EBA Eco City Minamata Fieldwork 2025

EBA Fieldwork Program is an on-site, immersive experience where participants apply the Evidence-Based Approach to real-world issues. The EBA Eco City Minamata Fieldwork 2025 focuses on the Past, Present, and Future of an Environmentally Sustainable City, taking place in Minamata, Japan, a community historically affected by mercury pollution known as Minamata Disease. Over the course of the program, learners engage directly with urgent issues of environmental sustainability, such as pollution prevention, community resilience, and the revitalization of local ecosystems and societies.

Participants actively apply the EBA method in practice, through field-based data collection, analysis, visualization, and storytelling. They observe the environmental and social lessons of Minamata, interact with local stakeholders, and work in groups to design service solutions for sustainable cities. Collaborative investigation enables participants to propose evidence-based approaches to preventing future environmental crises and to envision pathways for resilient urban development.

By completing this program, learners gain the skills to integrate research, technology, and community engagement in the service of environmental sustainability. The experience strengthens their technical and analytical abilities and deepens their capacity to apply an evidence-based approach to global environmental challenges, preparing them to contribute meaningfully to designing resilient and sustainable future societies.

Study Requirement: 90 hours, including pre- and post-fieldwork activities

Topics Covered in This Course

The Past, Present, and Future of Environmental Sustainability: Examining Minamata’s history of mercury pollution, its long-term consequences, and pathways toward sustainable urban futures.
Preventing Environmental Pollution: Exploring how modern knowledge and technologies could have mitigated or prevented incidents like Minamata Disease, and how these lessons can inform future environmental risk prevention.
Community Resilience and Recovery: Investigating how communities can respond to and recover from environmental crises, drawing lessons from Minamata’s story of revitalization
Designing Sustainable Cities: Collaborating to propose evidence-based service solutions for building environmentally resilient cities in Minamata and other communities facing environmental challenges.
Locations Visited: Participants engage with local sites and stakeholders including Minamata Disease Municipal Museum, Minamata Disease Archive, Minamata Environmental Academia, JNC Corporation, SOSHISHA / Supporting Center for Minamata Disease, Fukuda Farm, Environmental Clean Center, Minamata Sea area, Minamata Kugino Airinkan, Samukawa Suigen, and Minamata High School.
Field Observations and Reflection: Participants join stakeholder discussions, local site observations, workshops with Minamata High School students, participate in group reflection, and work on presentation preparation to connect field evidence with service solutions for environmentally sustainable cities.

Learning Outcomes

This course offers learners the ability to:

Apply the Evidence-Based Approach (EBA) to real-world field research challenges.
Collect, document, and analyze data using observation, interviews, and digital tools.
Interpret and visualize data to generate evidence-based insights.
Communicate findings through storytelling and visual communication.
Analyze the historical case of Minamata Disease and connect lessons learned to present and future environmental risks.
Collect, interpret, and communicate data through visualization and storytelling to propose evidence-based solutions structured with a service design focus.
Engage with local stakeholders to understand community perspectives and the social impact of environmental crises.
Collaborate in diverse teams to design service solutions for resilient, environmentally sustainable cities.
Develop critical awareness of how prevention, resilience, and revitalization contribute to long-term sustainability.

Related Courses

Introduction to EBA course
- Introduction to EBA is an online program designed to equip participants with the essentials of field research and develop an evidence-based mindset. The course introduces key skills such as fostering a research mindset, handling and analyzing data, exploring findings through visualization and interpretation, and disseminating results effectively through storytelling and visual communication.

Learn more about the EBA programs at eba.soi.asia.

Prerequisite

Completion of the Introduction to EBA program is a prerequisite for joining the EBA Fieldwork program.

Criteria

This badge was awarded to the learners who completed the following criteria:

Participate in pre-workshop activities in preparation for the fieldwork.
Join the fieldwork and actively participate in all field activities.
Present outcomes of the fieldwork and further developments during the final public presentation.
Successfully complete the fieldwork’s final report.