FOCUS

To meet the rapid housing demand in Japan, land use was loosely transformed and regulated based on a growth-type urban strategy. However, since population decline starts from 2011, the current city planning in Japan sometimes have a difficulty with responding the changes. Moreover, due to the recent influence of COVID-19, researchers question the current urban form, infrastructure, and legislative systems. Such a trend can be seen not only in Japan but also in the world. Urban systems are exogenously and inelastically changed with a highly information-oriented society and the occurrence of pandemics and disasters, and it is of importance how we can flexibly adapt, respond, and mitigate to such changes. Therefore, building an integrated real estate database and reconstructing social ecosystems that respond to the changes are the themes for my research. This is the basis of urban policy-based quantitative analysis, and will be widely conducted from domestic housing analysis to international comparison.

I would like to make contributions to the socio-economic comparison of the ways of living worldwide. To achieve this, I focus on spatial planning and research related to housing and spatial analysis. Moreover, I focus on real estate analyses, establish a database construction method, and examine the characteristics of real estate transactions.

For other research overviews, please visit the following URLs.

Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University

Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University

EDUCATION

2019 Ph.D in Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo

2015 M.L.A., University of Washington

2013 M.E. in Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo

2011 B.E. in Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo

POSITION

2025.4–                  Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University

2024.4–                  Associate Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University

2024.4–2024.3      Visiting researcher,  Graduate School of Social Data Science, Hitotsubashi University

2023.4–2024.3      Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Data Science, Hitotsubashi University

2021.7–2023.3      Visiting researcher, TDB-CAREE, Hitotsubashi University

2021.4–                  Visiting researcher, Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo

2021.1–2023.3      Program-specific assistant professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies/Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University

2020.4–2020.12    Project assistant professor, Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo

2019.10–2020.3 Project researcher, Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo

2018.3–2018.7 Visiting researcher, Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

PUBLICATION (in English only)

Original paper

1. Liu, Q., Lin, J, Baba, H., Nishi, H., Zhao, S., Sho, K. (2025). Tourism Gentrification and Rentable Housing Vacancy Dynamics: A Mediation Analysis of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Cities, doi:10.1016/j.cities.2025.106406 [URL]

2. Mizutani, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H. (2025). Estimation of priority areas for vacant housing control using government statistics. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, doi: 10.1007/s10901-025-10222-0 [URL]

3. Mizutani, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H. (2025). Estimation of Future Vacancy Rates Throughout Japan Using Government Statistics. Urban and Regional Planning Review, 12, 25-43. [URL]

4. Kim, H., Baba, H., Shimizu, C., Hino, K. (2023). The relationship of single-family detached house prices with neighborhood walkability and disaster risk. PLoS ONE, 18(10), e0292657. [URL]

5. Nishi, H., Asami, Y., Baba, H., Shimizu, C. (2023). Scalable spatiotemporal regression model based on Moran’s eigenvectors. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 37(1),  162-188. [URL]

6. Baba, H., Shimizu, C. (2023). The impact of apartment vacancies on nearby housing rents over multiple time periods: Application of smart meter data. International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 16(7), 27-41. [URL]

7. Sayuda, K., Hong, E., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H., Tokudomi, T., Akatani, T. (2022). Accuracy of vacant housing detection models: an empirical evaluation using municipal and national census datasets. Transactions in GIS, doi: 10.1111/tgis.12992. [URL]

8. Baba, H., Ruiz-Varona, A., Asami, Y. (2022). Policies and Tax Systems for Regulating Vacant Houses: A Case Study on Spain and Japan. Urban and Regional Planning Review, 9, 153-166. [URL]

9. Hino, K., Baba, H., Kim, H., Shimizu, C. (2022). Validation of a Japanese walkability index using large-scale step count data of Yokohama citizens. Cities, 123, doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103614. [URL]

10. Hino, K., Mizutani, K., Asami, Y., Baba, H., Ishii, N. (2022). Attitudes of parents and children toward housing inheritance in a Tokyo suburb.  Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 21(5), 2131-2140. [URL]

11. Baba, H., Asami, Y. (2022). Cost-efficient factors in local public spending: Detecting relationships between local environments, population size, and urban area category. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 49(1), 241–258. [URL]

12. Baba, H., Asami, Y. (2020). Municipal Population Size and the Benefits of Intermunicipal Cooperation: Panel Data Evidence from Japan. Local Government Studies, 46(3), 371–393. [URL]

13. Baba H., Asami, Y. (2020). Estimating the minimal efficient scale and the effect of intermunicipal cooperation on service provision areas for waste treatment in Japan. Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, 4, 139–158. [URL]

14. Baba, H., Hino, K. (2019). Factors and tendencies of housing abandonment: An analysis of a survey of vacant houses in Kawaguchi City, Saitama. Japan Architectural Review, 2(3), 367–375. [URL]

15. Baba, H., Asami, Y. (2017). Regional Differences in the Socio-economic and Built-environment Factors of Vacant House Ratio as a Key Indicator for Spatial Urban Shrinkage. Urban and Regional Planning Review, 4, 251–267. [URL]

Conference proceedings

1. Shimizu, T., Mizutani, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H. Akiyama M. C. (2025) Development of a Method for Identifying the Presence of Front Roads Based on Building Coverage Ratio. Digital-Era Urban Transformations: Advancements in Data Science, Analytics and Technology, forthcoming.

2. Baba, H. (2023). Measurement of spatial inequality using micro-spatial data in Thailand. Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geocomputational Analysis of Socio-Economic Data, 1–4. [URL]

3. Baba, H., Akiyama, Y., Tokudomi, T., Takahashi, Y. (2020). Learning Geographical Distribution of Vacant Houses Using Closed Municipal Data: A Case Study of Wakayama City, Japan. ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, VI-4/W2-2020, 1–8. [URL]

PRESENATION (in English only)

1. 〇Baba, H., Fujita, K. (2025) Real estate trends in shrinking small cities with significant historical assets: Case study of Hagi City, Japan. International Conference of Asia-Pacific Planning Societies (ICAPPS) 2025, Aug. 20-22, 2025.

2. 〇Baba, H., Yoshikawa, Y. (2025) Post-event trends of attendees after the end of a large-scale event: A study of the Tokyo Dome. Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management Conference (CUPUM) 2025, Jun. 23-27, 2025.

3. 〇Shimizu, T., Mizutani, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H. Akiyama M. C. (2025) Development of a Method for Identifying the Presence of Front Roads Based on Building Coverage Ratio. Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management Conference (CUPUM) 2025, Jun. 23-27, 2025.

4. 〇Mizutani, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H. (2024) Estimation of Future Vacancy Rates Throughout Japan Using Government Statistics. Asian-Pacific Planning Societies 2024, Aug. 22-24, 2024.

5. 〇Baba, H. Measurement of spatial inequality using micro-spatial data in Thailand. 1st ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Geocomputational Analysis of Socio-Economic Data (GeoSocial 2023), Hamburg, Germany, Nov. 13–16, 2023.

6. 〇Baba, H. Japan's housing problems caused by sluggish housing demand. 國立政治大學地政學系不動產發展論壇, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 27, 2023.

7. 〇Baba, H. Creating indecators for accessibility inequality from micro-spatial data: A case study of Thailand. IGARSS 2023, Pasadena, LA, Jul. 16-21, 2023.

8. 〇Tomita, K., Akiyama, Y., Baba, H., Yachida, O. Estimating the spatial distribution of vacant houses with machine learning using municipal data. IGARSS 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jul. 17-22, 2022.

9. 〇Baba, H. Building real estate database and its application to urban studies. Association of Digital Humanities and Data Science 1st Colloquium, online, Jun. 23-24, 2022.

10. 〇Nishi, H.,  Asami, Y., Shimizu, C., Baba, H. Scalable Spatio-Temporal Regression Model using Moran’s Eigenvector and Its Application to the Housing Market. XV World Conference of Spatial Econometrics Association, online, May. 26–28, 2021.

11. 〇Baba, H., Akiyama, Y., Tokudomi, T., Takahashi, Y. LEARNING GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF VACANT HOUSES USING CLOSED MUNICIPAL DATA: A CASE STUDY OF WAKAYAMA CITY, JAPAN. 5th International Conference on Smart Data and Smart Cities, online, Sep. 30– Oct. 2, 2020.

12. 〇Baba, H., Asami, Y. Estimating Efficient population size for fire protection and its transition with intermunicipal cooperation in Japan. European Colloquium on Theoretical and Quantitative Geography 2019, Mondorf-Les-Bains, Luxembourg, Sep. 5-9, 2019.

13. 〇Baba, H., Walker, B. B., Asami, Y. Effect of reutilizing building demolition sites focusing on block-level livability in large housing estates of Berlin. URBAN TRANSITIONS 2018, Sitges, Spain, Nov. 25-27, 2018.

14. 〇Baba, H., Asami, Y. Estimating Optimal Population of Inter-municipal Cooperation on Waste Management in Japan. International Conference on Spatial Analysis and Modeling 2018, Tokyo, Japan, Sep. 8-9, 2018.

15. 〇Baba, H., Asami, Y. Characterizing shrinking cities by vacant house ratio with the use of socio-economic and physical factors. Asian-Pacific Planning Societies 2017, Nagoya, Japan, Aug. 24-26, 2017.

16. 〇De Souza, F. F., Baba, H., Yadav, S., An, K., Sangsanont, J. Underlying just compensation and land use in flood issues: An investigation on Ayutthaya Province after Thailand's 2011 event. The 10th International Symposium Southeast Asian Water Environment, Hanoi, Viet Nam, Nov. 8-10, 2012. 

17. 〇Baba, H., Ujiie, S., Ishikawa, M. A Study on the Development of Settlements and Tsunami, Earthquake Disaster from the Conditions of Natural Sites in Alluvial Plain: A case study of Tamaura Area, Iwanuma City, Miyagi prefecture. Proceedings of the 17th Inter-University Seminar on Asian Mega-Cities, National Pacific University, Khabarovsk, Russia, Sep. 7-8, 2012.

GRANT

1. JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, PI, FY2023-FY2026, Project Title: Current situation of real estate liquidity and the promotion measures using real estate registry information.

2. JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Co-investigator (PI: Shoichiro Hara), FY2021-FY2025, Project Title: Development of Evidence-Based Quantitative Area Studies.

3. JSPS Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (Research expenditure), PI, FY2020-FY2021, Project Title: Reconsideration of dwellings based on a land and housing database.

4. JSPS Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (Costs of building research environment), PI, FY2020-FY2024, Project Title: Reconsideration of dwellings based on a land and housing database.

5. JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, PI, FY2020-FY2022, Project Title: Estimation of housing vacancies in apartments and the effect of the vacancies on adjacent neighborhoods.

6. JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Co-investigator (PI: Chihiro Shimizu), FY2020-FY2024, Project Title: Real estate market and macroeconomics: explication using big micro-data.

7. JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists (DC2), PI, FY2018-FY2019, Project Title: Proper management of vacant properties in suburban residential areas based on quality of life.

8. JSPS Overseas Challenge Program for Young Researchers, PI, FY2017, Project Title: A Study on the current situation of vacant house and land and its impact assessment to adjacent neighborhood.

PERSONAL

Citizenship: Japanese

Languages: Japanese (native), English (fluent)

As of 15, Sept., 2025