Topics

Hachioji CampusThe results of the joint research conducted by Faculty of Economics' Terakawa Seminar and Hachioji City were published in the 2nd Hachioji Academic City Vision

On Friday, August 30, 2024, the results of a joint research project entitled "Considerations on Student Settlement in Hachioji City," conducted by the Terakawa Seminar of the Faculty of Economics Department of Economics Teikyo University, and Hachioji City, were published in the second Hachioji Academic City Vision.

The joint research project began when students from Terakawa's seminar presented a plan at the University Consortium Hachioji Student Presentation in December 2022 to renovate old housing complexes near the university, have students live there and encourage local participation, thereby creating a foothold for young people to settle in the aging area.City officials who were attending the presentation showed interest in the plan.
The city has long had the problem of a large influx of people for reasons such as continuing their education, but then almost all of them leaving as soon as they graduate. The year after the announcement, 2023, was also the time to revise the city's Academic City Vision (6-year period), which is the basic policy for the city's academic town development, so the city proposed that they would like to work together to consider "student settlement" as part of the policy formulation, and joint research with Terakawa's seminar began.

The year-long collaborative research project began in 2023. Participants included Masashi Nishio (Class of 2024, Faculty Faculty of Economics) and Hayate Takeyama (Class of 2024, Faculty of Economics), who presented their proposals first from the Terakawa seminar, as well as Yuichiro Kanamori (fourth-year Faculty of Economics), Tomoki Murata (fourth-year Faculty of Economics), Hayate Komatsubara (fourth-year Faculty of Economics), and Taichi Nishizawa (fourth-year Faculty of Economics), along with staff from the City of Iwate's Civic Activities Promotion Department's Educational City Cultural Affairs Division. From ideation and analysis to policy proposals for student settlement, the students engaged in numerous face-to-face and email exchanges. The seminar students conducted repeated field surveys of the city's student district, the university's community cafe, and the surrounding area. They also conducted a trial "Extension Seminar" community participation project in the Matsugaya area of Iwate. Through practical action, they developed a convincing hypothesis as to why students attending universities and other institutions in Iwate are less likely to feel attached to the areas surrounding their campuses.
Regarding this collaborative research, Takeyama said, "I am very happy that what started out as a casual idea has grown into this and been able to express it in the best possible way. Thank you for giving me this valuable experience."

The experience of working with city officials to create actual city policy was a great opportunity for the students to deepen their understanding of local issues. We will continue to actively work on collaboration with the local community.

2nd Hachioji Academy City Vision Introduction Page
The collaborative research project "Studying Student Settlement in Hachioji City" introduces the results of work that Terakawa's seminar was involved in creating.
For more information about Faculty of Economics, click here
For more information about Senior Assistant Professor Ryuichiro Terakawa, click here

To the topic List