Takumi Ohashi Lab, Science Tokyo
At our laboratory, we are dedicated to creating a sustainable future through innovative transition design and dynamic stakeholder collaboration. Partnering with experts from various fields, we explore sustainable alternatives and craft transition scenarios for a desirable future. Our transdisciplinary team is deeply involved in the social transformation process, rigorously testing and refining these scenarios through real-world experiments. Grounded in field-based research and driven by a vision of long-term sustainability, we seamlessly blend theory and practice to make impactful change.
We address "wicked problems" like climate change, an aging society, food waste, and lack of access to education, driving systemic transformation towards a sustainable future.
Together with experts and stakeholders across disciplines, we explore sustainable alternatives and use backcasting to craft transition scenarios—theories of change—toward preferred futures. These visions are further analyzed, developed, and validated by the following approaches.
To realize transition scenarios, we combine quantitative and qualitative methods—surveys, statistical analysis, interviews, ethnography—to analyze the complexity and interrelations of today's socio-technical systems, informing innovative solutions.
Drawing on current socio-technical systems and desired transition scenarios, transdisciplinary teams spanning engineering, life sciences, and the humanities and social sciences develop innovative solutions for sustainability.
Rather than remaining mere observers, researchers engage directly in change processes, iterating between theory and practice, evaluating new solutions through small-scale experiments, and feeding insights back into the transition scenario.
Guided by a vision of preferred futures, our lab practices four principles when tackling societal challenges.
Building upon insights from prior research, we delve into unexplored territories, transcending existing frameworks and specialties to pursue deeper understanding and novel possibilities. By navigating diverse perspectives—local and global, macro and micro—we aim to create new academic value.
Staying close to real-world challenges without falling into armchair theorizing, we generate insights grounded in field practice—through fieldwork and interviews that may appear unglamorous but yield authentic value.
To maximize transformation and value, we engage diverse members and stakeholders, pursuing open communication and co-creation that returns research outcomes to society.
Beyond short-term outcomes, we maintain long-term problem awareness, continually returning to research purpose and planning, building networks, and delivering results persistently.
A new initiative, “Building the future together,” integrates expertise across disciplines to address on-the-ground challenges in livestock and other industries using transition design.
Livestock production is at a turning point under pressure from environmental impact and animal welfare concerns—greenhouse gas emissions, land use for feed, water consumption, and waste pollution. Building sustainable livestock systems calls for transitions toward organic husbandry and welfare-conscious farming, alongside the rise of plant-based and cultivated meats.
Our protein supply and consumption styles need to change—but how, and what does “sustainable food” even mean? Working with stakeholders across the food supply chain, our lab investigates current realities, co-envisions futures, and explores concrete actions that make sustainable food choices the norm.
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