Researchers

Center for Preventive Medical Sciences / Design Research Institute

Masamichi HANAZATO

Associate ProfessorI conduct research on how the built environment—such as cities and buildings—affects human behavior and health from a public health perspective, and apply these insights to spatial design.
Grounded in the concept of ‘Primordial Prevention,’ which supports people's health simply through everyday living, my work empirically examines the relationship between environment and health, and translates the findings into real-world applications in collaboration with local governments and companies.
I view the living environment as a form of social capital that is open and accessible to all, and I explore how environmental design can help reduce health disparities among people.
By bridging the fields of architecture and urban design with preventive medicine and public health, my research aims to build a new paradigm—one that shifts the focus of health from individual behavior to environmental planning and design for society as a whole.
Through this interdisciplinary approach that integrates cities, architecture, and public health, I am working to establish a new academic field: Healthy Cities and Spatial Design Studies.

Recent Topics of Interests:
・The impact of climate change on urban environments and lifestyles
・Spatial design theories and their implications for reducing health disparities
・Spatial planning that supports human, social, cultural, and spatial behaviors: bridging behavioral science and urban design
・Visualization and co-creation of healthy environments through the integration of digital technology and spatial design
Motto in Research or in Life:
Keep evolving—professionally, intellectually, and personally.
Hobby / Holiday:
I enjoy experiencing nature through all my senses.