As part of the European InCITIES project, ISCTE organised the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) advanced school pilot titled Cities Futures – Interdisciplinary Challenges under the scientific and pedagogical responsibility of Catarina Ferreira da Silva, Associate Professor with Habilitation at ISCTE. This BIP started the 30th of October 2024 and runed until the 24th of January 2025, and involved students from the University Gustave Eiffel, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, University of Zilina (UNIZA) and Slovak University of Technology, and Professors and Researchers from ISCTE, Laurea and UNIZA.
The in-presence component of this BIP started the 20th of January 2024 with the Welcome ceremony by the ISCTE’s Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, Professor Maria das Dores Guerreiro, at the new ISCTE facilities for Knowledge and Innovation (ISCTE-CI).
Figure 1 – InCITIES BIP Cities Futures – Interdisciplinary Challenges –joint group photo at the Welcome ceremony.
The BIP week in Lisbon was filled with workshop sessions, visit to the InCITIES associated partners facilities, social events, roundtables, and a visit to the Audax_ISCTE entrepreneurship and innovation centre that provided souvenirs. The roundtable on Inclusive Social Design had the following invited speakers:
- Professor Luís Coelho, coordinator of the InCITIES EU sister project E³UDRES² Ent-r-e-novators, presenting the E³UDRES² Ent-r-e-novators results, namely on Inclusive Social Design and Open Science and Citizen Science.
- Researcher André Samora-Arvela, ISCTE, presenting the project GreenCity4Aging – The effects of urban green streets on mobility, social integration and ageism against older people, namely focusing on Active mobility and active aging policies in Portugal: the challenges for their alignment
Figure 2 – Prof. Luís Coelho, coordinator of E³UDRES² Ent-r-e-novators project
The roundtable on Future cities thinking with the Associated Partners involved the following invited speakers:
- Gilmário Duarte, representative of Inovar Autismo.
- Architect Cristina Pereira, and Engineer Tiago Gomes, representatives of the Lisbon town council, member of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
Figure 3 – Catarina Ferreira da Silva (ISCTE), Cristina Pereira (CML), Tiago Gomes (CML), and Gilmário Duarte (Inovar Autismo)
The on-site week culminated on the 24th of January 2025 with the Hackathon Future Cities: From Vivid Reality to Inclusive and Sustainable Challenges in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area focused on tackling urban authentic challenges, during which the proposals of the participating students were evaluated by a jury comprised of the course Professors, tutors, and the representatives from InCITIES associated partners, CP Comboios de Portugal, Genesis.studio and Inovar Autismo. The Hackathon started with the opening speech by the ISCTE’s Vice-Rector for the PIONEER Alliance, Professor Helena Carreiras. She welcomed the students, faculty, tutors, and the representatives of InCITIES’ associated partners, namely Dr. Marta Bom and Dr. Ana Peralta from CP Comboios de Portugal, Eng. Guido Santos from company Genesis Studio, and Dr. Gilmário Duarte from the Association Inovar Autismo.
The Hackathon awards were sponsored by the Portuguese public company CP Comboios de Portugal, EPE with the winning students receiving travel voucher experiences and CP merchandise. The invaluable participation of the associated partners, particularly the sponsorship of CP Comboios de Portugal, was instrumental in the success of the Hackathon, highlighting the importance of collaboration in fostering inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban development.
Figure 4 – ISCTE’s Vice-rector for the PIONEER Alliance, Professor Helena Carreiras, and Catarina Ferreira da Silva, Associate Professor with Habilitation.
Figure 5 – Hackathon winners with Drª Marta Bom (CP Comboios de Portugal), Eng. Guido Santos (Genesis Studio) and the students tutor António Trigo, Assistant Professor.
Figure 6 – Hackathon runners-up with Drª Marta Bom (CP Comboios de Portugal) and tutor Dr. Caterina Di Giovanni.
