The Future City Competition Regional Finals took place virtually in Chicago on Saturday, February 27th. The competition is the culmination of months spent by junior high school teams and their engineering mentors to create a city of the future. Unique to this year was that the competition was held fully virtual. Students submit a working project plan, write an essay describing the unique attributes of their city and their solution to the year’s challenge (Living on the Moon); build a physical model of their city using recycled materials, create a slideshow document using photos of the model to showcase specific aspects of their future city and solution to the year’s challenge, and provide a recorded video presentation no longer than 7-minutes. The only live component of the competition this year included the City Q&A which was the portion conducted on February 27th. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC.
For the past six years, the Illinois Section of ITE has participated as a special award judge at the Future Cities Competition. This year, 14 different professional organizations sponsored and gave 17 special awards at the competition. A total of 7 schools participated in the virtual event. Thomas Szabo, the current Section Vice President, and Ashley Hochstatter, current Public Affairs Committee Chair represented the Illinois Section of ITE this year as special award judges. Thomas and Ashley were tasked with reviewing each team's city and awarding the Excellence in Transportation Safety and Operations Award. This award was given to the team that had the most innovative future city design that demonstrated a safe and efficient surface transportation system that considered growth and preservation of the environment.
This year, Thomas and Ashley determined that the winning city deserving of this award was Atlas 11, presented by students from St. Athanasius School from Evanston, Illinois. Judges were impressed with St. Athanasius for the emphasis placed on the use of public transportation for all and the emphasis on a walkable and bikable community. Additionally, the city included transportation to and from the moon to earth and other areas of the moon where other cities may begin to develop. The students presented well and were able to explain how each part of their transportation would compliment each other to provide a safe and efficient transportation network.
The Illinois Section of ITE was happy to not only sponsor the Future City Competition in Chicago again this year, but to participate as judges. We look forward to participating in this event again next year!
Atlas 11 by St. Athanasius School from Evanston, Illinois