Starting last year, students at New Century annually compete in the national Future Cities competition. Around 5-10 students usually apply and organize into one or two teams, and the teams are tasked with planning and designing a futuristic city. The teams are given a different concept to follow each year, with the concepts usually revolving around combating climate change. For example, last years was “Above the Current” (a city that floats on water), and this years is “Farm to Table” (a city that eliminates farm to table food waste). Though these prompts must be followed to qualify, creativity and thinking outside of the box is encouraged in the students designs.
Over 2-3 months, the teams work together at their best to come up with a creative, practical, and relevant design for a city. They are tasked with completing a digital model for the city, crafted on the design program Revit. The students are allowed to use premade assets from Revit as long as they are cited. The main focus, however, is the essay, where the students should describe their city’s infrastructure, purpose, and location in as much detail as possible. In early January, the deadline arrives, and each submission is considered for the national competition. If a team qualifies for the national competition, they would travel to Washington D.C. to receive an award, and hopefully, the grand prize. The first place team is awarded $20,000 and $10,000 in scholarship money for each student.