Design a sustainable city or town

This is one of a series of posts on the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project. Other posts in the series include:
​Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project (CCP) - Intro
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Research Techniques
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Evaluation
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Use augmented reality
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a multi-level game
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a sustainability video
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Build a sustainability app
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Design a sustainability city or town
Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Overview

For a more student-friendly layout visit the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project website.
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​Design a city or town showing how you could incorporate a range of different sustainable technologies and techniques which would maintain a growing population for 50 years. 

​Research and review sustainable cities
Research and review cities around the world that are considered as sustainable, or which have begun incorporating sustainable practices on a large scale. What strategies have they used to improve their sustainability? Have these initiatives been effective? Do they need improvement? What lessons could you learn from these cities? What are some aspects of sustainability that haven't yet been addressed?

Brainstorm sustainable city solutions
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your sustainable city. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. Consider the weaknesses of existing sustainable cities and try to come up with original solutions to these problems.

Plan and visually map your city
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan your city. How will your city be laid out? What materials will you need? Consider how you will integrate information about sustainability and/or your specific topic. Use the city scaffold to help you plan your city.

model_planner.pdf
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Write labels and signage
Write the content for your city signage and create labels to tell the public about the sustainability initiatives in your city. Your model should incorporate content related to the subjects you have chosen and the issue of sustainability in general.

Create your city
You may use a range of hands-on techniques related to model making to help you build your city. You should use recyclable materials as much as possible to reduce costs. Your model should be no bigger than 1m X 1m X 1m, and should include at least one moving part to indicate power use. You are free to use batteries in your model equipment, but are not allowed to plug anything in. 

​Resources:
Spayneville paper city models
Model skyscraper city in n-scale