Sustainable, Accessible, Safe, Resilient and Smart Urban Pavements

Project Information

SAFERUP

Grant agreement ID: 765057

DOI

10.3030/765057

Project closed

EC signature date 3 August 2017

Start date 1 March 2018

End date 31 May 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 878 868,96

EU contribution

€ 3 878 868,96

Coordinated by

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SAFERUP (Sustainable, Accessible, Safe, Resilient and Smart Urban Pavements)

Reporting period: 2020-03-01 to 2022-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Urban pavements comprise almost 40% of European cities and are the main means by which people travel every day. Urban pavements must accommodate all users in the most efficient, safe, sustainable and smart way. A key factor to increase the liveability of tomorrow’s Smart cities will be transforming the way urban pavements are perceived, designed, built, maintained and function. SAFERUP! aimed to provide cities with innovative solutions that will form the future urban paved environment, by training talented researchers in the fields of: smart, recycled and durable paving materials; provision for vulnerable users (e.g. elderly & disabled) accessibility and protection; studying user behaviour; life cycle analysis; wash-off water management and bioremediation; tempered and acoustic pavements; energy harvesting and self-sensing technologies. The SAFERUP! Consortium believes in this future and has created a unique team of world leading commercial and academic research engineers and scientists, with the diverse range of expertise needed to develop the novel solutions required to deliver this future and its anticipated benefits. Fifteen ESRs undertook their PhDs in a research and training programme designed to optimise their multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral experience through secondments and a variety of SAFERUP!-wide fora. All ESRs’ projects were interrelated and considerable synergies, trans-project contributions and collaborations occurred, despite the world pandemic. SAFERUP! aimed to provide the European community with innovative solutions that will form the urban paved environment of the future. Footpaths, bike lanes, roads, intersections, squares and all other walkable surfaces that we all use every day will be designed, constructed and managed to meet context-sensitive criteria including not only safety, mobility and costs (construction and maintenance), but also sustainability, environmental impacts, accessibility, aesthetics, circular economy and local economy preservation. The ultimate objective of SAFERUP! was to train new professionals able to provide future generations with more liveable cities by applying solutions developed through cutting-edge research.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The SAFERUP! project research and training activities started in March 2018 and ended in May 2022 after 51 months duration of the action, including the 3-month extension allowed by the REA via amendment. The first two years of project, followed the planned schedule, although some adjustments were needed due to the postponement of the first main consortium training event at UNIBO and to the re-arrangement of secondments for some of the ESRs. The progress-check meeting and report were successfully completed and the work continued uninterrupted until the COVID19 pandemic broke out. Since February 2020 the project plans of activities and secondments had to be revised 3 times, to adapt to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and its development worldwide. Despite the critical conditions, the coordinator (i.e. the Supervisory Board) constantly liaised with the Project Officer and the action proceeded by optimizations that included smart-working and virtual secondments. Network-wide training and public engagement events were converted into hybrid or online mode and all the foreseen SAFERUP! Weeks, Webinars and meetings were completed. The positive evolution of the pandemic allowed the organization of the SAFERUP! Final event in person at UCL, London. During the action, all participants produced scientific results and disseminated their outcomes publishing more than 60 Open Access papers. The ESRs and their supervisors developed their social media impact by means of several posts and videos. SAFERUP! joined the Horizon Results Booster provided by REA and completed the corresponding activities of the Service 1: Portfolio Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy (PDES). All the foreseen deliverables and milestones included in the Grant Agreement were completed and submitted to the EC via the Participant Portal. The Continuous Reporting active process was regularly updated in its main sheets, as well as it was the project website and the open access folders and online repositories.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SAFERUP! had one main objective and a set of specific objectives that have been targeted during the action. As H2020-MSCA-ITN project the main goal was to train new professionals through their supervised research activities and by means of specific network and local training events organized during the project. Specific objectives were related to the proposed research solutions across the disciplines and the relevant sectors. Until the end of the project M51, despite the COVID19 pandemic effects, all objectives have been continuously aimed and most of the outcomes have shown that the followed approach was sound and effective.
In SAFERUP! the research and training approach was market and career oriented and the mission statement agreed by participants was that SAFERUP! will provide the market with truly applicable solutions and highly trained personnel. The SAFERUP! topics are relevant to practitioners and the general public as they can have a strong impact on the road infrastructures, their safety and accessibility, resulting in improved cities’ liveability.
The SAFERUP! Showcase event at the PEARL (UCL) in London has confirmed that the research objectives of the various sub-projects have been met, despite the pandemic. The proposed solutions made step forward from the existing technologies and techniques in the fields of recycled, smart and durable paving materials, vulnerable users and road safety, pedestrians accessibility and protection, water management and bioremediation systems, behaviour simulators and life cycle assessment tools, road geothermal energy, energy harvesting and self-sensing technologies. Some of the projects have risen particular interest among the experts and the general public so that they received specific national and/or international awards, among them the TRA Visions 2022 Award on Roads.
The high level of expertise acquired by the fellows allowed their employment in new positions that are relevant to the performed research and training. In most of the cases the employer corresponds to one of the SAFERUP! supervising institutions and the fellows are bringing in their knowledge to continue research or follow new projects on relevant topics.
Finally, the project consolidated and expanded the network of collaborations among the partners through the creation of an integrated, long-term research and training base in the EU and enhanced the academia-industry Transfer of Knowledge in both directions.

SAFERUP Group at the First SAFERUP Week kick-off

SAFERUP AAAS 2020 Seattle

SAFERUP Final Event - LONDON 2022 - Mark Miodownik

SAFERUP Group at the Final event - LONDON 2022

SAFERUP Group at SAPABA Site visit during the SAFERUP Week

SAFERUP on holidays

SAFERUP Group and Supervisors at the Final Event - LONDON 2022

SAFERUP Final Event - LONDON 2022 - PEARL LAB

SAFERUP Final Event - LONDON 2022

SAFERUP Annual Prize 2019 in Moena (ITA)

Visit of Jean-Eric PAQUET, the Director-General of Research and Innovation Department of the Europea