Summer School MoVe

Modeling of traffic flows, administrative structure and transport policy are the key topics of the Summer School 2024. Find out about our offer for the first week of May 2024!

Our this year's Summer School is a great opportunity to broaden your horizons about different topics in the field of mobility and transport. Together with students from other international colleges and universities we will visit Europe's largest railroad construction site Stuttgart 21, the new Stuttgart Central Station and other transportation infrastructures. The program includes excursions to Stuttgart, the surrounding areas and Lake Constance. International teams of Summer School guests work with students from the Master's program in Transportation Infrastructure Management on small projects that will be presented at the end of the Summer School.
 

- Registration for this year's Summer School will be closed on March, 14th. 2024 - Please register by e-mail (dennis.dreher@hft-stuttgart.de), stating your name, degree program and university. You will receive a confirmation of receipt and an acceptance or rejection after the registration deadline.

Period: 26.04.-03.05.2024 (excl. arrival and departure)

Duration: 8 days (excl. arrival and departure)

Costs: You bear the costs for travel, accommodation and meals. Travel and accommodation have to be organized by yourself. The cost of the Summer School is 200 euros per participant. A limited number of free places will be made available.

Who can participate: Students in a degree program related to mobility and transportation. 

Program:

• Friday, 26.04.24: Arrival at HFT Stuttgart, Workshop Transport Policy and Infrastructure
  Management (Part 1)

• Saturday, 27.04.24: Field trip to Esslingen

• Sunday, 28.04.24: Field trip to Stuttgart 21

• Monday, 29.04.24: TV-Tower Stuttgart, Workshop Transport Policy and Infrastructure
  Management (Part 2)

• Tuesday, 30.04.24: Workshop about Traffic Simulation at HFT Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz-museum

• Wednesday, 01.05.24: Excursion Lake Constance

• Thursday, 02.05.24: Workshop Transport Policy and Infrastructure Management (Part 3), visiting Stuttgart's spring festival

• Friday, 03.05.24: Tour of Stuttgart Airport

• Saturday, 04.05.24: Departure

Organisation: The Summer School MoVe is an initiative of the HFT Stuttgart and the Competence Center Mobility and Transport under the direction of the Vice-Rector of Studies and Teaching Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lutz Gaspers.

Corrdination and contact: Dennis Dreher, M. Eng.

The Summer School is supported by quality assurance funds for teaching from the student body.

After a long journey via Montreal and Paris, the participants of our Summer School 2023 of the University of New Brunswick (Canada) arrived in Stuttgart. After a short night, the first official day of the Summer School started with a welcome by Prof. Dr. Lutz Gaspers, with a lecture about Stuttgart, insights into the German culture as well as about Stuttgart 21. Following a lecture by Prof. Dr. Axel Norkauer and a guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Trevor Hanson, the group work started together with the graduate students of the program Transportation Infrastructure Management. Introduced by lectures of Dr. Christian Förstner (Ministry of Transport Baden-Württemberg) in the field of transport policy as well as Dr. Daniel Zimmermann (University of Applied Sciences Ludwigsburg) on paricipation procedures, the students then worked out the different approaches in German and Canadian transport planning and policy.

Through the exchange of information on the group tasks and beyond, interesting discussions arose between the students. A good basis for the different excursions in the next days!

Day 2 of the MoVe Summer School started with an excursion of the Stuttgart region. The group took the S-Bahn to Esslingen and visited the city. Prof. Dr. Lutz Gaspers gave the group interesting insights into the city's history and the development of public transport in and around Esslingen. The students then took the city bus to the vineyards, followed by dinner at a local Besen (small restaurants which are located directly in the vineyards). The trip to Esslingen allowed the group to learn about different means of transportation in the Stuttgart region and how they are interconnected.

For the third day of the Summer School, an excursion to the Black Forest, a popular hiking and vacation region in southern Germany, was on the agenda. Together with bachelor and master students from HFT Stuttgart, the group drove to Bad Wildbad. Driving through a 2.3 km tunnel as well as the Autobahn, federal highways and country roads, the group discussed the different transportation planning approaches of Germany and Canada.

Arrived in Bad Wildbad and a short detour to the city center, the group took the cable car to the famous hiking trail "Baumwipfelpfad". After a short hike through beech, fir and spruce trees the famous viewing platform awaited the students at the end of the trail. The 40 m high tower offers a spectacular all-round view over the forests of the northern Black Forest with the highlight of the tower: a 55 m long giant slide that leads the visitors from the platform down to the exit.

After an eventful excursion to the Black Forest, day 4 of the Summer School was devoted to exploring Stuttgart. First, the group went to the Stuttgart TV Tower, a 217 m high radio tower and the first of its kind in prestressed concrete construction, with a viewing platform at 150 m and a breathtaking view over Stuttgart. Coincidentally, there was a small concert on the TV tower that day, which rounded off the stay in a positive way.

The group then took the subway and S-Bahn to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, a car museum that takes guests on a journey through time of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The exhibition rooms wind over several floors and show the development of the automobile as well as famous racing cars of the Stuttgart car manufacturer.

On the fifth day of the Summer School, the group returned to HFT after a long weekend. The day started with a lecture followed by a practical part on a traffic simulation software. The students simulated pedestrian route relationships between the campus and the city center.

The tour of the Stuttgart 21 rail construction site was on the agenda for the afternoon. The group was given a guided tour of the exhibition rooms with lots of information about the rail project and was able to see the current status of the conversion of Stuttgart's main station from a terminus to a through station. Afterwards, the group went into the newly constructed tunnels of the S-Bahn as well as the regional and long-distance trains. A unique opportunity!

On the sixth day of the Summer School, the group headed to the south of Baden-Württemberg, again accompanied by students from HFT Stuttgart. The first stop was in Rottweil, the oldest city in Baden-Württemberg. Only a few years ago, the city redesigned its entire inner city into a traffic-calmed area with several other urban design measures. Here, the students were able to take away a lot about current planning practices in German cities.

The trip then continued to Constance on Lake Constance, where the group was able to gain insights into other infrastructures and how they function, such as the ferry port or the rail infrastructure. After visiting the old town, the group tested one of the infrastructures directly themselves. To avoid the long drive from Constance along the tongue of the lake to the north of Lake Constance, there is a ferry connection between Constance and Meersburg. Although ferries are not uncommon in Canada, where lakes and fjords also have to be crossed, everyone was happy about the ferry ride and about being able to explore Lake Constance from the water.

The trip to Lake Constance opened up great opportunities for exchange and networking for the students of UNB as well as HFT. Some of our students are even considering a semester abroad at UNB.

Day 7 of the Summer School also meant the official end of the group work. On this day, the students of UNB and HFT presented their results in the form of posters and Prof. Dr. Lutz Gaspers presented our guests with a certificate of participation in the MoVe Summer School. After the successful completion of the official part and a feedback round on the experiences of the past days, the group ended their day at the Stuttgart Spring Festival. Another part of the southern German culture they could take with them that evening.

On the final day of the Summer School it was important for our guests to take away as much as possible about the mobility and transport topics in the Stuttgart region. Therefore, the group visited the Mobility Hub in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, accompanied by an employee of the City of Stuttgart, as well as Stuttgart Airport afterwards.

Thank you to the students from UNB as well as Prof. Dr. Trevor Hanson for coming all the way to participate in our MoVe Summer School. We hope that you were able to take a lot away from these days and broaden your professional horizons. We are already looking forward to the next Summer School!