On January 23, 2010, the Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Polytechnic Institute of NYU hosted the 2010 New York City Regional of the National Engineers Week Future City Competition. Dedicated volunteers from the ASCE Met Section, NYU-Poly and many local companies and sponsors made this another successful year for the regional competition. A total of 25 teams consisting of middle school students from New York City, Long Island and Westchester arrived at NYU-Poly in Brooklyn with the excitement of presenting their "future city" created by their five long months of effort to a panel of engineer judges.

The winning team, Fa'a Filemu, from Islip Middle School on Long Island will be representing the New York City Region when they compete against 39 other teams from across the country from February 13-16 in Washington, DC during National Engineers Week.

In an age of financial crisis and natural disasters, students were challenged to focus on providing designs for "green" living space. Not only were they to focus on the engineering solution but they also had to address a less tangible issue, societal needs. The living spaces were to use sustainable materials, have a low-carbon emission footprint, and achieve the "green ideals" of energy-efficient building. Although their essays, like their Future City designs, deal with hypothetical models, they are nonetheless rooted in reality. The competition encourages students to draw on resources such as the latest research in scientific papers and even interviews with top experts from around the globe. You can see the detail of their work as they describe their "future city" from creative name, Fa'a Filemu, which means "the way of peace" to the vision of the agriculture, power, transportation systems, technology and recreation for its citizens.

In the winning team's essay, the vision of the society the students shared is that "Everyone in Fa'a Filemu has the opportunity to start a new life. We believe that everyone has the right and the ability to find happiness." With concept of a Start Smart Samoa (SSS) program where everyone is evaluated for possible career opportunities starting with entry-level jobs and a well laid out plan for advancement through learning with education funding, the city is self-sustaining with various professions, especially engineering.

Oma'oma'o, the second place team in the competition, addressed the current problem of housing loss from natural disasters or financial crisis. Not only did they realize that some things are unpredictable, but they also recognized the importance of teamwork, whether working on a project or in a futuristic city. In understanding the various social classes and planning for needs accordingly, the students learned to apply engineering knowledge to improve social conditions:

In order to design an appropriate home for a location, many different types of engineers would have to work together, especially sustainable design and environmental engineers. They would need to work together in order to create a home that complies with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability while incorporating several new technologies that would lessen the homes impact on the environment. Depending on the location where the modular home is needed, different locally provided materials would be used, since each location has different needs. Even though the locations may vary, most of our homes will be designed to fit the needs of people belonging to the lower end of the socioeconomic class spectrum. We would aim to help the lower class since they are probably going to be the people who require an emergency dwelling, since they would not be able to provide for themselves after a disaster.

As an example, if the disaster happened in our city, which is located off the coast of Hawaii, then a floating modular home would be provided. This would be ideal, since a home that is located on the water would be able to survive within the disaster area. Since the climate in Hawaii is warmer than most other places and is known to have a lot of rainfall, yet still sunny, we would include solar panels and a rain-collection system. The home would be equipped with a turbine to harness the hydropower and reverse-osmosis system to provide clean water, which would most likely be in short supply.

By exposing students to engineering at an early age, the Future City Competition teaches problem-solving, team work, research, writing, presentation and computer skills, and inspires them to pursue engineering careers. With help from their teachers and mentors, the students use SimCity 4 Deluxe software to design their future city. After writing a research essay and preparing a narrative describing their city, the fun part begins when the students get to build a scale model of their future city. Once the final product is complete, it's off to the regional competition to present their city of the future.

The New York City Regional Future City Competition was the culmination of months of planning, designing and hard work by the all the students, teachers and volunteers involved with this program. We couldn't have made this program a success without the assistance of more than 100 local engineers that volunteered to help with our program. The members of this year's Regional Competition Steering and Planning Committee included: Karen Armfield, Jennifer Buglione, Eva Chan, Bettina Kaes, Teresa Llorente, Janine R. Wood Parks, Jignasa Ray, Helena Tam, Kim Tran, Melanie Villatoro and Timothy Ward.

The continued support of this program from volunteers and the generosity of corporate sponsors from the engineering community allows hundreds of students each year the opportunity to experience the challenges of engineering first hand through a collaborative learning environment. To learn more about the National Engineers Week Future City Competition, you can visit www.futurecity.org for more information.

See the Met Section photo gallery for more pictures from this event.

2010 Regional Competition Award and Prize Winners

First Place "Fa'a Filemu" Islip Middle School Islip, NY $5,000 Annual Student Scholarships
Second Place "Oma'oma'o" I.S. 24 - Myra S. Barnes Staten Island, NY $2,000 Annual Student Scholarships Fourth Place "New Zeus City" M.S. 144 - Michelangelo Bronx, NY	Third Place "Large Fork" I.S. 318 - Eugenio Maria DeHostos Brooklyn, NY $1,000 Annual Student Scholarships Fifth Place "Ville" I.S. 239 - Mark Twain Brooklyn, NY

2010 Special Award Winners and Sponsors