Main Theme

“Climate Change” is one of the most crucial concerns of the global community, stimulating active debate around the world about the post-Kyoto framework. Some governments have proposed a reduction in the world's greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent or even more of 2000 levels by the year 2050.
“Population” is another serious issue. While the global trend has been population explosion, Japan is experiencing a drastic shift towards an aged society due to low birth rates, and this is occurring in many other countries as well. These outcomes of 'FORECASTING' are the major drivers of change in 'DESIGN' for quality of life in a sustainable built environment.
Looking back to 1933, “The Athens Charter” drafted by Le Corbusier et al. at the CIAM that year became a worldwide urban and architectural formula throughout the 20th century. However, we have failed to replace this charter for the 21st century and the vision of a sustainable future remains intangible.
Hence, the strategy of 'BACKCASTING', which involves identification of a particular vision and tracing its origins and lines of development back to the present, is urgently required in the new paradigm arising from these pressing agendas. This is the very role of the 'ARCHITECT', a profession that integrates ethics, aesthetics, technology, and economics into a holistic socio-cultural vision of the future.
UIA2011Tokyo will be a milestone event for exchange, elaboration and sharing of this vision towards 2050 and beyond.

Structure of the Sub-themes

The three sub-themes of “Environment,” “Information” and “Life” related to main theme of “Design 2050” will be combined three-dimensionally on the temporal and contemporaneous axes in order to create the opportunity to consider the various complex interrelated problems we face today from a wide variety of standpoints.
Through organic links established between lectures, symposia, displays, events and tours and with the participation of many people active in a wide variety of fields from all over the world, we hope to encourage dialogue and encounters that will contribute to a better future for us all.