Category Archives: news

Students present gifts in Minami-Sanriku

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MIT DUSP student Samira Thomas and MIT ACT Professor Jegan Vincent de Paul with students in Minami-Sanriku.
In the last week of March 2012, a small group of students from the MIT ACT class ‘Artistic Intervention: Creative Responses to Conflict and Crisis,’ taught by Jegan Vincent de Paul, visited Minami-Sanriku over their spring break to present gifts to the people there.  The gifts were conceived and designed by students this past Fall.  The gift called “There is a village” was given to a group of 10 primary school-age children on Thursday March 29th in the town of Minami Sanriku. It was given at a children’s care center located within a  temporary housing area in the town. It was given by MIT ACT Prof. Jegan Vincent de Paul, Samira Thomas (an MIT student) and Professor Yoshihiro Hiraoka from Miyagi University in Japan. The second gift titled “A Ritual for Memory” was received by Prof. Yoshihiro Hiraoka and will be given to a junior high school class when they return to school from spring break this month.  The giving was facilitated by Prof. Shun Kanda of MIT and Prof. Yoshihiro Hiraoka of Miyagi University, who are both Collaborating Directors of the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative.

The Initiative in Architectural Record

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MIT Program Comes to Aid of Post-Tsunami Japan

The Initiative has been in the public eye, most recently as a feature in Architectural Record.  The article is a thoughtful and thorough overview of the group’s activities to date.  Accompanying the article is a slideshow with some great photos, showcasing important developments from Year One.

Community center “seed” grows in Utatsu

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What happens when the community of Heisei no mori joins forces with 3/11 Initiative students, professionals, and professors?  A seed is born!  The above photo shows the first steps towards a community center in Utatsu.  It is the hope that creating a covered outdoor space before winter snows fall will encourage the informal gatherings and brainstorms that have already taken place in the rebuilding.

More updates on the project will be provided as it progresses.

Japan 3/11 Initiative at USJI Week

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In mid-September, MIT Professor Eran Ben-Joseph (Joint Program in City Design & Development, School of Architecture + Planning) spoke at the US-Japan Research Institute (USJI) Week “Reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake” conference.

As a panelist in a seminar on post-disaster restoration and alternative planning, he presented a portion of the Initiative’s work from this past summer to a captive audience in Washington D.C.  He advocated for the audience to rethink the way researchers and academics approach the reconstruction process, and to develop a new model for community engagement through design and planning.

For more information, see Professor Ben-Joseph’s presentation and the summary of the panel in both English and Japanese.

Exciting “seed” of a new project in Utatsu

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// in English //

Utatsu, The Heisei no Mori, “Babadoru 5-chome ladies”

What happened yesterday was a sort of “breakthrough” in the search for a site, the residents’ affirmed “need” for a gathering place OUTSIDE their individual temporary units, and what we were looking for to start off our project

You will see that several people (in this case, 50-ish ladies who are neighbors) sitting around a bench can ignite a revolution.  It is a seed that can blossom into a domino effect, we hope, of more to come and eventually the larger Community Center for diverse age groups to be built. Continue reading →