COWI Try students present visions for Europe's first plus city

29.08.2018

Easymile cable cars, a bicycle superhighway and an amphitheatre that stores storm water. This year’s COWI Try students brought creative ideas to the table. More than half of the students have signed contracts for further studies or employment with COWI.

If you had to look into the future, how would you design a new city from scratch? The students in this year’s COWI Try summer programme spent 30 percent of their worktime answering this question.

The innovation project was based on the vision "Sollihøgda Plussby" that COWI developed for a customer in 2017. The Norwegian government has decided to use the area of Sollihøgda outside of Oslo as a testing ground for high-tech mobility solutions.

Over the summer, the COWI Try team collaborated with landowners, property developers, technology companies, local authorities and several COWI departments to develop innovative concepts and possible solutions for the new plus city.

Do you really need a car?

Divided into five different groups they looked into questions that touched upon technology and sustainable development; How can infrastructure for efficient transportation take up a minimum amount of space in the cityscape? Which unexplored opportunities could a service tunnel provide? How can people feel no need to own their own car?

The students brought several creative solutions to the table such as the hyperloop, easymile cable cars, a bicycle superhighway, circular economy, and an amphitheatre that stores storm water.

At the closing event in Oslo in August, the 26 students presented this year's innovation projects live on YouTube.

Amongst the audiences were also representatives from COWI's partners on the project: SINTEF, Smart City Bærum, Ruter A/S, Sollihøgda Plussby, Acando and Skanska.

Mutual benefit from COWI Try

More than half of this year's 26 students have already signed contracts with COWI, whether for their master thesis, a student position or permanent employment after finishing their degree.

"The beauty of COWI Try is that we get to pick the brains of the young and new talent. The thoughts of the next generation of engineers and urban planners define who we are, how we will live and what we will live by in the future. This is very inspirational. Also, we want to ensure that this program has a real impact on their career and gives them a relevant working experience," said Marius Weydahl Berg, CEO of COWI Norway.

You can watch all five presentations here on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2wiiuSB