As the first round of student exchange, eight students and faculty from the State University of New York, University at Buffalo (UB), visited Kanazawa from December 23 to 28, 2023, and took part in the “Urban Planning Program.”

The Urban Planning Program is a collaborative initiative between the UB School of Architecture and Planning and Kanazawa University’s College of Transdisciplinary Sciences for Innovation. In this program, students learn about urban planning using the regions where both universities are located as teaching materials.
Students from the laboratories of Associate Professors Sagano Duggan and Makoto Fujiu of Kanazawa University’s College of Transdisciplinary Sciences for Innovation, who oversee the program, actively participated.

The Japanese and American students explored the historic townscapes and buildings of Kanazawa City, guided by themes related to the urban planning systems of Buffalo City and Kanazawa City, which they had established for each group. To deepen their understanding, they attended mini lectures on urban planning, covering aspects such as culture, arts, history, politics. These lectures were conducted by professionals from the Urban Planning Division of Kanazawa City Hall. Moreover, on Kanazawa University’s campus, our students led a tour of the library and other campus facilities. They also performed a photography demonstration using a drone. On the final day, each group gave a presentation, summarizing their training activities.

In this program, we plan to send approximately 10 students from each university to the other every year, while further enhancing pre- and post-training through COIL.