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Event Information

Date:: February 27
Cost:: Free
Event Category:: Signature
Website:: https://scitechinstitute.orgfuturecity.org/region/competition-schedule

Future City Finals / Awards Day

Name: Future City Finals / Awards Day
Start: 2021-02-27T00:00:00-07:00
End: 2021-02-27T23:59:59-07:00
Location: Online

Future City starts with a question—how can we make the world a better place?

To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. Past topics include stormwater management, urban agriculture, public spaces, and green energy. The 2020-2021 theme is Living on the Moon. Teams will design a futuristic lunar city and provide examples of how the city uses two Moon resources to keep its residents safe and healthy.

Participants complete five deliverables: a 1,500-word city essay; a scale model (or multiple model segments) built from recycled materials; a project plan, a presentation video, and a virtual/online Q&A session with judges. Regional winners represent their region at the international Finals. After completing Future City, student participants are not only prepared to be citizens of today’s complex and technical world, but also poised to become the drivers of tomorrow.

Engineering and so much more

This flexible, cross-curricular educational program gives students an opportunity to do the things that engineers do—identify problems; brainstorm ideas; design solutions; test, retest and build; and share their results. This process is called the engineering design process. With this at its center, Future City is an engaging way to build students’ 21st century skills. Students participating in Future City:

Apply math and science concepts to real-world issues
Develop writing, public speaking, problem solving, and time management skills
Research and propose solutions to engineering challenges
Discover different types of engineering and explore careers options
Learn how their communities work and become better citizens
Develop strong time management and project management skills

Award Recognition

Future City is one of the nation’s leading engineering education programs and has received national recognition and acclaim for its role in encouraging middle schoolers to develop their interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

In 2017, Future City was recognized as the Most Innovative Hands-On Program by the US2020 STEM Mentoring Awards.
In 2016, the Future City Competition received the Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction, presented by Turner Construction Company and the National Building Museum.
In 2015, Future City was named the grand prize winner in the UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc.) Innovative Education Award program and received a $100,000 award. The ULIEA program highlights the essential, urgent and significant value of E-STEM education.

Competition Overview

The Future City Competition program introduces students to engineering concepts through practical applications of math and science. Student teams are guided by volunteer engineers and teachers as they design and build their vision of the urban world of tomorrow.

The Future City program takes place in more than 30 regions of the United States and there are trial programs in several countries. The competition is sponsored by the National Engineers Week Committee, a consortium of engineering associations and major US industries. National Engineers Week was founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers to increase public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession and of technology. Thousands of engineers, engineering students, teachers, and leaders in government and business participate in National Engineers Week each year.

Since the National Engineers Week Future City Competition began in 1992, it has been recognized by the education and engineering communities as an innovative program and has also been recognized by the White House. The National Science Educational Leadership Association has endorsed the program. For more information about the Arizona Future City Competition contact us or check the national website at www.futurecity.org.