Our Science of Smart Cities (SoSC) middle school students used post-it easel paper, rulers, pencil crayons, wire, hot glue and a LOT of imagination to plan and portray their ideal city layouts, one of the many hands-on activities that they complete during the month-long NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Center for K12 STEM Education program. The students put their ongoing education on engineering, technology, sustainability and environmental issues to work and created more than 30 city layouts of all shapes and sizes, including transit systems, renewable energy, and in one case, a giant hamster wheel to power the city! Scroll down to see some of our best SoSC 2016 smart city designs (click on the photos for a closer look) and read quotes from our promising city planners-to-be.
“Science of Smart Cities helps us learn things that we never knew before, and also how to help our environment.” – Hassan (left)
“Science of Smart Cities helps us to be more aware of our surroundings, and be more conservative of our trees and the oxygen that they give us and the electricity that we use from them.” – Kalifa (right)
“A smart city has to have the key component of having renewable resources and things that don’t cause pollution, because pollution can kill plants and animals. Air pollution, light pollution, sound pollution– it all really affects the way we live. Also, we need to use sensors wisely. For example if there’s a water leak, you need a sensor to notify that there is a water leak to save money and so we can fix it earlier.” – Michelangelo (left)
“In a smart city there wouldn’t be so much pollution and people would have a lot of the things they would need to have.” – Cara (right)
“The most important thing in a smart city is transportation and different types of renewable resources. We showed that in our diagram by showing multiple routes of trains and busses going to different locations.” – Hivansh
“We had many different energy sources. The three that we used were hydropower, power from windmills and solar energy. It’s very important, because without the energy that we need, it’s pretty much impossible to run a smart city. Smart cities mainly rely on electricity.” – Jordan (not pictured)
“One of the most important things in a smart city is transportation. I demonstrated this in my city by adding multiple train and bus paths, and by making big lanes near the health areas. That way, people can get there faster during emergencies.” – Vivian (left)
Eamonn (right)
“A major thing that you need to make sure is that everywhere is accessible. In New York right now, there’s some bald spots so to say, where there’s no access and the nearest station is a bus ride away. So when we make a new city and we have an improved system, it should reach to all corners of the boroughs. I think that’s really important.” – T.J. (left)
“I think that in every location in a neighborhood they should have similar patterns. They should have a residential area and then the school should always be close to the residential area so it’s easily accessible. They should have buildings and grocery stores around, and things that make it more accessible.” – Bradley (right)
“A smart city helps the city stop polluting.” – Kymoy (left)
“It’s important that a smart city meets everyone’s needs… and when there’s no pollution everyone feels more comfortable, and they don’t feel surrounded by trash.” – Johann (right)
“A smart city would have to affect the city itself in a positive way, and it would have to integrate technology and sensors in ways that benefit the environment.” – Alyssa
“The reason I included hydro dams and solar power inside of my smart city was because I wanted to use less pollution.” – Isabel (left)
“We created these smart cities to show how we can create good transportation routes and improve our cities. We created a way for homes to be more advanced, use solar panels and stuff like that.” – Candice (center)
“Transportation… I modelled that in my smart city presentation by adding trains and busses and cars, because people need to get from one place to another, quicker.” – Jaila (right)
“The reason we chose a grid layout is because it’s easier to get around… For example, New York is like a grid so it’s easier to get to each place.” – Jonathan (left)
“I find it important to use less energy and be very green, with a lot of trees, bushes and nature in the city.” – Kat (right)
“I think it’s important that we have more ways to conserve our energy and use less fossil fuels.” – Louisiana
