All-Russian Hackathon on Digitization of Urban Planning Held at INRTU

The All-Russian hackathon on digitization of urban planning was held from December 1 to 4 at Irkutsk National Research Technical University (INRTU). More than 120 students took part, representing INRTU, Irkutsk State University (ISU), Irkutsk State Transport University (IrGUPS), as well as Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU) and the Higher School of Economics (HSE University). In total, 13 teams competed.

The hackathon, held annually with support from the Transport Laboratory and the Scientific Student Club “Urban Mobility Laboratory”, aims to stimulate new ideas and bring them into practical implementation.

The participants were addressed by the head of the Transport Laboratory, Associate Professor of the Department of Road Transport at INRTU, Alexey Levashev:

“Each year the volume of available data grows and the possibilities for using it expand, which requires continuous learning. Our laboratory focuses on improving the efficiency of urban mobility. Achieving meaningful results in this field requires developing the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams combining specialists in IT, transport, and urban planning. The collaborative work of such teams is the key to creating innovative solutions for improving urban mobility”.

During the hackathon participants could develop prototypes and concepts using digital technologies to boost the efficiency of urban‑space planning. This included creating platforms for analyzing urban‑traffic data, modelling environmental impacts of various projects, developing mobile applications for citizen engagement, or even implementing smart-city technologies.

The goal of the hackathon is to create opportunities for joint implementation of digital innovations in the field of urban and transport planning.

At the start of the event, students received access to public-transport movement data in Irkutsk. Over three days they developed software tools to analyze urban-district problems and the overall transport situation.

The presentation defenses and final evaluations were held on December 4. Eight student teams were recognized as the leaders of the intellectual competition, and they were awarded commemorative prizes and diplomas.

Alexey Levashev noted that each team stood out with worthy and interesting projects:

The event was organized by the INRTU staff of the Department of Road Transport – Alexey Levashev, Alexandra Kupriyanova, Svetlana Yatsenko, Oksana Prokofeva – and the Software Engineering Center: Tatyana Malanova and Vladimir Kharakhinov.