Shun Kanda, Senior Lecturer,  MIT School of Architecture + Planning, discusses the project.

CAMBRIDGE, MA—THE MIT-JAPAN PROGRAM at the Center for International Studies is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from The Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership for the MIT Japan 3.11 Initiative.

The Initiative is MIT's response to the devastating March 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan. The $69,000, one-year grant will be used for planning costs connected with the creation of a symposium and a community center in Minami Sanriku, Japan, a village virtually destroyed during last year's disaster.

This multi-use interim town center will be planned in conjunction with the residents of Minami Sanriku's largest temporary housing site. The center will provide a vital gathering space for this displaced community, offer a wide range of services to the village, and help residents return to their daily routines and draw strength from each other during the rebuilding process.

The Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership  is funding costs for a symposium and community center in Minami Sanriku, Japan.

Richard Samuels, director of the MIT-Japan Program, expressed his enthusiasm for the opportunity to bring political scientists, architects, and planners together in this project. Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the Center for Interntional Studies at MIT.

MIT is also creating a university curriculum as part of a wider effort to study and promote disaster-resilient town planning, design, and reconstruction.

Prepared by Nancy Angoff, MIT Office of Foundation Relations

RELATED LINKS

Policy Change in a Post-Crisis Japan, An Interview with Richard Samuel

MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative: Raising funds—and consciousness—for post-quake disaster resiliency planning