{"id":5456,"date":"2023-11-21T13:56:50","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T13:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/academy9\/?p=5456"},"modified":"2024-01-12T10:29:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T10:29:01","slug":"grantown-grammar-pupils-design-sustainable-towns-for-world-town-planning-day-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/academy9\/2023\/11\/21\/grantown-grammar-pupils-design-sustainable-towns-for-world-town-planning-day-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Grantown Grammar Pupils Design Sustainable Towns for World Town Planning Day 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month the Academy9 Team worked with S1 pupils at Grantown Grammar School for a STEM challenge like no other \u2013 designing a sustainable town as part of our annual Town Planning<\/a> event!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Pupils worked in small groups over two weeks, to plan and design a sustainable<\/a> town that they presented to a team of Academy9 judges. All aspects of the town had to be considered, such as: transport links; utility supply; employment and education; citizen health and wellbeing, and housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The towns had to be suitable for a population of 50,000 people and all decisions in the plan had to be justified to our judging panel. Young people developed their skills in problem solving, communication and team work as well as learning how to use a Geographical Information System (GIS) software, ArcGIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability was a key focus within the judges\u2019 brief this year. This required teams to incorporate imaginative and innovative ideas into their town designs to enable their towns to be ready for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I really enjoyed being involved in this year\u2019s event and seeing all the fantastic towns the students had created. There were some outstanding innovative ideas; such as an electric tram system for sustainable travel and schools intentionally positioned close to residential areas so residents could walk to school.\u201d <\/p>\nBen Thomas, Academy9 Professional \u2013 GIS Analyst<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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It was evident that all teams worked extremely hard throughout the two weeks and put all the knowledge gained from our town planners and GIS analysts into their town plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“There was a great focus on renewable energy sources across most of the groups. Some stand out ideas for me were those that used advances in technology to support resident welfare. For example, one town had robots that would carry out services such as night shifts in hotels and preparing breakfast so that residents could maintain healthy sleep cycles.”<\/p>\nRachel Stewart, Academy9 Professional \u2013 Senior GIS Analyst<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Check out some snapshots from our judging day in the slideshow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n