ISHAPE2026

Summary

The video records the opening and panel sessions of ISHAPE 2026, an international seminar on sustainable and harmonious architecture, planning, and the environment. The seminar was hosted by the Department of Architecture and Planning at Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK) in collaboration with Indonesia’s National Institute of Public Administration (LAN).

University and event introduction

The opening promotional segment presents USK as a long-established university in Aceh, founded in 1961, with more than 30,000 students and programs across 12 faculties. It highlights research and support facilities, including the Atsiri Research Center and the Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center, as well as the university’s research, community-service, and partnership activities.

The seminar’s theme is the “resilient low-carbon nexus”: coordinating architecture, urban planning, public policy, innovation, and government capacity. Organizers emphasized that good plans and designs need effective policies and capable institutions to be implemented.

Opening keynote: Cities, climate, and implementation

The keynote speaker from LAN argued that cities are both major contributors to climate change and places where climate risks and solutions are concentrated.

Decisions about buildings, transport, land use, watersheds, forests, and wetlands affect emissions and disaster exposure for many years. Climate action must address resilience and inclusion as well as carbon reduction, since vulnerable communities often experience the greatest impacts.

National climate commitments are not enough by themselves. A persistent implementation gap separates national goals from what is delivered in local governments, neighborhoods, and individual buildings. The keynote identified four connected elements:

• Urban planning determines where development takes place.
• Architecture and the built environment shape how places are constructed and used.
• Policy establishes rules, incentives, standards, and financing.
• Governance capacity determines whether these elements are coordinated and put into practice.

LAN can help by strengthening climate and resilience literacy among public-sector leaders, improving evidence-based policymaking, and linking scientific research with government practice. The keynote’s central lesson was to synchronize knowledge, policy, and implementation. Low-carbon development and resilience should be pursued together.

Panel presentation 1: Rebuilding after Japan’s Noto earthquake

Professor Naomi Uchida discussed recovery in the remote Noto Peninsula after the 2024 earthquake. The region has distinctive traditional houses, landscapes, livelihoods, and village cultures, but also faces aging and population decline.

Japan’s general housing-recovery process involves assessing damage and issuing victim certification, allowing eligible owners to apply for publicly funded demolition, providing temporary housing, and eventually supporting reconstruction or public housing. In Noto, however, rapid demolition and reconstruction can lead to the loss of repairable homes, traditional buildings, and community character.

Key issues and approaches included:

• Repairing a damaged house may cost less than demolishing it and building replacement housing, particularly where transport and construction labor are expensive.
• Peer pressure, a shortage of real-estate intermediaries, and declining populations can make it difficult to retain or reuse traditional homes.
• Repairing individual buildings alone may not preserve the wider cultural landscape, which includes homes, farmland, forests, coastal areas, local work, and traditions.
• The “Noto Voice” discussion forum brings together residents, officials, architects, researchers, welfare specialists, and finance experts to consider recovery options.
• Community reconstruction hubs and the idea of a “relationship population”—people who maintain ties and contribute to a place without necessarily living there—were presented as ways to sustain communities and traditions.

Panel presentation 2: Data, AI, and urban resilience

Professor Orlando Woods questioned the assumption that smart-city systems and data automatically make cities more resilient. Drawing on examples from Bangkok and Jakarta, he argued that technology is only one part of a larger urban system.

He described a smart city as having several interconnected layers:

1. The underlying land and territory.
2. Physical infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, drainage, and flood barriers.
3. Sensors and data networks that monitor conditions.
4. Platforms and applications that turn data into decisions.
5. People and institutions that use those decisions.

The presentation emphasized three limitations and trade-offs:

• Resources: AI can help manage scarce resources, but data centers and AI systems consume substantial energy and water, potentially worsening resource pressures.
• Technology and data quality: Sensors and models can fail when data are inaccurate or poorly suited to local conditions. In Jakarta, pollution, rubbish, and changing river conditions can interfere with water-level monitoring. A model developed for other conditions may not work reliably in a Southeast Asian setting.
• Institutional capacity: Data can support decisions but cannot substitute for coordination, trust, communication, or cooperation among government agencies. Bangkok’s repeated flooding illustrated that improved information systems do not, by themselves, resolve governance problems.

The recommended approach was to develop smart-city systems slowly, on a small scale, and collaboratively: ensure basic infrastructure works, test solutions in manageable settings, and expand them only when they prove useful. The speaker also noted that hands-on community engagement and local field officers can build practical response capacity that technology alone may not provide.

Panel presentation 3: Heritage conservation and carbon emissions

Professor Lina Hilmasari presented heritage conservation as part of the low-carbon agenda. Conserving and adapting existing buildings can avoid some emissions associated with demolition and new construction while retaining cultural and architectural value.

Her research examined Acehnese traditional houses and the Gunongan heritage structure. It considered relocation, reconstruction, hybrid reconstruction, building materials, repairs, and maintenance.

The assessment approach considered a building’s full material and construction cycle—from resource extraction and processing through transport and construction—as well as its use, maintenance, replacement materials, and eventual demolition or disposal. Life-cycle assessment was used to estimate associated carbon emissions and compare conservation strategies.

Findings and recommendations included:

• Traditional buildings face material scarcity, especially for timber and traditional roofing materials; modern substitutes may change their character.
• Reconstruction generally requires more new materials and energy than retaining repairable structures.
• Maintenance also has an environmental cost, so conservation should aim for minimum necessary intervention while keeping buildings safe and usable.
• Government policy, forest stewardship, and responsible replacement of harvested materials are important to the long-term conservation of traditional buildings.

Panel presentation 4: Low-carbon planning through an Islamic worldview

Professor Azila Ahmed Sarawi discussed how Islamic ethical principles might inform planning and decarbonization. She reviewed the built environment’s many fields—including architecture, engineering, construction, planning, facilities management, sustainability, technology, property, and social factors—and connected them to urban emissions and climate impacts.

Her presentation called for:

• Measuring whether international, national, and local climate policies are producing results, rather than assuming that the existence of policies guarantees progress.
• Using performance monitoring to identify which sustainability targets are off track and where action is needed.
• Bringing ethical and religious perspectives into environmental education and policymaking alongside technical knowledge.
• Drawing on the Quran and Sunnah to frame humans as trustees responsible for the Earth, with permission to use natural resources but an obligation to respect limits and avoid harm.
• Translating these principles into planning practice, environmental education, and public-sector training.

She also discussed protecting forests as carbon sinks and described research into the possibility of combining forest protection with Islamic endowment principles. The presentation’s main proposal was to cultivate an ethical mindset and accountability that influence actual decisions, not just policy documents.

Questions and discussion

Questions from participants and online attendees addressed:

• How Japan sustains disaster awareness among younger generations.
• How data and physical infrastructure should work together during floods.
• Why heritage conservation matters for carbon reduction despite being a smaller sector than transport or industry.
• How planners can keep technology from becoming an end in itself.
• How to prioritize institutional capacity when resources for smart systems are limited.
• How religious and ethical principles can be incorporated into planning while addressing conflicts of interest and implementation failures.

Responses reinforced several themes: disaster awareness can shape everyday decisions; planning should begin with a clearly defined problem rather than with a technology; government and community education are both important; and ethical principles need to be reflected in institutions, accountability, and practice.

Closing message

The closing remarks characterized architecture and planning as ways to shape relationships among people, nature, culture, and the built environment. Participants were encouraged to turn the seminar’s ideas into research, stronger international partnerships, and practical solutions for more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive communities.

Speakers and sources featured

• Promotional narration about Universitas Syiah Kuala — narrator not identified.
• Muhammad Asca and Sadrina Yashafa — masters of ceremony.
• Mr. Putra (name and title unclear in the auto-generated subtitles) — organizing committee chair; welcoming remarks.
• Professor Heru Flei (name transcription uncertain) — USK representative and vice director for academic affairs; welcoming remarks.
• Mr. Nordin Saus (name transcription uncertain) — representative of the Banda Aceh regional administration; opening speech.
• Dr. Muhammad Taufiq, DEA (name transcription uncertain) — LAN representative; virtual keynote speaker.
• Dr. Astral Sidik (name transcription uncertain) — panel moderator.
• Professor Naomi Uchida — Saitama University, Japan; remote presentation on recovery after the Noto earthquake.
• Professor Orlando Woods — Singapore Management University; presentation on data, AI, and urban resilience.
• Professor Lina Hilmasari — Universitas Syiah Kuala; presentation on heritage conservation and carbon emissions.
• Professor Azila Ahmed Sarawi — International Islamic University Malaysia; presentation on low-carbon planning and an Islamic worldview.
• Dr. Safwan (full name unclear in the subtitles) — head of USK’s Department of Architecture and Planning; closing remarks.
• Mr. Pasha — led the opening prayer.

The ceremony also acknowledged international guests Teru Shibayama, Makoto Chikarashi, and Wataru Nakanishi. The video includes a safety briefing and group singing of Indonesia’s national anthem and the Aceh anthem; those sources are not individually identified.