College of Policy and Planning Sciences, University of Tsukuba

The main objectives of general education are to teach students to take up urban/regional problems of various scales ranging from national land planning to local planning and to enable them to learn planning theories, analytical methods and information processing/transmission technologies required for analyzing the problems and present solutions to them. The curricula place special emphasis on scientific and quantitative approaches and aim at improving planning processes that have hitherto tended to rely on intuition and experience. Subjects are offered in three areas: (1) planning, which discusses the specifics of land use, housing, disaster prevention and others, (2) engineering, which addresses transport problems and space theories, and (3) policy-making, which covers regional science, urban economics and environmental issues. In order to provide the foundation for learning in these areas, students are encouraged to make full use of the most advanced computer systems for learning various mathematical planning theories, computer-aided analysis of urban/regional data, landscape and urban design methods, and quantitative urban/regional model building and simulations to assess its policy effects.

In the practical training and seminars for urban and regional Planning, practical education is provided by tackling specific problems in case studies. Problems faced by Tsukuba City and its neighboring municipalities are used as learning materials. The training is designed to develop the ability to plan and present measures for specific problems after understanding them in a comprehensive manner through first-hand investigations and other methods. In addition to the conventional ways of presentation, such as graphs and documentation, computer-aided presentation techniques are also acquired. Other training programs include the development of urban development projects, urban designs and basic urban plans for specific areas, the analysis of urban/regional data, the analysis of regional economic models, and planning and design with full use of recent space information. Programs that enable students to experience actual business through internship at public institutions and private businesses are also available.