From 30 June to 4 July 2025, the Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb hosted the 1st MLUMSE theme-based training. Partners from Egypt, Morocco, Belgium, and the Netherlands joined colleagues from the Faculty of Geodesy and Faculty of Architecture, alongside representatives from the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property – Institute for Spatial Development. To open access beyond the venue, the full programme was also available online via MS Teams.

Training opened with welcomes from university and ministry representatives, an MLUMSE overview, and a scene-setting block on WP2 – Status & Requirements Analysis (EU policy context, Southern Mediterranean needs, existing curricula, and workshop insights). We focused on the New European Bauhaus (NEB), it’s sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion through talks and a World Café that translated principles into teaching ideas and studio formats, with concrete ways to embed community engagement and place quality into assignments and capstones. We then turned on smart city development and technology applications, tracing the evolution of “smart” approaches and diving into tools shaping contemporary practice: full-spectrum remote sensing, UAV monitoring, and crowdsourcing with mobile sensors (noise mapping as a case), sessions on urban green infrastructure and principles of sustainability. A New Technologies block connected remote sensing, digital twins for planning and management, open geoinformation in higher education, and GNSS-enabled mobile sensing. Finally, we were able to hear about integrating conservation into urban planning to digital documentation and space syntax in historical contexts. The training concluded with project governance meetings to confirm timelines, quality measures, and the roadmap for the next phases.

A distinctive feature of this training was its city as classroom approach. Participants visited the City of Zagreb, where hosts from the Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning and the Office for Reconstruction, Construction, Spatial Planning and Communal Affairs unpacked how policies translate into day-to-day decisions. Further visits to the Institute for Spatial Development at the Ministry and to the State Geodetic Administration illuminated the institutional backbone of spatial data, planning information systems, and inter-agency collaboration. These encounters grounded the week’s academic debates in real workflows, ensuring that the curriculum work ahead remains closely tied to practice.

Together, these five days built shared momentum: partners aligned priorities, translated insights into course-ready ideas, and strengthened links with the institutions. With this foundation in place, MLUMSE now moves from training room to classroom, from visits to pilot modules, and from discussion to implementation.

Enjoy the photo highlights from the week.