RAILtoLAND project aims to explore the social and educational value of the European cultural landscape, as a common heritage, and as a catalyser of consolidation of European identity processes, social cohesion, creation of local cultures and improvement of human well-being. It is aligned with the aims of the European Landscape Convention, involving the target population in decision-making processes and designing landscape enhancement initiatives. In particular, the Project proposes formal and informal learning dynamics, that prioritize structured dialogues with young people and mutual learning in an international and intercultural context. Tests methodologies of educational innovation, such as Design Thinking or Learning by doing, aimed at improving horizontal skills and competences in communication, creativity and critical thinking. It resorts to the Open Learning platforms of High Education partners to expand their training offer in terms of valorisation, management and protection of landscapes, specifically European landscapes, and their built heritage, especially the railway. Indeed, the railroad is the thread in this project of a good part of the intellectual results, because of its structuring and dynamic nature of the territory, because it serves as a platform for the appreciation of cultural landscapes throughout Europe from a new perspective and because it constitutes one of the key elements in the construction of modern Europe. The proposal integrates 6 partners from Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, selected for being referents in different areas linked to the objectives of the project. In particular, 4 public institutions of Higher Education (UPM, UAM, UPEM and UNIVPM), 1 applied research center (CCG) and a private entity that represents and coordinates all the railway companies of the world (UIC). Furthermore, Renfe Operaciones y Comboios de Portugal (CP) collaborate as non-formal partners in the proposal, , especially in the application of the project on a pilot railway line, which links the cities of Oporto and Vigo. The proposed activities to achieve the aims of the project consist in the design of a Micromáster MOOC's Innovation for the valorisation and communication of the European Cultural Landscapes and its Railway Heritage, accessible for free and a guide of didactic contents RAILtoLAND, applied to the Oporto line -I watch Accompanying this didactic material of a more theoretical or conceptual nature, other digital intellectual products have been designed that try to optimize their possibilities of transfer to citizens, so they have a more informative profile (although with high quality content), more dynamic (videos, 3D modeling of landscapes, augmented reality ...). These materials are integrated in a computer application, RAILtoLAND, downloadable in iOs and Android that works by geo-positioning the train along the different identified landscape units. Due to the specific nature of the contents and the operation of the application, it is designed for a pilot project, the Oporto-Vigo line. The success of the RAILtoLAND project lies in two fundamental factors: the achievement in in good time and in an appropriate manner of each of the eligible activities, and the dissemination and transfer of the project results to other Higher Education organizations, to companies in the railway sector, to entities referents in research and management of heritage and landscape and society in general. For this reason, the proposal includes a plan for quality management and compliance with exhaustive deadlines, as well as a Communication Plan, which takes advantage of the partners' contact networks. The sustainability of the project in the medium and long term is guaranteed by using the OCW platforms of the partner (HE) and by specifying the project in a pilot product applied to a line managed by Renfe Operaciones y CP. In this sense, the impact of the project is very high and covers not only a university profile, but can benefit a much larger segment of the population.
This project was presented with the aim of improving the transversal competences of Higher Education students in communication, creativity and critical thinking, and with the ultimate priority objective of providing quality content for the concept of Europe, its cultural landscapes and the common culture that young university students and European society in general have. To this end, the railway was proposed as the guiding thread of the whole project, as it is one of the most relevant built elements in the shaping of European identity and culture, for strengthening ties, relations and cultural exchanges in Europe, and for uniting and structuring its territory like few other elements. Moreover, the European landscapes crossed by the train are a rich cultural legacy, the common heritage of all Europeans and a symbol of identity.
railTOland was conceived with the desire to address one of the most pressing challenges facing Europe today, the reversal of disintegrative inertias, the consolidation of European identity, its social cohesion, and the understanding of its diversity within the Community space. These objectives were approached from a social awareness of the value of its landscapes as a common heritage. Although these reflections are valid for the whole of European society, we considered young university students to be a key focus of interest for this proposal. These young people are just a few years away from becoming the professionals who will decide the future of Europe; this is probably the last chance we educators have to convey messages that will have an impact on their lives. Moreover, the University is, or should be, the mirror in which society looks at itself, and the spearhead of innovative initiatives and lines of thought, which will strengthen Europe.