On August 3, 2017 there was a symposium at Osaka Prefectural University, part of the Sakai-Berkeley Sister City Relationship 50th Anniversary Project, entitled “Landscape Approach to Community Revitalization and Reactivation of Public Space”. It was a joint symposium between Osaka Prefecture University and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB).

Approximately 200 students, faculty, staff and local residents participated.
Sakai and Berkeley are both university towns. They have many things in common, and the symposium was held with the theme of regeneration and revitalization of local communities.

The symposium started with a keynote lecture by Professor Louise Mozingo of UCB, followed by a keynote lecture by Professor Emeritus Noboru Masuda. Later on, UCB lector Nathan Lozier, RHAA Masahiro Inoue, Professor Hiroyuki Kaga and Professor Tatsuya Ono participated in the event. A heated discussion was held on the revitalization and revitalization of local communities from the perspective of planning and landscape design.

This symposium triggered research exchanges in the field of landscape and urban planning at both schools, and it is hoped that this will strengthen the friendship between the two cities.