Since last fall, more than 40,000 middle school students from 1,350 schools in 41 regions in the United States, as well as teams from Canada, China, and the Middle East, have imagined, designed and built cities for the 2017-2018 Future City Competition.

In January, each region held qualifying competitions to select the team that will compete at the Future City Finals.

Now, those winners are in Washington, DC for the Finals at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, February 17-20, 2018, during Engineers Week.

The Future City Competition is a project-based experience where students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future.

Students are asked to address an authentic, real-world question: How can we make the world a better place?

Working in a team with an educator and mentor, students present their vision of the future through a virtual city design using SimCity™ software; a 1,500-word city essay, a scale model of their city built with recycled materials, and in a short presentation to a panel of STEM professionals.

This year’s theme, The Age-Friendly City, encourages students to design solutions that can serve an urban area’s older population.

Students are tasked with identifying age-related issues in their city and engineering innovative solutions that enable seniors to remain active and independent.

Future City has ongoing opportunities for engineering and technical professionals to volunteer in a number of different roles, including mentors and regional coordinators. For information about Future City or to volunteer, visit www.futurecity.org.

Major funding for Future City comes from the Bechtel Corporation, Bentley Systems, Inc., Shell Oil Company, and DiscoverE. Additional program support provided by UL, EA, and AARP.