The Launchpad: 7th Grade Urban Planners!

Hello all!

My name is Shannon Connors and I am the Investigations teacher for the 7th grade at US Grant. This summer, I have been teaching a course called "Study of the City" in which we explore the mechanics of cities and work towards analyzing and designing solutions for common urban issues. The students have tackled diverse concepts during our week-long units including public transportation, public spaces, and the relationship between city demographics and city government. They have debated the value of openness vs. privacy in public spaces, interviewed New Haven residents on the Green, and held a mock city-council meeting to evaluate a public works project and the use of eminent domain. Throughout all of this, the students have been honing their analytic and graphing skills by applying their city planning knowledge to real statistics about New Haven.

First Period Class on The New Haven Green

Second Period Class on The New Haven Green

Last week the students were given a challenge; for their final projects, they have taken on the role of urban designers and are charged with the task of creating entirely new cities complete with streets, residential and commercial zones, public transportation systems, and public spaces. In addition, each student has selected two issues that we discussed in class (i.e. homelessness, public transportation, pollution) and must incorporate solutions to those problems into their city designs. The students have been hard at work, researching their urban problems and creating stunning, thoughtful maps of their cities. Though they have all been given the same general guidelines each student has taken the assignment in an entirely unique direction. The variety of designs is staggering and they all reflect the personalities of their creators. There are themed cities, cities with almost no cars, island cities, solar-powered cities, and cities that take our own New Haven as a model.

A 7th Grade student working on his city

Today, while working on their projects, the students really began to synthesize all of the aspects of the course. One student explained to me why she included one-way streets in her city (to prevent dangerous left turns) and showed a level of care and foresight that is present in each and every project. They have even helped each other identify how different buildings would be "zoned" and whether it would be better to have a library downtown or near schools. Though the projects are individually based, the team work that has been going on has been a joy to watch.

7th Graders hard at work on their maps

I could not be more excited to see the completed cities and it has been a singular pleasure to teach these students and see their ideas evolve. Their city exhibitions at Family Night next week will be an incredible sight!