Middle School Future City Team Competes at Houston Regionals
The Future City Competition combines the engineering design process with project management to imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. This year’s challenge was to design a city that eliminates food waste from farm to table and keeps citizens healthy and safe. The model build is limited to a $100 budget and encourages creative reuse of materials.
The Circle School team based their Future City on Buenaventura, Colombia in the year 2125. After first researching the problems of food waste, poverty, and widespread pollution contributing to rising crime and gang activity in present day Buenaventura, the middle school team devised innovative solutions. In their model, a multifaceted approach—strengthening the economy, investing in culturally connected communities, and embracing environmental sustainability— reduced crime dramatically, helping the population grow to 1,400,308 by the year 2125.
The first point on the food production pathway that the team focused on was agricultural production centering around hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Farmers enrich their crops using fertilizer from the Composting Centers. Underground mycelium networks help roots absorb nutrients more efficiently. An important component to the waste free economy in the future city is the replacement of plastic with mycelium – a natural root structure of fungi that only takes 45 days to decompose. Mycelium packaging is made by growing mycelium in molds for 7 to 10 days and coating it with beeswax to increase durability and water resistance. Beyond packaging, mycelium is also used to make plant-based meat and biodegradable clothing, eliminating waste from both packaging and textiles while offering a sustainable protein source. As part of the circular economy, all mycelium products are waste-free and compostable. The city’s unique geographical location allowed the team to devise a sustainable hydroelectric power system in the tidal lagoons utilizing wave terminators and oscillating water columns.
Research skills, essay writing, public speaking, engineering design thinking, addressing socioeconomic aspects of communal living, and creative reuse in model design are all honed in this project-based competition. The Circle School is so proud of the work our team brought to competition and the knowledge and skills they acquired along the way. This year our team placed eighth out of a record-setting thirty-three teams in this regional competition. The Circle School is a three-time regional champion, most recently advancing to the international competition in Washington, D.C. in 2025.
