Feature articles:Civil Engineering Tourism" Nowadays -for satisfying intellectual curiosity-

Civil engineers always need to gain understanding from the public. “Civil Engineering Tourism” is a useful means of communication for this purpose. Recently, citizen activities to promote the attractiveness of surrounding civil engineering facilities (Doboku Mania) have become very active. Civil engineers should actively publicize the role of the civil engineer to society, and the means of tourism is the key to achieve this. If experts can share specialized information with the general public in a way that is easy to understand, it can stimulate the intellectual curiosity of the public, and facilitate the understanding of civil engineering.

In this special issue, “Civil Engineering Tourism” is defined as follows: Activities that promote the understanding of wisdom, technology, and regional characteristics through site visits to civil engineering facilities, from which visitors can experience joy and intellectual satisfaction. 

The first article is a dialogue on the significance and future prospects of civil engineering tourism by Aoyagi Masanori(Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs), a specialist in Greek and Roman archeology, and Nakamura Yoshio (Emeritus professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology), a specialist in infrastructure planning and landscape theory, followed by an article from tourism expert Nakane Hiroshi of Japan Tourism Marketing Co., and civil engineering expert Abe Takahiro of Nihon University that introduces the basic knowledge of civil engineering tourism.

The other articles introduce 7 case studies on the activities that stimulate the general public’s interest in civil engineering. Articles on civil engineering facilities by the private sector in Ube Yamaguchi, the sediment control dam that protects the village from disaster in Nagano, JR Tokai train to hidden scenic spots, and utilization of coal mines in Hokkaido which is regarded as negative heritage, are presented. A guidebook to evaluate civil engineering, thinking of civil engineering from the perspective of visitors, and related efforts made by Japan Society of Civil Engineers are also introduced.