Future Thinking Workshop of Taki Plaza –with faculty, staff and students

On November 22, 2023, The Laboratory for Design of Social Innovation in Global Networks DLab (DLab) held a workshop to think about the future of Taki Plaza at Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza (Taki Plaza), an international exchange center for students. Workshop was held in collaboration with Student Success Support Section, and the Student Support Center at Tokyo Tech (speaker and participant affiliations and job titles are noted as the time of the event.)

“Future Thinking Workshop of Taki Plaza”

The workshop was designed to socially connect members of the student organizations and the faculty and staffs working at Taki Plaza, and to envision the future of the Plaza as they would like it to be. Two students led the workshop as facilitators, and 7 students and 21 faculty members participated in the event.
The event began with an opening address by Sachiko Ito, Department Manager of Student Success Support Section, Student Support Center, the organizer of the event.
Next, Yusuke Sasagawa, Director of Promotion Office for Institute-Wide Education, and Yumi Ito of Student Services Department Undergraduate Services Group, involved in the foundation and operation of Taki Plaza, talked about the background, present, and its future, and shared their thoughts on how the Plaza could develop in the future. After the introductory talk, participants proceeded to the DLab group work.

The workshops

The theme was “New Value and Future for Taki Plaza,” and we divided students and faculty into groups based on vertical (people in different grades but with similar majors and interests), horizontal (people in the same grade but with different majors and interests), and diagonal (people in different grades, majors, and interests) connections so they could work together as a single team. The groupings were designed to allow students, faculty, and staff to work together, and to expand their knowledge about the future of Taki Plaza in the activities that followed.
When envisioning the future of what Taki Plaza could be, participants engaged in a role play exercise where they are expected to choose a character from manga/anime, that resonate or relate to the future image of Taki Plaza. Participants chose one out of four characters provided from the workshop organizing team and worked in groups of members gathered in the character zones.

Risako Yanagase(left), a first-year master's student in School of Environment and Society Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering, and Maoko Fujisaki(right), a fourth-year student in the same department

Next, they discussed why they chose the character, on what they envisioned as the future image of Taki Plaza, and why they connected the character with the future they aspired.

Write down opinions and ideas on sticky notes

Sticky notes on the whiteboard to exchange opinions

Putting together sticky notes while thinking

Grouping stickies that have been pasted

Once the sharing was over, we moved on to group activities. Participants crafted a manifesto of “the future that Taki Plaza wants to be” and went out as a group to take photos on campus to express the main theme of their manifesto. The photos were labeled with hashtags # to make the audience easy to understand.

Taking pictures on campus

Once the manifestos and associated photos were completed, we moved on to presentations from each group.
While listening to team presentations participants shared their impressions via Slido, a real-time survey tool, and virtually discussed the Future of Taki Plaza.
　The group that had its manifesto theme as “Evolution” expressed with a photo that juxtaposed the evolution of characters in the chosen Japanese game, which represents how they become more powerful as they gain levels and experience, and the West Building No. 1, the oldest building on the Ookayama campus, which has gone through “#Era” to become the newest building. The manifesto was expressed by superimposing the “#Era” and the “#New and Old” with photos that allowed visitors to compare the advantages of the “#New and Old”. The group that chose a Dutch rabbit character mentioned that the character and Taki Plaza have in common “#unchanging quality” and “#free to change shape, spread and seep in like water”, etc. They set their manifesto as “coexistence of change and comfort” and displayed a photo of a pond on campus. The theme of the manifesto was “Coexistence of change and peace of mind. Other manifestos and hashtags combining images associated with the characters and unexpected photos of the campus were also presented, and participants expressed their surprise and posted comments of empathy and sympathy, creating a great deal of excitement.

Manifesto “Evolution"

Representing Evolution in Tokyo Tech Buildings

Manifesto “Coexistence of Change and Security”

Expressing a sense of security with water from the campus pond

In his closing remarks, Vice President for Student Affairs Tetsuji Okamura, Director of the Student Support Center, said, “It was great that we were able to discuss the future of Taki Plaza in a different way than we have in the past. We would like to continue to create opportunities like this in the future.

Tetsuji Okamura(left)Vice President for Student Affairs, Director of the Student Support Center, Sachiko Ito (right), Department Manager of Student Success Support Section, Student Support Center

In a questionnaire to the participants afterwards, one participant commented, “At first I was puzzled by the method of thinking from the point of view of the characters, but once I opened the lid, I saw that it was full of interesting ideas! I discovered variations of interpretations which I had not imagined. Responses from the survey indicated that they were satisfied with the program.
In addition, regarding the “vertical,” “horizontal,” and “diagonal” connections that were the basis of the survey, one respondent commented, “Tokyo Tech students tend to be highly specialized, but I think it would be strong if they not only deepen their specialties but also expand and connect them,” indicating a high level of interest among the participants.　
Facilitators Yanagase and Fujisaki commented, “This was the first time for me to create a workshop by myself, so it was interesting that what happened was similar to that of a Pitagora switch – a TV program from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).” and expressed their positive feedback and willingness to try it again next time.
　DLab plans to continue its activities to help train student facilitators while expanding its connections and involvement with students and holding workshops where everyone can think about the future they want to have.

Poster of the “Workshop on the Future of Taki Plaza” by Yanagase and Fujisaki
*The summary for the workshop participants has been processed and posted here.
*The Laboratory for Design of Social Innovation in Global Networks became Research Center for Designing Social Innovation in Global Network in April 2024.