In light of the disaster that struck the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, the focus of the symposium this year is on the relationship between disaster and the creation of resiliency in society as well as in the built environment. 

With that topic in mind we are officially making a call for papers and poster presentations to be delivered at the 2nd annual PACC Symposium, to be held in December of 2011 at Keio University in Tokyo.

The symposium will be held over two days, during which time we will host a series of panel discussions and poster sessions, as well as a two-day student workshop.  We will also kick-off our official involvement as the Regional Node in  the Asia Pacific Adapatation Network (APAN).  The symposium is kept small in order to maintain focus on a single subject each year, and we have a number of invited speakers already selected, which means paper proposals are highly competitive.  However it is also possible to make a shorter presentation within one of the poster sessions.

The primary aim of the symposium is to consider ways for developing physical and social resiliency in the wake of disaster.  To that end we hope to bring together researchers, professionals, students and field workers to share innovative ideas and the latest progress in post-disaster reconstruction and sustainable development. The topics for which papers are being accepted are outlined below.  

We invite you to submit challenging and interesting papers that will encourage a dialogue among the participants.  It is our expectation that a lively and informative discussion will define each session and that we will uncover new paths for future exploration through presentations and dialogue. We will conclude the event with a group discussion that includes all of the speakers and participants, with the intent being to develop long-term relationships between the people gathered and to set the stage for a larger group initiative.

If you are interested in proposing a paper or a poster presentation, we invite you to fill out the form (see the sidebar above) and send it to ei-core@sfc.keio.ac.jp by October 15, 2011.  Questions may also be sent to the same address.

Session 5 - Understanding Resiliency Through Project Based Learning

What is the role of education in response to climate change?

Preparing future environmental leaders to bridge the gap between knowledge and action as they take on climate change is complicated by the sheer size of the problem.  Put simply, the problems of climate change span the world, while our efforts are almost always directed at the level of communities, and the ability to scale solutions is always in question.

The issues are further complicated when they are placed in the context of disaster.  While disasters may require reconstruction it is not easy to incorporate the long-term goals of resiliency building when faced with the more compelling and immediate concerns of rebuilding communities. This session will therefore focus on ways to incorporate these issues into a practice-based education.  Topics will include the need to educate students about the importance of social issues, the problem of blancing short term outcomes with long-term visions, and of taking on large-scale ideas with small-scale projects.  Further we hope to discuss the real challenge of creating an educational environment where research and fieldwork can be tackled in a systematic way but still remain flexible.

For more information, click here.