Date/Period: 20-24 October 2025
Daily Schedule: will be provided to the selected students during the last week of September
Organized by: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany)
Registration and Participation: https://forms.gle/GeHWy8LAmKSjhCt89
Deadline for registration: 20th September 2025, 23:59
Objectives of the Call
The primary objective of the program is to enhance the understanding and strategic relevance of urban sustainability. It aims to equip students with interdisciplinary tools to:
- Explore sustainable transformation through participatory and creative interventions.
- Address real-life municipal challenges in public spaces, specifically in Ingolstadt, Germany.
Specific objectives include:
- Enhance the quality of public spaces: Develop concepts to improve the attractiveness and usability of public spaces.
- Promote sustainable urban development: Address climate change adaptation measures such as de-sealing, greening, shading, and providing access to drinking water.
- Foster social interaction: Create spaces for community engagement, especially for children and young people.
- Revitalize vacant spaces: Develop ideas for the use of vacant ground-floor zones.
- Promote sustainable mobility: Integrate concepts for parking and alternative mobility solutions.
- Participation and awareness: Actively involve the local population and stakeholders in the transformation process.
Course Short Description
Title: Sustainable Cities: Re-designing Public Spaces – PlatzDa!
Format: Applied Blended Challenge (ABC) Program
Organisers:
- Host: Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI)
- Co-hosts: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) and Goce Delcev University (GDU)
- Location where it will take place: Ingolstadt, Germany
- Stakeholder: City of Ingolstadt
Short Description:
The “Sustainable Cities: Re-designing Public Spaces – PlatzDa!” course is a blended, challenge-based program that immerses students in real-world urban challenges. It combines weekly online learning with an intensive face-to-face project week in Ingolstadt, where students co-develop solutions for challenges involving the use of vacant and ground-floor spaces. The course integrates sustainability science, smart city approaches, stakeholder analysis, and policy communication tools to foster actionable solutions and entrepreneurial thinking in international student teams.
ECTS: 3 credits
Duration:
- Online: 6-9 October 2025, 15:00-17:00 CEST and 13 October 2025, 10:00-12:00 CEST
- On-site: 20-24 October 2025
Target Group
Students from ACE2EU partner universities
Quota: 4 students per university
Profile:
- Students from diverse academic backgrounds (urban planning, environmental studies, business, public policy, engineering, etc.)
- Motivated to work on real-world municipal challenges
- Interested in sustainability, smart cities, and international collaboration
Expected skills/attitudes:
- Willingness to collaborate in interdisciplinary and intercultural teams
- Proactive engagement in both online and face-to-face sessions
- Openness to entrepreneurial and policy-oriented thinking
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Understand the sustainability and mobility challenges faced by urban areas, with emphasis on mid-sized European cities.
- Co-create utilization strategies taking climate change adaptation measures, sustainable mobility, and social aspects into account.
- Translate analytical insights into policy-relevant recommendations and public impact narratives.
- Collaborate in international, interdisciplinary teams, enhancing team-building, communication, and project management skills.
- Communicate proposals effectively, both visually and verbally, during a final pitch to city stakeholders.
Participants must attend the full session and contribute to collaborative tasks.
Certification
A certificate of attendance will be issued by the course organizers upon successful participation. The certificate will list:
- Course title
- Learning outcomes
- Developed competences
- Duration (10 hrs. synchronous online, 24 hrs. onsite + 56 hrs. independent and group work)
Contact & Coordination
For any questions or support related to the course, please contact:
Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt:
Prof. Katherine Roegner – katherine.roegner@thi.de
