From the Lecture Hall to the Street: Transport Planning Brings Students on Site

What does good transport planning look like in practice? Students at the TUM School of Engineering and Design don’t just learn theory—they experience mobility firsthand. In an interactive module, they cycle through Munich, analyze routes and infrastructure from different perspectives, and develop their own concepts. We spoke with Dominik Fuchs, research associate at the Chair of Urban Structure and Transport Planning and mobility manager of the city of Freising, about hands-on teaching, perspective shifts, and the future of urban mobility. 

ED: In your course, students explore the city by bike. What is the idea behind this format? 
Dominik Fuchs: The supplementary module in transport planning is designed as an interactive format for sixth-semester civil and environmental engineering students and is worth five ECTS credits. Instead of traditional calculation exercises, we deliberately go out into the streets and into real-world practice. Especially in sustainable transport planning, it’s not enough to look at plans—the on-site perception is very different. 

How does a session like this work in practice? 
In one of our recent sessions, after a lecture on different types of cycling infrastructure—such as advisory bike lanes, cycle paths, mandatory bike lanes, or bicycle streets—we cycled about eight kilometers through Munich. At selected locations, we stopped and reflected together: how did the situation feel? Was it safe? Did it match expectations? 

What insights did the students gain? 
Many were already familiar with the infrastructure, but their perspective changed. They started thinking about how things could be improved. When we did a similar excursion in a module of the Transport Systems master's program, concepts like bicycle streets were often completely new to international students.

You incorporate different perspectives in mobility management. What is important here? 
Inclusive and equitable mobility means considering everyone. That’s why we also conduct walking audits, take on the perspective of a child, use an aging simulation suit, or put ourselves in the position of people with disabilities. This change of perspective is extremely helpful in identifying problems. 

The module is an elective. Does that have an impact? 
Yes, we work in smaller groups and can interact more intensively. Students develop concepts for real streets in Munich in teams—just like in professional practice. 

You also work as a mobility manager. How does that influence your teaching? 
I studied Environmental Engineering at TUM for my bachelor’s degree and completed my master’s in Geoinformation and Transport Technology at KTH in Stockholm. As a mobility manager, I currently implement real-world projects in Freising, from bike lanes to cargo bike rental systems. My doctoral research focuses on networks that can support municipalities in implementing mobility projects — this brings things full circle. I bring these experiences into my teaching at TUM, making it much more tangible. 

What do students take away the most? 
Practical experience stays with you. When students have experienced a situation themselves, they understand connections much better than through theory alone. 

Munich Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions MCube – Projekt EPURA