Underground Built Heritage (UBH) is an important element in creating a community's identity with historical and cultural features, such as caves and mine sites, wartime air-raid shelters, underground munitions factory sites, mining sites or cave dwellings, which are common overseas. In areas with UBHs, there are some cases of local development through the use of these resources. They may also be used as primary and secondary education places.
This symposium provides a forum for research teams from Japan and Italy, who have started academic collaboration on JSPS bilateral joint research, to gather information and share views on the current status of activities and research in other regions, not only in terms of research, but also in terms of promoting and leading the safe and secure usage of UBH in the local region. In other words, it can also be said to be the kick-off meeting of the UBH Consortium.
This symposium will introduce Yoshimi Hyakunana (Yoshimi Town, Saitama Prefecture), Taya Cave (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture) and Akaneko Cave (Usuki City, Oita Prefecture) from Japan, as well as Naples, Italy, Sicily and the Champagne mine from Reims, France, from abroad. The first day of this symposium will be held in a face-to-face style, with some remote broadcasts, from 'Yoshimi Hyakana' as a case study of the use of UBH research in rural areas, and on the second day from 'Taya Cave' as a case study in a suburban rural area. This session will introduce the field and exchange views, including their deployment and usage for education. Also, the lectures will be given in a high-flex format on both days, after the on-site tours, and we will discuss the use of UBH from an international comparative perspective, including cases of UBH research activities from Europe, such as Italy and France, as well as examples of its deployment of the educational contexts and its commercialisation in the tourism .