Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 20.3
Research methodology for campus design and planning
the users of this part of the Campus have already a relatively long presence in this
place. According to the Master Plan of Hokkaido University, this area will be
expanded, implying the construction of new buildings. The South Campus (the
largest area, in the left-hand of the figure) is the traditional Campus area, including
teaching and research facilities, libraries and other supportive academic facilities,
services for students and staff, or cultural and sports equipment; it is mostly used by
students, with a relatively short presence at the University; considering the land use
restrictions on the expansion of the area, its development (with the implementation
of new services, facilities or equipment) must be achieved without physical
expansion.
The methodology adopted in the present study is represented in Fig.
20.3
. In the
first stage, the analytical tools are defined: the Assessment Factors—or evaluation
criteria—based on fieldwork, bibliography and expert assessment (interviews with
managers of different services and departments of the University, including aca-
demic, public and private institutions); and the Campus Profiles—or distinct future
directions for campus design—originating from the existing plans and representing
five important, mutually complementary user orientations of a Future Campus.
From these two categories it was possible to generate a Matrix of Impacts relating
four main Assessment Factors to the five Campus Profiles (this process is described
in Sect.
20.2.2
).
Next, focus group meetings were organized, in different areas of the campus and
with different stakeholders (students, researchers from academic and private
institutions, teachers and managers at private and public institutions; the groups
were balanced in terms of gender; international students and researchers were
included), generating the ingredients for a SWOT analysis supported by visual
images and complemented with strategic proposals (described in Sect.
20.2.3
). The
information collected in these meetings is next used for the Strategic Choice
Analysis (described in Sect.
20.3.2
) and for the identification of a Preference
