Darat al Funun is pleased to present a talk on Machizukuri, a movement that began in the 1960s as a method of inter-community dialogue between civil society and government authorities. 

The talk is held in collaboration with IFPO, Institute Francais Proche Orient, by author and activist Mayumi Mori with Dr. Soizik Bechetoille, conservator architect at IFPO (French Institute of Near-East); Saleem Quna civil society activist from Jabal Al Weibdeh.

Mayumi Mori is a political activist and author of many books, and is very active in urban conservation projects.  She is a writer, essayist, editor, citizen activist, director of the Japan National Trust (a public interest agency), and is a researcher at Meiji Gakuin University International Peace Research Institute. 

She was a researcher at Waseda University Journalism Research Institute and a of Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at Tokyo University.  In October 1984, she became a freelance editor and started to work with local housewife fellow Noriko Yamazaki and her sister, Hiromi Ogi, on the regional magazine Yanaka Nezu Sendagi (Yanesen kobo). It became a topic of editorial policy centered on listening to the local people, gaining popularity beyond local magazines. In addition, she published the Yanesen map and made the area a popular spot. As described in her book Tokyo Heritage, Mayumi Mori was involved in a civil movement that preserves the Ueno Concert Hall, Tokyo Station, the former Iwasaki Mansion, the Ueno Shinobazu Pond, and the Yasuda Mansion. Since 2013, she has co-represented the “Jingu Gaien and the Future of National Stadium”, an association against the destruction of the original Olympic stadium 1958 in Tokyo. She gives lectures in Birmanie and India for the Japan Foundation.