IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025

The Japan National Group of the IABSE and the Organising and Scientific Committees are pleased to invite you to the IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025. This is a 4-Day event to be held from 18 May (Sunday) to 21 May (Wednesday) 2025 at Waseda University and Rihga Royal Hotel on “Environmentally Friendly Technologies and Structures: Focusing on Sustainable Approaches.”

The Japanese archipelago is characterised by its geographic length extending from north to south. Climatic conditions vary greatly, which have nurtured a variety of cultures and histories in each region. These regions have been exposed to various natural hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and, more recently, heavy rains and floods due to climate change. Learning from the lessons of past disasters, Japanese engineers and researchers have been striving to create a resilient society by providing structures and infrastructure systems with substantial reliability, robustness, and redundancy. However, under the current circumstances of climate change, it is also becoming important to consider the design, construction, and maintenance of structures and infrastructure systems to ensure sustainability, while minimising negative environmental impacts from a life-cycle perspective. It is essential for those involved in structural engineering to have access to the latest knowledge and research outcomes related to such issues.

The main goal of the Symposium is to provide a forum for discussion on “Environmentally Friendly Technologies and Structures - Focusing on Sustainable Approaches -”. There are many ideas on how structural engineering can contribute to sustainability. For example, the construction of green infrastructure, facilities to create new energy alternatives to fossil fuels, carbon-neutral technologies, the use of new materials to replace conventional concrete and steel (e.g., timber and other natural materials), as well as classical structural technologies for natural disaster mitigation are all essential to ensure sustainability.

The Symposium will focus on the most important issue of our time, sustainability, and the role of structural engineers in achieving this goal. It is hoped that the Symposium will serve as a platform for governments, engineering associations, academic and educational institutions, and industry to forge global partnerships and strengthen collaboration to realise the global sustainability development agenda.

In addition to the in-depth intellectual discussions at the Symposium itself, we are sure that you will enjoy Tokyo's diverse attractions, including museums, historical sites, arts and crafts, markets, shopping, and cuisine, etc. May is the best season for sightseeing in Tokyo, and you can enjoy the abundant nature and fresh greenery of late spring amidst the skyscrapers. Tokyo has one of the largest rail and subway networks in the world. With airline and high-speed rail networks extending across Japan, other major tourist destinations such as Kyoto and Osaka can be easily reached within a few hours. In particular, Expo 2025 Osaka will be held from April to October 2025 under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”. The theme is very similar to that of IABSE 2025, and there will be many pavilions and other exhibits that will be of great interest to structural engineers.

We will do our best to make IABSE 2025 a fruitful event for you. We are confident that you will have an unforgettable experience in Japan and look forward to welcoming you to Tokyo in May 2025.

Message from the OC Chair, Professor Mitsuyoshi Akiyama and the SC Chair, Professor Toru Takeuchi.