Center for Northeast Asian Studies Tohoku University Faculty

Okumura Makoto
Professor (International Research Institute of Disaster Science)

Infrastructure planning, transportation planning

Cities and the Environment: Using the Latest Information Technologies for Natural Disaster and Environmental Damage Prevention

Many parts of Northeast Asia face extremely harsh natural conditions ranging from volcanoes and earthquakes to arid climates, heavy snows, and low winter temperatures. Cities, in essence, function as outposts of human activity erected against this hard environment; but today, the cities of Northeast Asia are vulnerable both to natural disasters as well as to serious environmental destruction caused by rapid urbanization, motorization, and other consequences of human activity within.
Given the above, researchers at our division employ the Geographical Information System (GIS), optimization calculation, and other tools drawn from statistics, economics, and geographical studies to develop and assess social infrastructure plans, economic incentive measures, and other policies aimed to design cities to better coexist with the surrounding environment.

Winter road on the frozen ice over the Lena River in East Siberia

Principal areas of interest

●	Transportation system relying on seasonal natural conditions
●	Transportation network in the aging society affected by ICT
●	Effective transportation of the injured following large-scale disasters
●	Formation of city hierarchies described by optimal stock location models

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