In the course "Design Sprint Consumer Psychology" - a format in the newly developed focus on consumer psychology - students are to apply methods of consumer psychology and from the field of design thinking to find answers to a practical challenge. The challenge is to develop solutions in the form of prototypes that are tested on users using market research methods and finally presented to a jury in the form of pitches.
This semester, the challenge was located directly on the HNU campus: How can the number of cars on the HNU car park be reduced and what solutions can be used to make mobility at the university more sustainable? The challenge was proposed by the city of Neu-Ulm, which - represented by the Future Issues Office and the Environment and Mobility Department - acted as a practical partner and sat on the jury.
Creative solutions for more sustainability: HNU students inspire practice partners
In seven teams, the Bachelor students developed and tested very different solutions. The victory in the pitch competition was shared by the "Semesterticket+" team, which integrated animal scooters for the last mile into the semester ticket in addition to public transport, and the "Heute Nachhaltig Unterwegs" team with a parking fee concept that makes parking less attractive and counterfinances sustainable alternatives.
The other teams had also developed creative solutions that were very well received by the practice partner. For example, an app with a leader board was presented that creates an incentive for students to compete for as many kilometres travelled by bicycle as possible (team "HNU Ride2Reward"). The idea of the "HNU BOLD" team also played with incentives to motivate sustainable behaviour: Here, the students developed a solution in which 500,000 kilometres had to be covered as quickly as possible by alternative means of transport.
The representatives of the city of Neu-Ulm, in front of whom the final presentations had been pitched, were enthusiastic in view of the students' ingenuity. "There were really a lot of great suggestions in the pitches on how sustainable mobility can be advanced at HNU and in Neu-Ulm," said Robert Schwarz, the city of Neu-Ulm's officer for future issues.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Tobias Krüger
