Case Overview
| Client |
National Institute for Environmental Studies (National Research and Development Agency) |
|---|---|
| Inquiry | They wanted to organize a concept for creating an intellectual system called "Disaster Environment Studies" by combining the fields of disaster studies and environmental studies, which had each been the subject of accumulated research. |
| Project Overview | The National Institute for Environmental Studies, which conducts research related to environmental conservation, was promoting "disaster environment research" that combines knowledge from the respective research domains of disasters and the natural environment, aiming to systematize this knowledge and establish it as "Disaster Environment Studies." However, because the researchers involved in disaster environment research each came from different fields of expertise, they faced a fundamental challenge in advancing the research: there was no shared understanding of what kind of discipline Disaster Environment Studies actually was. To address this, we worked together with members who had been involved in disaster environment research to consider the fundamental question, "What exactly is Disaster Environment Studies in the first place?" We structured and visualized this shared understanding as a concept and format, and compiled it into a diagram. |
| Period |
July 2025 – November 2025 |
About This Project
Together with researchers from different fields of expertise, we deeply explored the concept of "Disaster Environment Studies"—which integrates the knowledge of disaster studies and environmental studies—and, through a process of discussion and visualization, established and systematized a shared understanding of its significance and research domains.
The National Institute for Environmental Studies aimed to systematize the knowledge from disaster- and environment-related research it had pursued since the Great East Japan Earthquake and to establish it as "Disaster Environment Studies."
However, because the disaster and environment fields each have different areas of expertise, the institute faced a fundamental challenge in advancing the research: the shared understanding that forms the foundation of the intellectual system called "Disaster Environment Studies" was not aligned within the research team.
We were therefore asked to organize and visualize the concept so that it could be explained externally and the team could align its perspective internally.
This project was broadly divided into two phases.
① Structuring and visualizing the concept of Disaster Environment Studies
② Structuring and visualizing the research fields that Disaster Environment Studies covers
First is "① Structuring and visualizing the concept of Disaster Environment Studies."
To build a shared understanding of why and as what kind of discipline Disaster Environment Studies exists in the first place, we used a workshop format to have each participant put their own ideas into words while we visualized them.
In putting things into words, we visualized and shared each member's ideas by posing questions based on a systematic framework for explaining the concept.
By once again articulating each person's opinion and visualizing and sharing it through diagrams, the similarities and differences among everyone's views became clear, and lively discussions arose around questions such as "What does Disaster Environment Studies fundamentally seek to clarify?" and "Why is Disaster Environment Studies important?"
Having deepened the discussion in this way, we revisited the overall questions, and everyone discussed which perspectives were especially important for Disaster Environment Studies, gradually converging the discussion.
By organizing these discussions and the overall flow, we created a concept diagram for Disaster Environment Studies.
With the concept thus consolidated, it became possible to express the significance of Disaster Environment Studies and what it seeks to clarify on a single page.
However, this concept alone was abstract, and it was necessary to show its connection to the existing body of accumulated research. Therefore, as the next step, to organize the concrete connections between research themes, we carried out "② Structuring and visualizing the research fields that Disaster Environment Studies covers."
Here, we organized the types of research—comparing them with existing studies—to clarify what fields Disaster Environment Studies should investigate.
Then, by applying and visualizing the number of research themes for each research type within Disaster Environment Studies, we created a format that allows people to align their understanding and discuss which fields have abundant research and which fields will require more research going forward when viewed through the lens of Disaster Environment Studies.
As a result, we were able to develop a format for thinking about Disaster Environment Studies in an end-to-end manner, from the concept through to concrete research.
In this project, in order to give shape to a new concept by combining different fields of expertise, we placed importance on visualizing, organizing, and consolidating the opinions of all the stakeholders—not just the strong opinion of any one person.
Each person offered their own opinion in response to the questions, and everyone listened, shared the differences and overlaps in their thinking, and deepened the discussion together.
The concept and format that were developed are expected to be used as a foundation for advancing research in Disaster Environment Studies to the next stage. We feel great significance in having been able to integrate knowledge from different fields of expertise and contribute a step toward making society more sustainable.