EELISA-on-the-MOVE

EELISA-on-the-MOVE: Planning urban transitiONs for THE MOst inclusiVE and sustainable mobility

According to the UN, by 2050, two in three people will live in urban areas, adding another 2.5 billion citizens to towns and cities. And while urban growth is often linked to economic success, there is an increasing call for cities to tackle global warming, reduce their emissions and ultimately improve the quality of life. In this context, EELISA on-the-MOVE aims to create a multidisciplinary community to address the challenge of creating sustainable and inclusive cities through mobility planning. This means the Community generates interaction between students, educators, researchers, and external actors. Based on real projects, EELISA on-the-MOVE develops innovative teaching and co-creates efficient, green and state-of-the-art technological solutions for better cities, through smart mobility planning.

Our aim is to create an academic and multidisciplinary environment to address the challenge of reaching sustainable and inclusive cities through mobility planning. It will rely on the interaction between students, teachers, researchers, and external actors, through innovative teaching activities focused on creating efficient and technological-oriented solutions. 

Urban mobility is a major challenge for current society. Institutions, academics, and practitioners acknowledge the need for addressing daily mobility needs by using a multidisciplinary, innovative, user-centered, sustainable, and inclusive approach. Under this context, the creation of “EELISA-ON-THE-MOVE” can contribute to this social challenge not only from an academic view but also by seeking specific solutions linked to technological development and its further validation. The feasibility and strategic convenience of this EELISA community relies on the following aspects:

• Based on solutions co-creation: methods followed by “EELISA on-the-MOVE” are based on promoting activities where teaching staff, students, companies, institutions, and stakeholders interact with each other. That will activate learning processes between participants oriented towards solving real social challenges. To implement this methodological approach, specific activities will be covered, such as seminar series focused on real mobility projects; co-creation workshops involving multiple case studies linked to EELISA institutions; the implementation of hackathons for specific challenges; summer schools.

• Based on synergies with existing teaching activities: activities promoted by “EELISA on-the-MOVE” will be highly connected to existing teaching offers from EELISA institutions. To elaborate this EELISA community, the team has made specific contacts and arrangements with institutions within EELISA (e.g. Ecole des Ponts-Paris Tech and Budapest Institute of Technology and Economics), which have teaching programs focused on urban mobility. Furthermore, the teaching staff involved in this proposal are responsible for a wide range of courses focused on urban mobility.

• Based on external collaborations with institutions and stakeholders: the creation of “EELISA on-the-MOVE” will not only be oriented towards establishing links to other EELISA institutions, but external institutions and stakeholders will also be involved. To make this possible, the team has already contacted different institutions and stakeholders with interest in “EELISA on-the-MOVE”, such as Consorcio de Transportes de Madrid, METRO-Madrid, Telefónica, International Public Transport Association (UITP), Patronato de Personas con Discapacidad, Asociación a Pie. Moreover, it is known that the rest of EELISA institutions approached by this team has also an extensive network of external institutions and stakeholders interested in this EELISA community.