UniverCity Action Lab (UCITYLAB)

Linking European universities with their urban stakeholders to jointly address societal challenges

The Last Issue of our Magazine is Out!

The fifth and last biannual issue of the UCITYLAB Project is now available. The project has come to an end and this issue aims to give you the latest updates on the project, as well as summarize this journey by going through all the results that the project has produced. In this issue we present out latest Intellectual Output: The UCITYLAB Learning Platform, and we will also talk about the international event that took place in March, where the consortium presented the UCITYLAB outputs in a webinar and discussion panel. Download the magazine to find out more!
1008 Downloads
UCityLab Magazine_finalissue_page-0001

The University-City Action Lab (UCITYLAB) project aims to strengthen the links between HEIs and the city stakeholders by having students solve city issues through a series of challenge projects in Paris, Barcelona, Porto and Ljubljana. It will do so by facilitating knowledge exchange and flow of resources, enhancing societal relevance of HEI curriculum via civic engagement, helping develop relevant skills among students, empowering universities in increasing their knowledge and practice in establishing urban partnerships, and fostering adoption of city engagement models in European HEIs.

The project started in 2018 and runs until 2021. The end result will be a comprehensive understanding of how universities and governments collaborate, as well as the development of 8 Challenge projects at 4 different higher education institutions.

Check out the Special Issue of the UIIN Magazine on Local & Regional Development!

The UCITYLAB Project consortium greets the autumn season with a special issue of the University Industry Innovation Magazine, dedicated to the role of universities in nurturing local and regional growth in Europe. In this publication, our guest authors from South Africa and Ireland discuss the role of universities in the effective regional ecosystems, while the contributors from the USA and the UK shed light on the issues of engagement and university impact in smaller markets and the rural environment. Additionally, we provide examples of successful collaborative initiatives embracing multidisciplinary challenge-based learning and dive into the exploration of collaborative living labs.
1160 Downloads
2020 Special Issue - FINAL ONLINE_page-0001

OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT

During its lifetime, the project will map the status-quo of university-city cooperation at the national and international level, launch UCITYLAB networks in the partner countries to start conversations with regional stakeholders for collaborative societal innovation, and prepare the UCITYLAB challenge course program and implement it in two phases of teaching and real-life projects, during which the students tackle challenges in their urban environment. While UCITYLAB targets the development of university-city cooperation in four major European cities – Porto, Paris, Ljubljana, and Barcelona – the project puts great emphasis on highlighting good practice initiatives from both within Europe and across the globe to facilitate knowledge exchange among the stakeholders.

Are you involved in a university-city initiative to tackle urban challenges via student projects, or research? Join our UCITYLAB Network through our LinkedIn page to share experiences, and contact us if you would like your initiative to be published in our project blog.

Student Experiences for University-City Engagement

In this video, Rui Coutinho, Executive Director for Innovation, Development and Growth at Porto Business School, tells us his institution and students’ experience to problem-based solving and network creation in Porto.

PROJECT CONSORTIUM

The information and views set out in this web-site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.