Abstract:

Civil engineering students present different bridges from across the city of Madrid. They offer guided tours of key bridges and produce video clips to share their knowledge. In this Community service experience, students chose a bridge to present focusing on historical, cultural, and technical aspects. Bridges represent both the social and the symbolic value of public works. They unify technological and cultural aspects. Bridges are key to cities and often appear in films, novels, songs, tales, and other urban events. They are places of connection and civic life.

This project is a way for Civil Engineering students to connect with society. On the one hand, students learn about historical, technological, and cultural aspects of bridges. At the same time, the students are able to give something back to society, by sharing their knowledge and expertise on civil engineering, cities and sustainable infrastructures.

The project takes place over one semester and each student is also required to record one video of a bridge. The instructions for the video require students to visit the bridge in person, the recording should ideally show several points of view, such as elevation, the view from below, crossing inside, details of abutments, as well as piers or supports. Each video should last no longer than 100 seconds and should be presented in MP4 and 16:9 horizontal format. Post editing is allowed, however, the original on-site audio must be used.

The videos are part of the Community service project from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in collaboration with the Madrid City Council along with the Ines Ingenieros and Miguel Aguilo Foundation. The guided tours led by the students were open to the public and obtained considerable media coverage, with students taking part in radio interviews. The project involved 60 students, covered 50 bridges and 60 videos were recorded.

The videos can be accessed on the web: https://madrid.puentes.app/. Madrid City Council has placed signals with QR codes on the main bridges of the city that lead to the web and the corresponding video.

Madrid bridges connect civil engineering students and society.

Keywords:

Civil engineering, public works, service-learning, cultural heritage, virtual visits, tourism.