[Public Lecture] April Lecture: "Creating a Safe and Secure Community"

The 2026 public lecture series will be held throughout the year with the main theme of "Recommendations for Appreciating Architecture and Urban Planning."

The first session of the first semester was held on Saturday, April 18th, with Professor Mikiya Fujimoto of Department of Life Design Otemae College presenting on the theme of "Creating a Safe and Secure Community: Considering Universal Design and Safety Planning." Over 90 people attended.

The lecture was divided into three parts: Chapter 1 was "Why are universal design and safety planning important now?", Chapter 2 was "The current state of disaster risks in an aging society with a declining birthrate", and Chapter 3 was "The integration of universal design and disaster prevention". The necessity of universal design was explained using photographs of the large roof ring of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, steps and stairs in actual urban areas, and portable toilets in disaster shelters as examples. It was a very insightful lecture, prompting us to look at the city from the perspective of "safety," which we hadn't really considered before, and addressing the issue of toilets in disaster shelters, which is currently receiving a lot of attention.

The next session will be held on Saturday, May 9th, with the theme "Decoding 'Japanese-ness' as seen in modern Architecture."

(Source: Regional and Social Cooperation Office)