2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
System Design & Impact Assessment
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Shigeo Nishikizawa / Tatsuya Wakeyama
- Class Format
- Exercise (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Fri (M-107)
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- TSE.C204
- Number of credits
- 010
- Course offered
- 2026
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Sep 30, 2026
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
To resolve the complex problems facing modern society, a planned approach is required—one that views the relationships among multi-stakeholders as a social system and continuously cycles through a process of grasping the current situation, examining alternative solutions, forecasting and evaluating each option, deciding on and implementing measures, and conducting monitoring. Effectively applying engineering and science/technology to solve societal problems necessitates designing systems based on specific challenges and needs, while also visualizing and quantifying the associated benefits and drawbacks for evaluation. Furthermore, based on such information, it is essential to realize appropriate technology selection and system design by considering the decision-making processes and acceptance levels of various stakeholders—such as those affected, beneficiaries, regulatory authorities, and producers. This course explores methodologies for system design and assessment, using key topics in fundamental energy planning—specifically power generation mixes, “Energy Mix”, and zoning approach to support creating suitable sites for renewable energies.
Course description and aims
Students will be able to;
1) explain the concepts on sustainability, environmental loads, social acceptance of technologies
2) acquire the ability to design and evaluate the above items which include quantitative approach
3) apply those methods to specific systems
Keywords
Sustainability, social acceptance, renewable energy, communication
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Mainly conducted on lecture and group-work bases.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction, Movements of carbon neutrality, Renewable energy and environmental conflicts, System Design |
understand overall structure of this class. |
| Class 2 | Environmental Impact Assessment, Alternative consideration, Zoning |
understand basic concepts of EIA, alternative consideration and zoning. |
| Class 3 | Alternative consideration method by AHP |
understand AHP methods |
| Class 4 | Alternative consideration of AHP and GIS |
understand AHP and GIS methods |
| Class 5 | Exercise 1) Group-work for suitable sites of renewables: Findings of problem formulation, structuring and considering layers |
understand how to organize basic information for alternative considerations |
| Class 6 | Exercise 2) Group-work for suitable sites of renewables: alternative consideration and evaluation |
understand problem structuring and how to consider alternatives. |
| Class 7 | Exercise 3) Group presentation |
share results and discussion through presentations |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend times preparing for class and reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class. They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
There is no designated textbook
Reference books, course materials, etc.
will be provided the information during classes.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Students' score is based on evaluation of achievement for each class (40%), group presentation(30%) and final report (30%).
Related courses
- TSE.C202 ： System Design Project
- TSE.C203 ： Social Design Project
- ZUS.P301 ： Operating Systems
- TSE.C201 ： Introduction to Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.