Taking your semester project to the next level The Curitiba Crew

Every year in November, we have a ‘Week of Inspiration’ at the University. This week is filled with interesting lectures meant to widen your perspective and get you to look at things you would not normally look at. Last November, we had one particular talk on ‘Responsive Cities’, an evolution of smart cities.

In this talk, they discussed how the term smart city, within Europe, is used to define a city equipped with data collection techniques, with the purpose of making it safer and adapting it. However, this definition misses the human element. Some Eastern countries recognise that and thus focus more towards the people actually living in the city. Europe needs to follow suite to effectively tackle problems such as reducing greenhouse emissions.

The professor giving the talk, Gerard Schmitt from ETH Zürich, was one of the founders of ‘the future city lab’, positioned in Singapore, which focuses on helping to tackle modern urban challenges. He was introduced by Maya van den Berg, a programme coordinator for an initiative between the Brazilian city of Curitiba and the university of Twente. Our university had signed a document, a Memorandum of Understanding with the city allowing for our students and researchers to work with them on exchanging ideas and experiences. This was concerning mobility and innovation, primarily regarding the city’s need to accommodate population and economic growth, and the increased traffic that follows. Making it more sustainable at the same time would be convenient and would be in line with the city’s values.

The complex systems of smart cities seemed to present interesting socio-technical challenges. Two ATLAS students, Aliyya and Melanie were initially intrigued by this. After seeing their enthusiastic response to the lecture on smart cities, Maya van den Berg, the programme coordinator for this smart cities initiative, invited them to meet at a later point. Word spread, and the group grew, until the meetings involved six ATLAS students, pictured below (with two additional members, Oscar and Saskia, who joined a bit later “but are now important and integral members of the group”, according to one of the original members). 


Standing from the left are Florian, Titus, Joost, Oscar, and kneeling are Melanie, Aliyya, Natasha and Saskia

Out of the gate, they were discussing research projects and internships, wasting little time. They began to prepare, researching what they could, with general research on the city, meeting with students who had been to the city on various projects and trying to integrate this pursuit into the second-semester project. It was here that they narrowed their focus to sustainable mobility, and particularly bike and public transport systems. Additionally, given their previous experience with group work, they thought it smart to get started on the right foot. “This meant making sure our motivations aligned with the general goals of this project and figuring out how we work together as a group”, says Joost. With this, they found a common goal: creating change.

They were quite optimistic about joining this with the semester project, as it seemed ATLAS would accommodate them. This semester’s project was on writing a scenario for an emerging technology (A scenario is a substantiated prediction of where the technology will go, and how a stakeholder could influence that path), and while bicycles aren’t necessarily an emerging technology, the change they hoped to bring in seemed to fit what this semester project was about, complex systems, and the interactions of its stakeholders. There were compromises, and communication could have been better at times, but now they seem to be doing work that should actually help prepare them for travelling to Curitiba this summer.

Aliyya, Joost, and Natasha are all trying to clarify what the economic situation is in terms of bike sharing systems and what the benefits are observed from this system elsewhere. Florian, Melanie, and Titus are all trying to figure out how the city may bring about this change in transport incrementally. This means improving the current bike paths, increasing the safety of cycling in the city, and connecting public transit systems with bike-sharing systems. Finally, Saskia and Oscar are looking into the social side, how to tackle the problem when cars are seen as a symbol of status and prestige, while bicycles are considered dangerous, and motorists are not considerate towards cyclists. It does not end there, as Titus is even working on it as his personal pursuit, creating a research proposal for what the group will be doing there (read more about personal pursuits here).

As time has progressed, the project has gone from satisfying semester goals, to what is most beneficial for this summer. Now, they are all working on something that really will help them in their efforts in Curitiba, making connections that could actually advise them, and be of assistance in Brazil. Six have already arranged to go in a couple of months to start their internship, and they all seem pretty excited for it. One of those, Oscar, is staying back and planning on getting involved with it next year. He’s thinking of involving sustainable design, something he had researched previously as part of another personal pursuit. Exciting times are ahead, and the results should be interesting. Keep an eye on the UCT facebook page to hear about any further developments!

University College Twente offers a unique bachelor’s programme, Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences, to top students. Visit the University College Twente website for more information about the college and Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences website for more information about the bachelor program. Or visit us during the open day, a student-for-a-day or an insight-day.

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