AET Hackathon 2026 in Rome

Who moves at night, and at what cost?

The second edition of the AET Hackathon took place on 15–16 May 2026, centred on the theme of night-time mobility challenges and strategies. The event was organised in the frame of the Association for European Transport (AET) by NET Engineering, Systematica, and Transform Transport and was hosted at NET Engineering's Rome office. It brought together a multidisciplinary community of professionals – from engineers, designers and planners to students and researchers – to tackle one of urban design's most overlooked blind spots: what happens to cities when the sun goes down.

At night, cities reveal their deepest inequalities. Services optimised for daylight shift dramatically after dark, exposing gaps in safety and accessibility, especially for essential workers and those living in peripheral areas.

In just a day and a half, 15 people grouped in 3 teams developed proposals through data, design, technology and policy. These were evaluated by a jury chaired by Professor Pierluigi Coppola of Politecnico di Milano, alongside Giovanni Acciaro (NET Engineering), Anna Becchi (Street For Kids and Clean Cities Campaign), Stefano Brinchi (Roma Servizi per la Mobilità), Francesca Chiodi (Movimento Diritti dei Pedoni), Andrea Gorrini (Transform Transport) and Maria Nicolaci (Sapienza Università di Roma).

All proposals generated strong interest among the jury for their feasibility and creativity but also for placing at the centre those segments of the population whose needs too often go unheard. Teams tackled the following topics: shared mobility linked to nightlife events, the revitalisation of peripheral urban areas that receive little attention after dark, and the critical gaps uncovered by night transport services in certain parts of the city.

The winning team earned the opportunity to present their solution at the upcoming European Transport Conference, taking place in Porto from 9 to 11 September 2026.