Urbanism and Suburbanization in the EU Countries and Abroad: Reflection in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

The project aimed to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing among experts in urban and suburban culture, responding to rapid changes in these areas across the EU and the US. While significant research had been conducted, it often occurred in isolation within individual disciplines, limiting comprehensive understanding and innovative solutions. It aimed to address critical needs by bridging gaps between fields such as the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The project sought to create a platform for collaboration, enriching the educational landscape. The complexity of urban and suburban issues, e.g. mobility, ethnic diversity, inclusion and exclusion dynamics, identity formation, required diverse perspectives for effective analysis and teaching. With the increasing importance of digital tools in education, the project aimed to leverage technology for teaching about urban and suburban culture, making knowledge more accessible. The initiative sought to address contemporary challenges faced by urban communities in both regions, fostering dialogue and generating solutions that could be implemented in real-world contexts. This project aimed to significantly contribute to public discourse on urban and suburban culture.

The project aimed to achieve key objectives by implementing innovative teaching and learning strategies at tertiary institutions while maximizing the use of digital tools. A primary goal was to demonstrate that transdisciplinarity and synergy between the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences are essential for comprehensive sub/urban studies. Through discussions of sub/urban issues, the project sought to deepen understanding of European citizenship, emphasizing how residential choices in the EU relate to national and European identities. Inclusion was central, with plans to actively involve participants with special needs in all activities, including teaching events. The project also aimed to foster public discussions with local, national, and potentially European stakeholders about sub/urban challenges and future developments, with a focus on sustainability. By engaging diverse groups such as university students, staff, and the general public in multiplier events, the project sought to maximize participation. Finally, by posting results on open access platforms – project website, findings would be freely available for other researchers and educators to build upon, promoting ongoing dialogue in sub/urban studies.

The project team implemented diverse activities focused on research, teaching, and public engagement to disseminate results. The research component explored recent developments in sub/urban studies, leveraging the extensive expertise of team members from various fields. This transdisciplinary approach ensured that target groups benefited from a rich amalgamation of knowledge. Teaching and learning activities aligned with the Erasmus program's priorities: inclusion, diversity, digitalizatio n, and sustainability. Several LTTA events were organised ensuring the participation of all partner universities. Following their success and available budget, several bilateral LTTAs were also held. Furthermore, the project utilized green travel options and actively included individuals with special needs. Results were shared with both target groups and the general public through multiplier events, where partner institutions exchanged best practices. The project aimed to raise awareness of national and European citizenship by discussing sub/urbanism's specificities. A comparative analysis with the American context highlighted similarities and differences in contemporary sub/urban studies. Collaborative projects brought together staff and students from all four partner universities, employing digital methods in instruction. Multiplier events included small conferences held by invidual partners for their national audiences, a major international conference, workshops, and exhibitions, fostering public discussion and engaging political stakeholders effectively. The whole project was at the same time framed and effectively managed through regular transnational project meetings with the participation of all partners. Taking into account time and distance, these meetings were planned in conjunction with the individual learning, training and teaching activities in order to achieve mutual time synergies. Throughout the implementation, project and financial management of all activities was carried out simultaneously, primarily by Palacký University.

The project has yielded significant results, particularly in enhancing the skills of its target groups, which include university students and staff, in utilizing digital technologies for educational purposes. This improvement encompasses both the learning processes and instructional methods. A central theme of the project has been the exploration of sub/urban issues, which are intricately linked to the societal challenges faced by both EU and non-EU countries. As a result, participants have gained a deeper understanding of national and European values, as well as concepts of citizenship. Among the tangible outcomes of the initiative are several scholarly contributions. The project has produced a scholarly monograph The New Suburbia, published by Oxford UP (for the first one ever this distinguished press published a book based on an Erasmus project), another collective monograph of 32 chapters (15 by SUBEUA consortium members) entitled Suburbia Revisited is under review by a top-ranking publisher Springer Nature. The authors are a distinguished scholars in the field. Originally, there were 10 book chapters promised. produced were 17, and therefore the exceeding number of them makes up for the total number of scholarly articles—10 were produced against 14 promised. However, the total number of outputs in these two categories combined (promised outputs 10 chapters + 14 articles) is exceeded as there are 1 complete book, 16 chapters and 10 articles. Furthermore, the project produced 21 innovative teaching materials that were tested, updated based on real classroom use, and finalized during the project implementation period. These will continue to be used in the future in teaching at the participating organisations and beyond. Exhibition of the projects results in transdisciplinary perspective was installed during the project conference organised in May 2025 in Olomouc which is another output. The conference attracted international scholars and students and provided a vital platform for both dissemination of the project results and a scholarly discussion. To further extend the impact of the project activities students from high schools (potential future university students) were invited as well to present and provide feedback to the project results. The interaction was fantastic. The project produced 11 thematic maps (promised were 5). They were printed on panels and will remain in use beyond the project. To support the digital education aspect and interactivity, the maps were transferred to the interactive form, so called story maps are available through the project website. They provide and interactive mode of learning. In addition, it is an example of vital teaching material as well as it can be updated on rolling bases. To make it available to users with special needs, with visual impairment in particular, we have provided voice-overs in four different languages (Czech English, German and French). Thus, the added value is learning of foreign languages as the voice overs were recorded by native speakers. Further, we completed 14 interviews (some in video/audio format) with very diverse group of respondents. They related to various aspects of sub/urbanisation. The respondents were from different backgrounds, countries, ages and genders to provide a balanced mix. A very valuable output were 20 (promised 10) workshops are these utilized the scholarly findings that were put across to diverse target groups (see section on target groups). An intrinsic part were discussions and group cooperative work with hands on experience. Last but not least, we delivered 25 lectures (promised 14) at various venues (conference, partner schools, public events) which initiated public debate about the positive and negative aspects of suburbanisation.