The 12th International Symposium of SSMS 2019

Date: 11th- 12th September, 2019
Venue: Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Access: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/access.html

Theme

The Rise of Mega Metropolitans: the challenges of super concentration of population/resources on sustainable and resilient society

Objective

Large metropolitan centers all over the world are experiencing a rapid concentration of population and resources. How does this unprecedented concentration of population and economic activity influence the social and economic foundations of a country? What implications can be foreseen for disaster prevention and development? While cities can benefit from economies of scale as they grow larger, addressing the inefficiencies and waste that accompany overpopulation also become a central challenge.

Super-concentration can affect various aspects of livelihood, and what results is not necessarily an environment contributing to the better quality of life. In addition, the increased concentration of human life has profound implications for the vulnerability of communities and societies to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. On the other hand, in both developing and developed countries, we see regional areas that were once thriving and supporting communities suffering from depopulation and facing a crisis of obsolescence.

How are we then, to face these issues that accompany super-concentration? How can we adapt and respond, and how will such actions affect our countries and communities? What kind of improvements can we make to the current modes of disaster prevention/response, and to actions that enhance the quality of life? As technological developments and innovation proceed rapidly, how will our societies evolve? These are some of the many questions we aim to discuss through the theme of super-concentration.

This conference will be an interdisciplinary platform for academic, public, and private professionals to share their ideas, knowledge, experience, and research results. Our aim is to facilitate synergies and discover new ways in which we can understand our society, and envision a better one for the future. Some specific topics that we believe are relevant to the thematic discussion of the conference are listed below:

1. Disaster, Resilience and Management

-Mega Disasters and Challenges
-Disaster Early Warning, Preparedness, Prevention and Response & Recovery
-Pre and/or Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Planning and Management
-Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Planning
-Disaster Risk Financing
-Business Continuity Planning
-City Structure and Resilience

2. Environment and security of Water, Energy, Food

-Asset Management, Information Management and Water Resource Management
-GIS and Remote Sensing
-Climate Change and Environmental Management
-Resiliency and Poverty

3. Infrastructure Planning and Management, Asset Management

-Infrastructure Management and Materials
-Construction Management and Dispute Resolution
-Urban Farming
-Rural-Urban Transformation and Land Conversion

4. Sustainable Society and Quality of Happiness
-Indicators of Happiness

-Resource Efficiency to Sufficiency for People
-Beyond Cost Benefit Analysis
-Thinking the Future Generation
-AI, IoT, Auto Vehicle and Society
-Sustainable Economy

5. Engineering and Management

-Material design and development
-Structural Engineering
-Material/Structure and Cost/Infrastructure Management

6. Entrepreneurship and Regional Revitalization, Starting up Promotion

-Entrepreneurship and New Business Creation
-Regional Revitalization
-Tourism Planning
-Renewable Energy Business
-Utilizing Regional Resources
-IoT/AI Business

7. Aging Society Planning, Operation and Management

-Innovative Enhancement Capacity
-Adaptive Forms and Behaviors
-Policy and Budgeting for Resilient City
-CSR/CSV and NGO’s Contributions and International Cooperation
-Social Systems Management
-Sustainable Economy

8. Concentrated Urbanization

-Transportation planning and modelling
-Housing and real-estate market effects
-Waste management and capacity
-Infrastructure Planning
-Telecommunications and ICT platforms

For further information, please check First_Announcement.