EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS AND COURSES

 A six-week postgraduate summer school in smart cities and smart mobility was developed and deliver at the University of Western Ontario in May/June 2025. The course featured a comprehensive introduction to smart mobility in smart cities. It addressed the nature and characteristics of smart cities and smart mobility, providing a focus on smart mobility services within urban areas and the opportunities and challenges associated with the application of advanced technologies. 

The definition of mobility adopted for the course was the ease of movement or travel within an urban area. The course placed an emphasis on decarbonization possibilities and the potential for smart city mobility services to reduce emissions and fuel consumption while optimizing modal use, along with risk identification and management using a structured approach.

A focus was also placed on the need for end-to-end decision support for smart city mobility services. Overall, the course provided a framework for effective smart mobility planning, design, operations, and performance management.

The summer school will also be offered to postgraduate students at the University of Western Ontario, in May/June 2026.

Contact the Smart mobility Center for information on how we can develop and deliver customized smart city and smart mobility courses for your organization.

This course was originally developed for the ministry of energy and infrastructure development in the United Arab Emirates. It is available as a customized offering for both public agencies and private sector organizations. The main subjects covered are a structured overview of smart cities and smart mobility , real-life examples and lessons learned from around the world, integrated insights and understanding of best practices and lessons learned, and assessment of smart mobility technologies and effective application. Effective planning for Smart mobility, operational and performance management are also addressed in the course.

This course, developed in association with the Society of Automotive Engineers, addresses Urban Air Mobility (UAM). This  refers to urban transportation systems that move people by air. The course addresses the potential for UAM to reduce traffic congestion in cities and provides an integrated approach to urban mobility. 

The course explains how the emergence of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, drone technology, and the possibility of automated aircraft, can have a dramatic impact on urban mobility. The course will be of interest to private sector solution providers, including aerospace and technology companies—as well as public sector urban planners and transportation professionals. 

The course also discusses the infrastructure requirements to effectively integrate UAM services into the overarching urban transportation system to enable multimodal trips and complete origin to destination travel. 

This course fills an unmet need for defining and explaining the relationship between connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and smart city transport. It is apparent that CAVs will achieve the best results when integrated with current and emerging urban infrastructure for transport.

This course addresses such integration from technology, organizational, policy and business model perspectives. It seeks to explain to connected and autonomous vehicle designers, manufacturers, and associated OEMs, how CAVs will play a central role in the future urban transport system. This will take account of the needs of infrastructure planners and operators, aligning these with CAV capabilities.

Participants will learn how CAV technology will revolutionize urban transport. They will gain a detailed understanding of the role of smart vehicles within a smart city and an overall perspective on the needs, issues, problems, and objectives being addressed by the development of advanced transport elements. Participants will be able to create more effective designs and define smart mobility services that fit within the overall context of urban infrastructure.

The course will address three common challenges associated with the application of CAV technology in smart cities. These are: the use of big data and analytics techniques, establishing and maintaining suitable public-private partnerships, and aligning policy objectives with technology capabilities.