for women leaders
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About UCRCA
About UCRCA
The Urban Community Research Center for Asia is an international, interdisciplinary center for the research of citizens and community. The UCRCA was started as a three year long research project under the auspices of Kwansei Gakuin University in order to identify, analyze, and promote better solutions for the social, economic and physical problems of urban communities.
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Our Vision
The 21st Century is the era of pursuing democracy and helping civil society thrive. In order to make democracy and civil society progress, every community needs to empower its citizens ? especially women, youth, and the elderly ? to create their own dreams and to gain the freedom and capacity to pursue those dreams.
Our Mission
Community is our future: help the community think, help the community act.
To strengthen citizens and communities to face and solve their problems, to improve their lives, and to build clean, safe environments, UCRCA, through research and action, intends to equip citizens and communities with clear and useful concepts and tools. UCRCA is a Community Learning Center: a new form of Think Tank for citizens and communities in Asia.
School of Policy Studies
Population and Urbanization： New Realities in Asia.
Rapidly increasing population and urbanization in 21st century Asia has given way to a web of problems related to poverty, job availability, income, education, environment, housing, sanitation and healthcare. Whereas these problems were considered a domestic issue before, now the problem of urbanization has become an international concern due to its impact on the global environment and economy. The solution lies in the pursuit of a new form of Urban Studies, which combines both a hard and a soft approach, applying the method of physical urban planning while integrating research on regional social economics and governance.
Community is the key to solve problems.
However, the most important lesson we learned in the 20th century is that the path to finding a solution for the global and social issues we face lies in securing the rights and freedom of the most basic and essential actors of our society; they are the individuals, families and communities of our nation. For any country, community independence and mobilization are crucial for state progression into a more democratic society.
Community is our future: help community think, help community act.
What can we, the members of the Kwansei Gakuin University Policy Studies, do to help to strengthen community independence? One of the answers to that was to create Urban Community Research Center for Asia (UCRCA).
With UCRCA’s core mission to strengthen and promote independence of poverty stricken and socially vulnerable citizens of Asia, especially women and the younger generation, we seek to provide information and educational tools to support community development. We hope to stimulate and support the growth of community leaders who will mobilize their communities towards creating a better living environment for themselves.
UCRCA is a Community Learning Center:
a new form of Think Tank for citizens of urban Asia.
In this digital age of 21st century, internet is revolutionizing the communication industry and expanding information availability. By taking full advantage of the benefits of the internet, we may be able to prevent the widening of knowledge gaps as well as social disparities present in our societies.
UCRCA focuses on 5 basic project areas. Each project has a research report (Urban & Community Studies) and a lecture (Urban/Civic Education). The lectures are series of short lessons that draw from multiple community experiences, social customs, and history. The lecture offers lessons on materials essential for the development of a democratic society while incorporating accumulated wisdom of ordinary citizens related to their daily lives.