Sustainable Cities Project

Lesson Plan
My Notes

Skills

Citizenship
Communication
Critical Thinking

Learning Objectives

Lakeside Middle School is sponsoring a competition to create a sustainable eco-city from the ground up. Your team has been chosen to compete against other teams to submit a plan for this model city. The Goal: To create a plan for a sustainable high-tech city that uses existing/or soon-to-exist technologies and products to provide a healthy and enjoyable place for people to live and work in an environmentally sustainable way.

Guiding Ideas

What is a “sustainable city”? “a city designed, built, and managed in a manner where all its citizens are able to meet their own needs without endangering the well-being of the natural world or the living conditions of other people, now or in the future” – Fred Lee, University of Hong Kong

Sustainable cities satisfy human needs and minimize the human impact on the environment. (ecological footprint) A sustainable city uses less resources and produces less waste than an unsustainable city. This concept can be built into the design of cities and buildings.

The Goal: To create a plan for a sustainable high-tech city that uses existing/or soon-to-exist technologies and products to provide a healthy and enjoyable place for people to live and work in an environmentally sustainable way.

Student Activities

The Geography: Two Rivers 3-4 natural lakes In a valley surrounded by mountains Climate similar to Seattle’s Population: Midsize city of around 1 million

Things to Consider:

How will you lay out the city in a way that enables people to have easy access to the different districts? How will you minimize or eliminate the use of fossil fuels? What sort of renewable energy sources will you use? How will electricity be generated? What are the options for getting rid of trash and garbage without burying it in landfills?

How will you ensure that water and electricity is used efficiently in residences, business, and public places? How will you build ecofriendly buildings and residences that include greenery & city gardens? How will you encourage people to walk & cycle? How will you encourage people to “recycle, reduce, reuse, rethink, and renew” (Click HERE for more info)

Remember to use existing or soon-to-exist technologies (driverless cars); no science fiction fantasy stuff.
Assume hydropower is relatively plentiful
Don’t worry about the economic structure – assume close to full employment and a vibrant mixed economy (industrial, tech, service jobs & government employment.
Don’t worry about the sewer system (that’s for another plan)
You’re creating a plan, so assume you have the funding you need, but it’s not limitless
Because the city will be built from the ground up, your plan doesn’t need to worry about any existing infrastructure

Each team will pick a person to perform the following jobs:

Team Manager/Presentation Chief: Keeps the team on schedule, makes final decisions, assigns tasks, takes the lead on the presentation
Chief Researcher: Looks up information on sustainability and sustainable cities; assists with the presentation & the city design
Chief Designer: Takes the lead in creating the city plan drawing & helps with researching & presenting

Create a city in Minecraft that includes: A business/service district Residential districts City-wide transportation system City-wide parks & recreation/cultural system Legend Should be neat, colorful, and easy-to-follow

Performance Expectations

Team brainstorms to answer this question: If we built a sustainable eco-city from the ground up, what would it look like?

Create a name for your city
Research the topic of sustainable cities (don’t forget YouTube) to answer this question: What kinds of sustainable cities already exist or are being built?
Use Noodle Tools to keep track of your sources & notes
Use Google Share to share information, sources, videos, and ideas
Create rough drafts of your city plan (on 11 x 17 paper) & your presentation
Create final draft of your city plan (on poster paper) & of your presentation
Rehearse your presentation
Present your presentation