In many of the rapidly growing cities, especially in Asian and African countries, modern urban planning and land management systems derived from western countries are not properly working. Urban development issues have become evident such as poverty, slums, environmental pollution and vulnerability to disaster. It is an urgent global issue to consider urban planning and regional development based on the history and local resources of the city. Our work is to explore case studies on the process and actual situation of urbanization, as well as the institutional and political approaches, to develop sound theories for urban planning and regional development in developing countries.

Land issues gain increasing importance in view of accumulating problems related to vacant houses, little or unused land, utilization of public spaces faced by shrinking cities, housing shortages, squatters, environmental pollution faced by growing cities, and to issues relating to disaster reconstruction faced by both cities. Now it is essential to consider how to manage and make use of our land as a shared property for all humanity. Research is focused mainly in providing a highlight of the current situation regarding how land is owned, perceived, planned, used and managed in order to best contribute to the evolution of livable cities.

Our laboratory explores ideal territorial design in the contexts of community, spatial and institutional design on multiple scales from neighborhood to regional. We develop both scientific research and practical territorial design work in the field with particular interests in proposing new design processes that lead to the creation of sustainable living environments.