Flemish students design city of tomorrow
Earlier this month, 100 secondary school students tried to solve some of the biggest challenges of the near future: to make our cities both sustainable and agreeable to live in. The winning team are now off to the European final in Bucharest
24-hour contest
Everything starts with education. In order to encourage students to choose a STEM discipline in higher education (science, technology, engineering and maths), several public and private initiatives have been launched in recent years. One is the European Sci-Tech Challenge, organised by oil and gas multinational ExxonMobile, which maintains an oil refinery in the port of Antwerp.
The Sci-Tech Challenge is for secondary school students aged between 15 and 18 and includes a 24-hour contest between teams of students from different schools. The initiative is held in nine European countries and consists of two legs: one national (or regional) contest and one final round.
The Flemish leg took place on 4 March in the Havencentrum, the port of Antwerp’s visitor centre in Lillo. Soon after they arrived, the 100 or so participating students received their assignment: design the city of the tomorrow.
But before they could even think of drawing futuristic skylines, they were given a number of constraints: the city had to be sustainable, environmentally friendly and agreeable to live in.
Clear winner
At the end of the day, the work of one team stood out above all the others. Six students (pictured), from schools in the provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant, designed a city with loads of green space and little traffic.
Their design focused on more breathing room by providing several parks and playgrounds. Also central was an entirely pedestrian city centre. Strong public transport, fewer polluting vehicles and an excellent bicycle infrastructure provided the finishing touches.
These are not futuristic or mind-boggling technologies, but they work
The jury, formed by experts from ExxonMobile, described the winning design as “the most efficient and best developed idea, and hence the most realistic”.
According to winning team member Laurens Van Praet, a student from OLV Pulhof in Antwerp, the idea was to develop a realistic solution for a sustainable city, not an ideal design that wouldn’t be feasible.
“From the moment we put our heads together, we realised there was no miracle solution,” he says. “That’s why we used different existing technologies: green high-rise blocks, district heating, park-and-ride facilities… These are not futuristic and surely not mind-boggling, but they work.”
The crucial test is still to come: From 21 to 23 April, Laurens and his teammates will cross swords with the other eight national winners during the European final in Bucharest. Laurens thinks that the chance to win (again) depends on the final assignment.
“In the local contest, we had to deal with a very concrete and tangible question. That was clearly in line with our talents. We were able to give clear answers and present a very comprehensible design.”
For the six students, participation in the final is an award in itself. “For winning the local contest, we received cinema tickets each and a leather-bound portfolio,” says Laurens. “But for us, the first prize is the trip to Bucharest and the fact that we’ll be defending Flanders’ honour there.”
Complementary lessons
According to Betty Coenen, a teacher at Don Bosco secondary school in Haacht, who accompanied 30 students to the Flemish contest, the Sci-Tech Challenge is a good addition to the lessons at school.
The students learn to work with people they don’t know and generate ideas in a short time
“For their final project, my students are working on the subject of energy,” she says. “The challenge is a unique opportunity to shed light on that issue in a different way. The have the advantage of meeting external experts from industry. These youngsters will soon have to make some important decisions that will shape their future. What do I want to study? What are my chances on the labour market? And what capabilities do I need? Those issues all came up during the contest.”
Apart from their teachers, the students were helped by experts from ExxonMobil. For the corporation, the contest, by which it hopes to reach thousands of European students, is an important investment in the future.
“Because of the emphasis on teamwork, the students learn how to work with people they don’t know and generate ideas within a short period of time,” explains Joost Van Roost, head of the multinational’s Benelux branch.
The Sci-Tech Challenge, he continues, “gives students the chance to acquire insight into the importance of science, technology and maths today, and how these skills can be applied in enterprising ways to tackle the challenges of tomorrow”.
About the author
