Street scene at dusk with a modern, illuminated blue seating area and tall structure on sidewalk. Vehicles and trees are visible across the street.

Isometric illustration of a modern building complex with outdoor sports courts, green landscaping, and parking lots.

A person holding a smartphone displays an app with a waterfall and a figure holding an umbrella in a parking lot with blurred buildings in the background.

Architectural rendering of a modern urban park with innovative buildings, trees, cacti, landscaped areas, and a basketball court.

Urban playground with red and black modern structures, children playing, adults sitting and walking, surrounded by tall buildings and trees.

Diagram showing the stages of deploying a portable, modular shelter: shipping container, site setup, shelter installation with utilities, and final expanded habitat with people.

Close-up of a blue and white floral patterned fabric, likely part of an outdoor umbrella or canopy, with a color calibration tag attached.

The Urban Risk Lab at MIT develops methods, prototypes, and technologies to embed risk reduction and preparedness into the design of cities and regions to increase the resilience of local communities. Operating at the intersection of ecology and infrastructure, rural and urban, research and action, the Urban Risk Lab is an interdisciplinary organization of researchers and designers.

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DESIGN BEFORE DISASTER

JAPAN’S CULTURE OF PREPAREDNESS

Mail Address

Room 10-491M, 77 Massachusetts Avenue,

Cambridge, MA 02139

Lab Address

N52-391, 265 Massachusetts Avenue,

Cambridge, MA 02139

We acknowledge Indigenous Peoples as the traditional stewards of the land, and the enduring relationship that exists between them and their traditional territories. The lands that MIT occupies are the traditional unceded territories of the Wampanoag Nation and the Massachusett Peoples. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced occupation of these territories, as well as the ongoing processes of colonialism and dispossession in which we and our institution are implicated. Beyond the stolen territory that we physically occupy, MIT has long profited from the sale of federal lands granted by the Morrill Act, territories stolen from 82 Tribes, including the Greater and Little Osage, Chippewa, and Omaha Peoples.

As we honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous people connected to this land from time immemorial, we seek to Indigenize our institution and the fields of design and planning, offer space, and leave indigenous peoples in more empowered positions.

© MIT Urban Risk Lab 2025

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