An urban environment is a sophisticated system with many stakeholders i.e. citizens, local authorities, business sector, non-profit organisations. Their expectations are changing towards better utilisation of existing resources, less environmental pressure and increased quality of life. All these factors are challenging with regards to sustainable urban mobility planning to practicioners, but also to students and teachers responsible for providing them with necessary skills at univeristies. Interdisciplinary coordination of teaching courses is a problem especially when complex urban mobility problems are concerned. It is difficult to follow changes in all aspects of urban mobility management, analyse available case studies and transfer them into comprehensive teaching approach. The main objective of the project is to increase teaching capability on the field of sustainable urban mobility management. This effort is focused on extension of student's practical skills by implementation of practical project-based teaching method. This method is aimed to provide a compliance with a real-world challenges by inclusion of Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUMP) implementation requirements, which are regarded by European Commission as a benchmark for urban mobility planning which is widely accepted by many European cities. Another objective is to foster knowledge and skills acquisition by students. To meet this requirement a common internet teaching platform will be established. Its main application will be to provide an access to all teaching materials, guidelines and case studies developed as intellectual outputs during the projects. But this platform is reach beyond this function, providing a place to establish international project teams by students, ask questions and search for solutions with a help of users from other universities. The project's consortium is composed of three universities: Gdansk University of Technology as a Lead Partner(Poland), University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (Usti nad Labem, Czechia) and Technische Universitaet Dresden (Germany). Each univeristy is well experienced in sustainable urban mobility teaching and research. This facilitated identification of areas for improvement in mobility teaching which led to setting up a consortium. The project is following a step by step approach leading to development and testing of project-based teaching approach. It includes six intellectual Outputs: 1) Analysis of the sustainable urban mobility in the context of effective teaching, 2) Development of a methodology for evaluation of the project's activities, 3) Recommendations for development of sustainable urban mobility teaching, 4) Development of material for a purpose of the project-based teaching approach, 5) Setting-up of a common teaching internet platform, 6) Testing and evaluation of the project-teaching method. Two multiplier events are planned to disseminate the results and improve inclusion of students and teachers. Gdansk University of Technology is responsible for overall management of the project, elaboration of evaluation and dissemination plan as well as coordination of international meetings. The S@MPler project will have considerable impact at different levels and in different contexts and environments. The action will have specific impacts (a) at the local and regional level, which could employ better prepared urban transport experts, and thus indirectly contributing to enhanced transport and mobility systems for citizens and higher quality of life of citizens; (b) at the research level, thus contributing to increased knowledge about integrated urban transport planning, the SUMPs and various effects of different combinations and packages of sustainable transport measures; (c) at the national level by cooperation with national bodies (respective authorities, see Letters of Support) in education of future experts and supporting national-wide policies regarding sustainable urban mobility; and (d) at the European level by strengthening cooperation of universities, students and transport experts of cities and regions throughout the European Union. After successful finalisation of the project, all developed materials will be accessible as an open educational source and maintained by the GUT. It is expected that the materials will be further developed by their users – teachers and students -, above all new case projects and students work (like academic papers, theses etc.) will be added to the source. The maintainer – GUT – will check if the up-loaded materials fulfil the expected requirements like the content, author, and quality. The later added materials will be marked and located separately to distinguish them from those prepared under the S@MPler project.
The main objective of the project was to increase the quality of teaching and learning opportunities for students in the field of sustainable urban mobility. The effort focused on the practical skills in developing various types of projects related to the core thematic area. Therefore, it was decided to build the approach around the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) cycle endorsed by the EU. To support students in their career development project, the partners decided to deliver a comprehensive set of teaching resources supporting students in developing their practical skills in various aspects of mobility management. This included both lectures and selection of reference materials including case studies, implementation reports, and research papers. The project website https://sampler-erasmus.eu/ was intended to hold a database of all materials developed classified according to the most relevant SUMP phase. The project also aimed at disseminating the results and obtaining feedback from local and regional stakeholders involved in transportation and mobility planning; hence two multiplier events were planned. The first was to present the project approach and the first results, the second one to show the results.
The main motivation to apply for the project was understanding the increasing requirements for efficient planning of mobility in urban areas. Urban environment is a multifaceted system with interrelated relation between various stakeholders, such as the local community, businesses, local authorities, and many others. All express growing expectations for efficient use of existing limited urban resources. An effective transportation system that provides sustainable mobility options is crucial as a fundamental facilitator of other activities. Therefore, highly skilled professionals are required in the field of sustainable urban mobility planning. Their knowledge and skills should provide an interdisciplinary understanding of various aspects of this phenomenon. This might be difficult to obtain when only the point of view is considered. Each county developed its own approach to urban mobility, including the specifics of education in this field. The idea of this project was to build on the experience of three universities and bridge the existing narrow specialization by developing a comprehensive set of teaching resources applicable in a practical environment of urban mobility.