Riki Honda
Professor, Urban Environment/Social Resilience Engineering
Keywords: Disaster mitigation and prevention, Dynamics of social network, Earthquake engineering, Technology transfer
Lab webpage

Degree

Current research topics

• Dynamics of social network in adaptation process of community

• Influence of uncertainty of risks in disaster management plan and infrastructure development

Selected publications

• Kotani, H, Honda, R., Imoto, S., Shakya, L. and Shrestha, B., Transition of Post-disaster Housing of Rural Households: A Case Study of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2019)

• Honda, R., Akiyama, M., Nozu, A., Takahashi, N., Kataoka, S. and Murono, Y., Seismic design for “anti-catastrophe” a study on the implementation as design codes. Journal of JSCE, Vol 5, No. 1 (2017)

Research

Our society is exposed to various types of risks including natural disasters. Preparation for such risks is necessary, but no countermeasure can pro- vide perfect protection against severe disasters. In the presence of various threats such as climate change, huge earthquakes, and tsunamis, society needs to have the capacity for adaptation and resilience. In our group, the mechanism of collective behavior observed in a community coping with a situation of severe uncertainty is discussed from the viewpoints of social networks, adaptive systems theory, etc. Development and maintenance of infrastructure systems, institutions, and public policy are also important topics for our research, because they are essential for a society to be able to manage risks. For these topics, we discuss innovative methodologies that retain rationality even under severely uncertain situations.

Recent thesis topics of my students

• Evaluation of post-earthquake recovery strategies considering complexity of sets of possible outcomes

• Diffusion of affective and cognitive information among affected households in a resettlement project in Vietnam

Message from student

A great diversity of academic backgrounds are welcomed in Prof. Honda’s research team with the common goal of studying uncertainty of risks and adaption process of community on the level of international development. As an example, through collaboration with members in our laboratory, I am studying to develop innovative as well as practical design codes for civil infrastructure.
You are invited if we share the same enthusiasm and dedication. (Master’s degree graduates)