#urban engineering

Encounter with Associate Professor Morimura

Michiyoshi Morimura(道美　森村), an assistant professor (at that time, later a professor), was also one of the people who came to get the stamp. When it comes to city planning, he is unparalleled in his detailed case studies. Mr. Morimura didn't give me a stamp either, but he worried, "Mr. Morishita, is that okay?"

And we had an interesting conversation there. Mr. Morimura: "Mr. Nakanishi (Assistant Junko Nakanishi:準子　中西) is planning a city for sewerage in Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture. I am also interested in city planning for sewerage, so I read the plan. However, there is no DO NOTHING in her plan”. When I heard that word, I realized something,“ Do Nothing. Did that mean? The meaning is very different from what I learned in class. Certainly, Mr. Nakanishi's sewerage plan does not have DO NOTHING. " It's like a Zen question and answer, so I'll explain the above conversation next.

What does DO NOT HIG mean?

In the first place, the word DO NOTHING is a term that always appears in city planning classes, but everyone easily passes by. There is no reason for anyone trying to develop city-related facilities to "do nothing". When I heard this term in class, I also passed by saying, "It's an uncluttered concept." However, this DO NOTHING is the core of urban engineering, and by extension, all academics.

I became interested in environmental issues for the first time since my specialty was decided, and was inspired by Junko Nakanishi's "Urban Revitalization and Sewerage". I was in and out. Around that time, Ms. Nakanishi's "Komagane City Sewerage Plan" came out. By the way, Mr. Ui, who made a name for himself in the accusation of Minamata disease, did not know how to use a can opener. Ms. Nakanishi lived in a high-rise condominium and enjoyed urban life. All have only the perspective of a city citizen. If such a person makes a sewerage plan, he or she will be able to do only uncluttered and half-finished things, if not the worst.

In fact, that's right, and for me, Ms. Nakanishi's plan wasn't enough. When I thought so, the conversation with Associate Professor Morimura instantly taught me the truth of the matter. "A plan that doesn't know to stay is not a plan." Her plan is sloppy in that sewerage construction is the only option. Associate Professor Morimura saw it only with her plan.

A little different example-when you encounter a snowstorm while climbing a winter mountain, the choice of going forward or turning back is life-threatening. Ms. Nakanishi's sewerage plan is exactly this-it only knows what to do. The situation is similar for nuclear power plant construction, dam construction, and river mouth weir construction. All of them have in common that they can proceed without questioning the lifestyle of the urban people. And it don't know to turn back.

To give another example, the pendulum-when it vibrates, it swings to the right and to the left, but it always passes through the middle point. If you stop the vibration, the pendulum will stop at that point. It is a so-called "immovable point". That is what DO NOTHING is all about. It is essential for planners to keep this in mind at all times. This is true of all disciplines. What do you think about DO NOTHING? This is an essential issue for all researcher.

"DO NOTHING", which had no meaning to me in regular classes, was given a new meaning by my own experience and suggestions from Associate Professor Morimura. Even if I could understand the true meaning of this word, it was worthwhile to go to the urban engineering department and eventually to the university.

Welcome to June.

Don't stay too long where you know your time has expired. Don't chase the distractions or force the thirsty horse to drink the water when your obligation was simply to lead it to the river.

Manga drawn on the cover of my graduationgraduation thesis

“He was extremely wary of 'making. His job is to "say". In fact, he only said But what a lively way of saying it! It was a description that would have been impossible for anyone but someone with abnormal imaginative vision. Sometimes he is so afraid of "creating" that he re-reads what he has already written and cuts out the phrases that he thinks make the historical characters move like real people. Then, the person certainly stops breathing. You don't have to worry about "making" it. But what is "statement" to describe different humans as the same? When he thinks about it, he can't help but make use of the deleted words. After putting it back together and reading it over, he finally calms down. ”

``Ri Ling: Atsushi Nakajima''（中島敦）

What I want to pay attention to is the part of "statement of a different person as a different person". This is where my dissatisfaction with current urban engineering comes from. In other words, what does 500 liters/person/day, which is calculated as the maximum water supply per person per day, mean? There are many types of people in the world, some people use only 100l a day, some fools use 1000l. It's called individuality, but the "basic unit" of 500l/person/day originates from erasing individuality.

The historian Sima Qian's problem still remains relevant today. I absolutely cannot allow a study that kills individuality. The operation of "quantification" is a double-edged sword in that sense. If someone who doesn't know how to use it gets their hands on it, this sword becomes an extremely dangerous weapon.

Phenomena in the natural world are basically curvilinear, and when they tried to replace them with easy-to-understand forms—straight lines—the seeds of Western scientific civilization arose. However, even for the simplest curve, the circle, the π was a number (transcendental numbers) that could not be handled by triangle approximation. The Western conscience has the clarity to make the impossible impossible. But fools assume that a straight line divides all curves. There can only be "destruction"!

Can’t we all just get along on the roads?

Monica Menendez, associate professor of civil and urban engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi, looks into the best way to move people around a city.

“At some point, we decided that somebody on a bike or on foot is not traffic, but an obstruction to traffic.”