Outlook 2021

Happy New Year 2021 and being back in the office, the year 2021 looks like a fresh start as several new ideas turned into new research projects and publications, and before shortly talking about some of them, lets review what 2020 brought:

  • starting a new job right during a global pandemic, incl. online teaching and learning
  • two new books published, one edited book and one written with a co-author, many thanks to all
  • two book chapters published
  • two journal papers published
  • four journal papers reviewed and two book reviews written for journals
  • research funding secured for 2021 and 2022
  • presentations given at three conferences online, plus several invited talks, lectures and a book talk
  • several webinars, seminars and workshops attended online, covering the areas of Asian, Japanese, Cultural and Urban Studies,

so all in all 2020 was a good year and 2021 may offer new chances including:

  1. Cross-cultural research project based in Japan and Australia, discussing the relationship between public space, global pandemics and how to secure that vulnerable groups are included in programs addressing and securing the possibility of diverse uses
  2. New monograph focusing on the case of Yokohama, describing how the city has used different approaches to revitalize urban areas, resulting in new everyday realities for in- and outsiders, https://www.researchgate.net/project/Everyday-Yokohama
  3. Papers addressing the lesson we can learn from the creative industries in shrinking areas in Japan, discussing their resilience level to overcome future global crisis
  4. Papers discussing the role of creative revitalization, gentrification and local governance in different scales, places and spaces in Japan and Asia, https://www.researchgate.net/project/Creativity-and-Urban-Revitalization
  5. Presentations planned for conferences in Singapore, Kyoto and Chiba, Japan, https://www.iias.asia/events/icas-12

Lets see how 2021 will turn out but first of all I wish you all the best and stay safe!