【Article by International College of Innovation】

Associate Professor Chen Hung-Ying of National Chengchi University's International College of Innovation (ICI) led an interdisciplinary student team on a six-day immersive field visit as an international academic exchange program in Kumamoto, Japan, from June 14 to 19, 2026. The visit was conducted in connection with the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)-funded research project "Remaking the Technopolis" which examines housing supply and environmental transformation in communities surrounding science and technology parks. The program sought to deeply integrate research practice with pedagogical experience by bringing together students from multiple departments and universities for collaborative fieldwork.

The cross-university study group comprised students from ICI, the Department of Land Economics, and the College of Communication, working alongside faculty and students from Kyushu University's School of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Prior to departure, the group completed two online workshops and two in-depth online interviews, drawing on the expertise of international urban and rural researchers as well as Kumamoto-based scholars to build a shared foundational framework for the field investigations.

The six-day program was structured around two main axes: field surveys and institutional visits. On the ground, students observed and documented a wide range of environments — from rural irrigation channels to semiconductor manufacturing facilities, from residential plots adjacent to burial grounds that reflect distinctive local land ethics, to peri-urban landscapes where diesel exhaust and construction dust defined the sensory experience. During the latter half of the program, the team shifted to institutional engagement. The group visited the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly, met with local environmental advocacy organization Kumamoto Kankyō Shikōkai and assembly member Iwata Tomoko, and held in-depth conversations with toxicologist Mr. Fujiwara Toshikazu, a long-standing voice on issues spanning Japan's atomic bombing legacy, nuclear disasters, industrial history, and environmental justice.

In the area of housing market research, the team visited newly completed residential developments by local developer Anesis Group and conducted interviews with President Yabuuchi Mayumi and real estate division manager Murakami Takayori. These conversations enabled a close comparative analysis of the structural differences between Japanese and Taiwanese housing cultures since 1992 — including sharply divergent social understandings of housing as either ‘asset’ or ‘tool’, and broader questions of housing loan policy, market accessibility, and intergenerational housing justice.

The program demonstrated the productive synergies of NCCU's interdisciplinary pedagogy: students from the Department of Land Economics contributed grounded knowledge of Japan’s national spatial planning frameworks and environmental impact assessment regulations; Communication students took charge of visual documentation; and ICI students explored the role of cross-cultural mediation in international professional contexts. The participation of Professor Li Xiaoyan and her student from Kyushu University's Faculty of Arts and Science for Co-Creation brought real-time cross-cultural perspective into the field, forging research friendships and embodying the spirit of international co-learning. The team also paid a visit to ICI alumni working in Kumamoto's technology sector, bridging the pedagogical space of the classroom with the lived realities of alumni careers.

ICI has long been committed to grounding digital and technological development in humanistic and social literacy, and to extending the work of knowledge inquiry and production beyond the campus into live practice. This Kumamoto field program stands as a concrete expression of that commitment. Professor Chen reflected that the significance of immersive fieldwork lies not only in knowledge production, but in enabling students to measure the land with their own bodies — to sense environmental change and to encounter the distinct ethical frameworks through which different communities relate to their environments. From sensory experience to conceptual understanding, the study trip aimed to cultivate sensitivity and awareness to spatial injustice and environmental transformation. Findings from the research will be integrated into ongoing course design and future collaborative publication projects involving both faculty and students.