NUS Cities and the Department of Architecture are collaborating with The University of Tokyo to organise a 10-day summer programme at Memu Earth Lab (Obihiro, Hokkaido). The theme of this summer programme is: "Re-reading Human and Nature Connections. Re-thinking Sustainable Urban-Rural Relations".

The connection between humans and nature is a key to building a sustainable and liveable city. The modern way of urban living, however, has gradually overcast our sensitivity to reading and understanding nature. Questions such as where does our food come from? what does a rice plant look like? what can wind direction inform us? how do air temperature variations affect the food system? underlines the importance of our literacy in understanding the human-nature system, which can inform our sustainability initiatives in cities.

This immersive summer workshop serves as a grounded research-learning platform where students across different disciplines, from both NUS and The University of Tokyo, will together embark on reading, exploring, understanding, questioning, and responding exercises on issues related to humans and nature connections and how the linkages between rural and urban can inform sustainability practices in Singapore and Tokyo, as case studies.

During this programme, students will embark on reading, exploring, understanding, and questioning exercises on issues related to human and nature connections (e.g.: food systems, health) and the linkages between rural and urban sustainability practices.

Programme Dates: 25 July 2024 - 3 August 2024*

*Dates are tentative, subjected to changes.

Academic leads: 

• Dr. Rosita Samsudin, NUS Cities, College of Design and Engineering, NUS
• Kenya Endo, Department of Architecture, College of Design and Engineering, NUS

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Raising Awareness:

   • To strengthen students’ ability to develop argumentations related to human-nature connections through extracting the essence of sites and building relevancy to self (e.g., where they live, where they come from).

2. Critical Thinking:

   • To strengthen students’ ability to develop argumentations related to human-nature connections through extracting the essence of sites and building relevancy to self (e.g., where they live, where they come from).

   • To develop students’ ability to relate the learnings at Tokachi/ Memu to their individual and collective lives in Singapore through questioning exercises (e.g., the opportunities and challenges of food production & systems).

   • To creatively make linkages in what ways the learnings at Tokachi/ Memu can provide insights for sustainability initiatives in Singapore.

3. Systems Thinking: 

   • To exercise students’ ability in systems thinking by making use of various approaches e.g., systems mapping, holistic and multidisciplinary thinking.

4. Fostering Collaborations: 

   • To develop students’ communication skillset in responding to team dynamism (e.g., working with multidisciplinary and diverse team members).

   • To develop skills to synthesise multi-genre, numerous information into concise output to convey argumentations, concepts, and ideas effectively.

This programme cost is mostly covered by Memu Earth Lab:

• Return air tickets between Tokyo to Obihiro (Hokkaido)
• Ground transport between Obihiro Airport and Memu,
• Accommodation
• Basic 3 meals per day

Students will be required to pay for their own flight ticket between Singapore and Tokyo.

*Any other personal expenses and travel/health insurance will be paid by student. Some example of personal expenses includes: mobile communication, personal transportation that is not related to the learning outcomes of the programme, additional meals that are not already identified as part of the programme cost, immunisations, etc.

Programme Specific Requirements

Students must have at least 1 remaining semester of study in NUS.

Interested applicants can submit your interest here.

Apply by 30^th April 2024. Limited to 4 eligible students. Shortlisted participants will be announced at the beginning of May 2024.