From August 5 to 10, 2010, National Cheng Kung University, Nan Hua University (Chiayi, Taiwan) and Meiji University held a Joint Design Workshop at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan City, Taiwan. There were 35 students. Four supervisors (Masami Kobayashi, Akihito Aoi, Hiroshi Koike, Keizo Ikemura) and 20 graduate students from the laboratory of graduate school from Meiji University took part in the design workshop as “Planning Studio 3”. Three students (Takahiko Ito, Tetsuyuki Takaoka, Kaoru Takagi), were joined by Prof Yamamoto as guest commentator on the last day of presentations from the Urban Planning Laboratory.
The workshop theme is “Bridging the Layers - Regeneration of the Temple of Confucius cultural area”. Students from the three universities made up 6 hybrid teams (2 teams for every sub-themes: trail, area and type), who conducted research and made proposals based on it.
The last presentation was held at the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature and commented by Malone Chang, local citizens delegate and architect, Chuang Te Liang, Dept. of Urban Development, Tainan City Government and Prof Chen Shih Ming, Dept. of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University.

Bridging the Layers - Regeneration of the Temple of Confucius cultural area 　
　Tainan City's Temple of Confucius cultural area renewal plan has become a hot issue. The area as a whole makes for a characteristic cultural environment because it bridges different age contexts such as historical architecture (Temple of Confucius, National Museum of Taiwanese Literature, etc.) as well as urban organization and lifestyle. On one hand there are upkeep efforts focused on historical property and maintenance of public spaces; on the other hand, there are problems of visual pollution and decline. Of course, this "Renewal" is not about large-scale redevelopment, land readjustment, road widening and unilateral promotion of tourism, but about carefully redrawing a sustainable future while deciphering the historical formation process and the sightseeing and lifestyle situation.
　This subject especially demands rereading urban space form a developmental viewpoint and making concrete designs as a result. We need to decipher the urban organization and the significance of historical property in relation to its periphery, characteristic of public space and drive for concrete proposals concerning public space and urban architecture whit care for a citizen lifestyle, regeneration and sustainability viewpoint that is not based on sightseeing and tourism.
　Sub-themes and relevant keywords:
　In this workshop, students are expected to present specific physical designs on the basis of reinterpretation of the urban space and life of the area.
　
subtheme
1) trail: networking the alleys through blocks, micro open spaces, small buildings along the alleys
2) area: re-editing the cultural asset zone, designing complex facilities and open spaces,
3) prototype: proposing the next generation of urban building, outside and inside the blocks

National Cheng Kung Univ.:

Chen Shih Ming
Tseng Hsien Hsien

Nan Hua Univ.:

Chen Shih Ming

Meiji University.:

Kobayashi・Aoi・Koike
Ikemura・Yamamoto

Guest critic:

Malone Chang

Tainan city Government.:

Chuang Te Liang

　On 8～12/6/2010, we have taken part in the international workshop in Valencia, Spain.The workshop was about the Cabanyal district and 8 countries, 74 staffs were participated in the workshop. There were 48 students, including 23 students (all from Urban Planning Laboratory) from Meiji University, 11 students from Hamburg Hafen University, 12 students from Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, 1 student from Sevilla University, and 1 student from Kurakau University. Also there were 12 teachers from Architectural Department, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. 　
　From Meiji University, Toshiya Yamamoto had a lecture about "the history of roadway maintenance and citizen subjective urban regenerate in Tokyo", and we brought the urban site model of the Cabanyal in scale of 1/1000, which we made in Japan.Also, we informed the topics by displaying the 7 panels in the campus about road and housing development in Mukoujima district,Tokyo-Gaikan Road problem and crime prevention urban planning in Ichikawa city, etc. 　
　The workshop had 6 jobs for students, and from Meiji University, we proposed 3 from them. We divided in 3 teams and each team had 1 or 2 teachers from Architectural Department,and Urban Planning Department, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. 　
The jobs were about 　
1. Public space and Historical center 　
2. Dwelling recover / Proposal of new typologies 　
3. East-west _ Pescadores street 　
　
Participants from Meiji University
Prof:Toshiya Yamamoto, D1:Fujiga, M2:Ishikawa・Katagiri・Okawa・Kaga, M1:Ito・Kajino・Takagi・Takaoka・Nomura・Motoki・Sun・Ikebe, B4:Tokushima・Saito・Tani・Katayama・Ogawa・Shibuta・Suzuki・Onozuka・Kuwayama, Research student：Francisco Garcia

　"From August 3 to 7, 2009, the International Design Workshop was held at Cheongju University in South Korea. All members of the Urban Planning Laboratory visited South Korea in advance of this workshop from June 6 to 8, 2009 to conduct a site investigation and report the results to other participants in preparation for the workshop." 　
　"About 100 architecture school teachers and graduates gathered for the workshop from Meiji University, Chiba University and University of the Ryukyus in Japan and Cheongju University, Chungju National University and Yonsei University in South Korea. Four teachers (Masami Kobayashi, Toshiya Yamamoto, Hiroshi Koike, Keizo Ikemura), 17 graduate students and one overseas student of Korean origin (Toshiki Katayama) joined from Meiji University. Toshiya Yamamoto and 3 graduates (Shuhei Ishikawa, Makoto Kaga, Kohei Katagiri) joined from the Urban Planning Laboratory." 　
　"On the first day, associate Professor Yamamoto and Professor Kobayashi lectured after Professor emeritus at Cheongju University and workshop chairman Choi Hyo Seung's keynote lecture. Later that day, all participants walked to the site and deepened exchanges. Participants split into university teams (Meiji University into 2 teams) and conducted a repeat site investigation on the second day. The hard schedule kept us up many nights in a row with the third day's interim presentation followed by a final presentation on the fifth day where students presented boards and models along a PowerPoint in English. Participant members from the Urban Planning Laboratory presented a proposal entitled ""Sustainable Development by Bio"" consisting of a project to turn a community bus running on alternative fuels refined from rape blossoms around Cheongju or cooking oil into citizen transportation and a recycling management project to advance roof greening and rainwater harvesting. Those proposal works were displayed in Su-Dong church's hall following the last day, where they were picked up by local media and noticed by many citizens. "

On Friday June 13, 2008, the International Poster Session was held at the Ottensen Museum, Hamburg-Altona, Germany. The event was held as part of the City Arts Festival ""Die Altonale"" that gathers 500,000 visitors every year. A total of 7 Japanese participants joined from Meiji University and NPO Mukojima Studies Association. Participants from the Urban Planning Laboratory were: Toshiya Yamamoto, Yuko Moritake, Ryusuke Ito and Masato Fujiga, for a total of four. We presented 10 panels in German introducing Mukojima's urban design for over 5 hours. The recital hall was attended by about 30 Hafen Hamburg university students and other local officials.