The University of Minnesota’s College of Design seems to always have an intriguing lecture, exhibition or conference happening that’s sure to appeal to architecture and design aficionados.

On Thursday, for example, the college launches a new “Global Practices in Architecture Lecture Series” at Rapson Hall, with Kaori Ito, associate professor of urban planning and design at the Tokyo University of Science. The title of her talk is “Tokyo: Small Urban Spaces in the World’s Largest Urban Area.”

Japan’s culture and history — whether your tastes incline toward cuisine, anime, fashion, technology, architecture or the ancient arts — make the country one of the most fascinating in Asia. In her lecture, Ito will share Tokyo’s urbanity and lifestyles through the lens of her eclectic, multi-disciplinary work, including a short animated film (“PopulouSCAPE”).

She’ll also present work from the “Tokyo Picnic Club,” a project she founded in 2002 with architect Hiroshi Ota. TPC brings together artists from architecture, urbanism, landscape, graphic design, illustration, photography, the culinary arts and exhibition curation to create projects in public spaces. Their work has been shown in Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom.

For a listing of lectures in the series, go here.

6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 26, 100 Rapson Hall, U of M, Minneapolis. Free.