DANUBIAN_SMCs Intellectual Outputs
The methodology used in the project implementation is in line with the principles agreed upon by The Erasmus + program, being primarily a collaborative educational project that emphasizes both the transfer of knowledge between university partners and between teachers and students of all partners. The methodology consists of a set of steps for each phase which is part of the activity plan, having as main focus to stimulate all participants to an innovative approach of teaching activities.
At longer term, the outputs project will show how a Danubian SMCs can be better known and valorised with unconventional and creative teaching methods, getting to an inclusive and stimulative attitude both for teachers and learners and for local stakeholders. Through this, the project will create a link to the creativity and innovation requirements on the labor market and the expected competences of the graduates in spatial planning field.
Teaching and learning through innovative and interdisciplinary methods and tools on the small and medium sized cities on the Danube in this project are a process within the broader competencies’ profiles of the future generations, defined in the spirit of the Education 2030 agenda. At the same time, changing demands for competences directly impact education and learning systems as they must produce graduates with new competences. For instance, the heightening awareness of the need for sustainable development spurred demand for green skills; the technology revolution gave rise to digital skills, changes in workplaces created new skills for employability and for work; and, globalisation impelled competencies for global citizenship.
The output answers the need for a practical educational methodology in the field of built environment focusing on the interdisciplinary teaching for assessing small and medium sized cities on the Danube. It also highlights the possibilities of further cooperation and better understanding between various related disciplines - e.g. architecture, urbanism, landscape planning, design.
This guideline provides synthetic information about how the interdisciplinary approach can be gained not only at the theoretical/ conceptual level, but at the practical/ applicable level, in a more creative and intuitive way, related to the issues of territorial inclusiveness and sustainable development of Danubian small and medium size cities.
The Danube is the most international river in the world. It crosses Europe from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, passing through ten countries on its nearly 3,000-kilometre journey: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Moldova, all of them Danube countries in different ways.
Currently, almost 40% of the Danube’s total length is a border river. After the German-speaking (German and Austrian) upper parts, the mixing of cultures and languages intensifies. Most of the cities along the river are intercultural, and the two banks opposite each other are home to similar or characteristically different cultures and languages. In the past, multilingualism was a given necessity and opportunity here. But the language is the culture itself. That is why local languages still have and will always have an important role along the Danube. Obviously, everyone expresses themselves more nuanced in their native language, and in this part of Europe, most locals do not understand English. Local university teachers and researchers have a dual responsibility: to preserve, transmit, and develop knowledge based on local culture and language, but at the same time, to integrate it directly into the international teaching and learning process, into the international scientific and professional discourse.
The O2 is a book and an open access digital publication of good practices and teaching learning on Danubian SMCs published in six languages - English, German, Slovak, Hungarian, Serbian, and Romanian. In this way it can provide local and long-term dissemination of the project all along the Danube River.
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The Danube connects not only cities and regions, but also universities. They are important educational and research institutions that bring new knowledge and innovative approaches. Their important mission is also cooperation with practice and a considerable mission of enlightenment and dissemination of knowledge. Universities are able to solve topical problems of regions and cities. Therefore, the clustering of universities located in the regions around the Danube logically focused on creating an educational program that would solve the common problems of small and medium-sized cities in decline.
The new teaching module completes the methodological guidelines and innovative methods proposed within the O1 and tested the elaborated teaching material within the IPs, with the scope of implementing new innovative thinking in curricula of the partner universities, and of future interested university programmes on Danube region. This output consists of a complex teaching layout of thematic clusters, presenting the innovative ways in which the topic of DSMCs can be taught for the students benefit, in accordance with the latest European documents.
