Moving the Cities 2024 at the University of Pittsburgh: Developing solutions for industry and infrastructure

The Swanson School of Engineering of the University of Pittsburgh hosted the event at the end of October. The approx. 50 participants from our international partner institutions focused their project work on the ninth UN Sustainable Development Goal "Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure" - building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization and fostering innovation. The entire concept is based on the participants bringing in different perspectives and, in particular, finding meaningful solutions to regional problems.

Working in small multicultural groups, the students developed their ideas, which they presented to a panel of judges at the final event - in just three minutes each. Two of the ideas: quickly reopening an airport after a flood by building mobile walls that are automatically raised by water pressure. And reducing CO2 emissions from cement production by mixing it with rice husks.

During the sprint week, the University of Pittsburgh also organized cultural activities, such as a sightseeing tour on one of the city's famous trolleys and a Halloween party with treats and costumes prepared at the University’s Maker Space.

Since its founding, the project underlined the networking character and helped accelerate the larger international initiative "xRegions". xRegions, named one of Germany's 30 best ideas for education, science and innovation by the Stifterverband in 2020, was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

We thank the University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, for the great organization of this event.