Faculty of Health Sciences at Hokkaido University launched the "Preparing an environment for the creation of a community-based social model based on collaboration with people with disabilities and elderly people with dementia" (commonly known as the Courtyard Project) in 2024.

Faculty of Health Sciences is a department that trains five medical professions and is home to these specialists. It is only at Faculty of Health Sciences that we are able to expertly assess the performance of people with disabilities, the elderly, and those living with dementia, and provide support that utilizes their respective strengths. The "Courtyard Project" was launched to become a model case for a new social coexistence, by creating, connecting, and expanding community circles while cleaning up courtyards and growing crops. We are currently working to create three community circles: "Student Circles," "Local Circles," and "Hokkaido University Circles."

Student circle

The "Courtyard Creation Division" and "Public Relations Division" include students from the School of Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, and Graduate Graduate School of Health Sciences, who work with faculty and staff to create the garden, plan and host events, and carry out public relations activities. The students also created the logo and characters, and posted about their activities on Instagram. Students from different majors and courses who normally have little contact with each other are deepening their interactions, and are livening up the project with their flexible thinking and initiative.

Community Circle

Aiming to become a place for casual interaction for the local community, we will work together, primarily with the elderly, to create a garden. We hope that through this fresh encounter between students and local people, not just local people, students will have new opportunities to have fun and learn new things, and that the circle of interaction will expand. In addition to working in the gardens in the courtyard, we also hold events such as radio calisthenics, curry making, and health checkups.

Hokkaido University Circle

Knowledge of soil, plants, and living things is essential when creating a courtyard. For this reason, the Hokkaido University Northern Biosphere Field Research Center is supporting the "Courtyard Project." Both Faculty of Health Sciences and the Northern Biosphere Field Research Center are participants in the Hokkaido University Future Earth Consortium, and are closely connected in terms of the SDGs. The Northern Biosphere Field Research Center's support extends beyond the creation and maintenance of the courtyard, to a wide range of activities, including the creation of benches using trees cut down during campus maintenance.