Leading cool breezes from the sky above to the city
Here’s one of the wishes shared by visitors at the University of Tokyo Komaba Research Campus Open House and the Kashiwa Campus Open House — along with a comment from a researcher at UTokyo-IIS.
I wish the summer were cooler.
Buildings are generally considered to be obstacles to wind flow, but by designing their shape and height, it is possible to direct relatively cool upper-air breezes into the city.
Based on a vast amount of meteorological data, we are analyzing how the climate of cities has changed from the past to the present, and how it will change in the future as the climate changes. We are also developing methods to predict and evaluate the impact of individual buildings on the surrounding airflow and thermal environment through wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations.
Xiang Wang, Hongyuan Jia, Keisuke Nakao, Dun Zhu, Chaoyi Hu, Hideki Kikumoto, “Decadal assessment of local climate utilizing meteorological analysis and observation data: Thermal environment changes in the Tokyo area”, Sustainable Cities and Society (2025),
DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2025.106138
Associate Professor Hideki Kikumoto
Among several Open House events held by the University of Tokyo each year, UTokyo-IIS takes part in two: the Komaba Research Campus Open House in early June and the Kashiwa Campus Open House in late October.
At both events, the Public Relations Office of UTokyo-IIS presents a special installation that brings together two perspectives: the “possible futures” envisioned by researchers, and the hopes and ideas shared by visitors.
This article features a visitor’s wish as a starting point, followed by reflections from a researcher.
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