{"id":84027,"date":"2025-04-09T16:20:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T07:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/?p=84027"},"modified":"2025-04-14T09:37:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T00:37:38","slug":"cross-border-collaboration-for-livelihood-improvement-water-management-and-heritage-preservation-waseda-university-in-hue-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/84027","title":{"rendered":"Cross-border Collaboration for Livelihood Improvement, Water Management, and Heritage Preservation: Waseda in Hue, Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"

March is a time of transition in Japan: it\u2019s the dawn of spring, ushering in the end of a school year and the beginning of another, mostly a time for leisure. At the Yaguchi Lab<\/a> in Waseda\u2019s Department of Architecture<\/a>, it\u2019s anything but.<\/p>\n

This past March, two members from Yaguchi Lab (myself and a junior who has just graduated) embarked on a collaborative research trip with Hue University of Sciences in Vietnam. We were also joined by students from Mashiko Lab from the School of Social Sciences\u00a0 at Waseda University and Sugano Lab from the Art Department of the University of Tsukuba. This research trip reaped the fruit of the 25-years-long collaboration between Waseda University and Hue University of Sciences. It is also the product of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in August of 2024 between the two institutions, with a focus on\u00a0 research related to comprehensive regional management and cultural and historical heritage preservation. This research trip is the first of many to come and its aim was the design and management of historical and cultural heritage in the Huong River Basin of Hue. The subjects of investigation are not restricted to historical monuments and heritage sites but also encompass the village structure, agri-aqua livelihood, the local traditional lifestyle of living with water, and other social aspects of the built environment.<\/p>\n

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Workshop members, professors, and faculty members<\/p><\/div>\n

Although it took place in March, the work for this research trip began long before. From November 2024 to February 2025, students from Waseda University and Tsukuba University conducted joint investigations in preparation for the research trip. The research trip itself was divided into three parts: pre-workshop site visits; the workshop where students from Japan collaborated with students in Vietnam; and the post-workshop investigation wherein the students from Japan conducted investigations into their research interests.<\/p>\n

Before Hue<\/h1>\n

Before traveling to Hue, the teams from Waseda University and the University of Tsukuba conducted joint preparatory research to familiarize ourselves with the region, its villages, the lifestyle, and the livelihoods of the people. Given that Hue was an unfamiliar location to most in the research group, it was crucial to understand the social, cultural, and economic aspects of the area. Therefore, we diligently explored the local history, folk tales, traditions, agri-aqua activities, and the advancement of urban expansion and tourism. Additionally, we examined the region\u2019s vulnerability to disasters, especially floods, which are a significant concern in this part of Vietnam. Although not as fruitful as we wanted it to be due to the limited availability of information online and the language barrier, this preliminary research gave us a notion of what to expect and greatly helped us formulate our hypotheses and research questions.<\/p>\n\n\t\t