Professor Tsuboi of Faculty of Economics held a workshop on "Spatial Design and Construction for Evacuation Shelters in the Event of a Disaster"Utsunomiya Campus

On Thursday, November 27, 2025, at the Toyosato District Civic Center (Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture), Teikyo University Faculty of Economics Department of Regional Economics Professor Tsuboi Shoutarou conducted a workshop on "Space Design and Setup for the Operation of Evacuation Shelters during Disasters".
The center's main hall is designated as a designated evacuation center by Utsunomiya City and serves as a place for evacuees to stay for a certain period of time if they are unable to continue living in their homes after a disaster strikes. This workshop was attended by 30 executives from the Toyosato Area United Neighborhood Association and Voluntary Disaster Prevention Association, and based on the assumption of 4 square meters of evacuation living space per person, the workshop examined the actual scale of the evacuation center. In doing so, they worked on the layout using cards for the number of family members, gender, wheelchair users, reception area, etc. In addition, they all assembled actual cardboard beds and set up tents inside the evacuation center.
Participants commented, "I now understand how to ensure privacy in an evacuation center," "I realized that it is necessary to give consideration to wheelchair users by placing them near entrances and exits," "I now know that we can improve the quality of evacuation life by properly designing passageways in evacuation centers," "I was surprised that the cardboard beds have a load capacity of 5 tons. I was surprised to learn that the load-bearing capacity of cardboard beds is 5 tons," and "I would like to make use of this experience when a disaster occurs. We will continue our efforts to improve local disaster preparedness and response capabilities through surveys, research, and on-site practice.

For more information about Professor Sotaro Tsuboi, click here
For more information about the Department of Regional Faculty of Economics Department of Regional Economics click here

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