Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
20.3.2.3 Results for North Campus
Questions related to the accessibility to North campus and its geographical isolation
have been considered important Weaknesses (general accessibility, bus services
and connection with South campus) related to the Accessible Profile (see Table
20.9
in the Annex). In accordance, an improvement in the bus services has been
proposed. This aspect can not be directly addressed by the physical plans for the
campus, but must be considered as a service to be implemented.
The strategic proposals regarding the Ecological Profile (see Table
20.10
in the
Annex) are mostly focused on Opportunities and Threats related to energy, an
extremely important issue in Japanese society after the accident in Fukushima
(2011) and the subsequent decision to close down most of the Japanese nuclear
plants. A possible energy shortage would have very relevant impacts on research
activities. To avoid this Threat, the available technologies to produce energy from
waste or for self energy production have been mentioned as Opportunities to be
explored, implying the development of adequate storage and recycling systems,
combined with higher budgets for research in this area. The visual preference for
green areas of the campus and the stress on the lack of forest as a weak point suggest
that the Plans for the campus should consider its importance (and, in fact, the
Master Plan already defines the creation of “tree-belt” around the North campus).
The Weaknesses related to the Functional Profile (see Table
20.11
in the Annex)
detected in the SWOT analysis are related to the lack of different services, which
should be defined in the expected expansion of the North campus, as defined in the
Master Plan. Similarly to this, the Experiential Profile (see Table
20.12
in the
Annex) showed an important lack of public and attractive spaces for meetings
and social interaction. The visual identification of positive aspects related to the
history of the University or to the quality of the public spaces in pictures of the
South campus suggests that the users of North campus would like to find similar
facilities.
The actual support of the University to private research projects is a Strength
with relevant impact on the Opportunities detected for the Collaborative Profile (see
Table
20.13
in the Annex): linkage to industry, collaboration with companies and
attraction of more small companies. The implementation of more laboratories to be
rented by small companies may be defined in the Plans for the expansion of the
campus. The reinforcement of the elements related to the history of the University
(mentioned as a Strength in the visual assessment) is seen as an important element
to establish better connections, not only with companies and other organizations,
but also with the surrounding communities.
Discussion and Conclusions
The results on the assessment of the Hokkaido University campus—based on a
SWOT analysis, an MCA and a SCA—demonstrate that issues related to the
functionality and accessibility of the campus are dominant when analysing its
sustainable performance. Nevertheless, a sensitivity analysis developed without
considering the “Science orientation” factor showed that the importance of the
ecological questions (regarding biodiversity, landscape and energy) become
