわる話しはひとつと限らない。尋ねる 人、場所によって変化される幾つもの話しを、できる限り集めることを目指す。

タブレットを用いたフィールドワークはこの「尋ね歩き」のプロセスそのものが震災復興活動の主要な

部分であり、尋ね歩くよそ者との交流そのものこそが、縮小しつつあるまちに暮らす地元の方1人1人の活 気を起こす。プロジェクトの仮定、引いていは実用化時点での、本プロジェクトの地元に対する貢献の成果 として、今後長く役立のではないかと思う。

上で得られるアウトプットに合わせて、タブレットというデジタルデバイスを利用し、訪問者の入谷体験に どのような面白みを提供できるか。入谷を訪れた人々を、ファンとならしめ、再び訪れる理由を起こすもの は何か。

タブレットというポータブルデバイスだからこそ、情報を提供する地元側と受ける側との個別、Face to Face の出会いの機会を作ることが可能ではないか。受け入れられる範囲での人の現在地のマッピング、訪問者が そうした語り部を担う地元の人を、訪れられるシステムつくりを提案する。その他にも、タブレット利用の 可能性として、QR コード等の利用による現地に足を運ばなければ得られない情報の提供、過去の体験談や 地域住民の体験談のデータベース化、GPS システムと連動した人々の現在地情報の提供等、また、Twitter や Facebook と連動した、訪問後のユーザーの体験のシェアシステムを想定する。

以上を、復興支援活動に端を発し、実用化に向ける本プロジェクトの地元へ還元されうる効果とする。人と 人を結ぶ尋ね歩きのスタイルを可能にすることで、入谷の人を元気にできる。

Visualizing Iriya
Based on a map depicted entirely in text the original names of places in the mountain valley village of Iriya, Minamisanriku, this project will bring to life its unique historical relationships to past folklore including past tsunamis. Iriya lies at the foot of Tatsugane-yama (El.512m) inland from Shizugawa Bay and occupies an important place both in morphological and ethnological evolution within the greater Tohoku history. Much of this information has been lost however to the present generation of residents. The goals of this project is to utilize digital mapping techniques and the use of NTTdocomo tablet devices in the hands of local people to enliven its power of place amidst the gloom in the aftermath of 3.11.

MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative Team member Eric, in Minamisanriku, uses an NTT docomo Tablet to aid in their field work.

 

Taking notes and documentation with the tablet during a group meeting
MIT team members meet with local Japanese students in Iriya.
The MIT team spends some quality time with villagers in Iriya.

 

MIT Architecture graduate student Tyler with the NTT docomo Tablet back on campus.

 

MIT News / Japan after the disaster

“When we talk about crises, they are instruments, or tools. [...] They’re not independently transformative. They’re tools in the service of people with preferences, and those preferences are remarkably sticky.”

Richard Samuels, in a recent article published in MIT News on Japanese politics and policy since the triple disaster in 2011

Initiative featured in MIT’s PLAN 81

The Initiative’s efforts in creating disaster resiliency was the main feature in the latest edition of MIT School of Architecture + Planning‘s newsletter publication, PLAN 81.  The story showcases our work from last summer’s workshop to the present in response to the “urgent need for community centers to facilitate social interaction and serve as a symbol for the town’s resurgence of hope.”

Read more here.