Sustainable Land Use Planning
Sustainable Land Use Planning (8th - 12th grade)
Topic: Learn how to create sustainable villages out of existing city infrastructure.
Presenter: Kelda Miller, Divine Earth Gardening Project
First part of class is discussion about what makes our cities and towns sustainable or destructive to the Earth. Second part of class is a slideshow about different projects in the United States, many of them very inspiring. Third part of class, the students break into teams: rural, cul-de-sac ‘development’, single family home urban, and high-density urban. Each group is given a tray of objects that represent their starting point (roads, fences, houses, buildings specific to their group). They are then asked to work as if they were neighbors trying to recreate their space into a vibrant, functional village. They can use found objects to add to their design (more trees, bridges, bike paths, etc.) and are allowed to move objects. Lots of interesting conversation ensues.
Homework questions:
- How does car-use hurt healthy communities?
- What was the funniest part about creating a village with neighbors?
- Was there anything you disagreed with your ‘neighbors’ about? How did you work through it?
