How Do We Plan a Project?

How do we figure out what we are going to do? A good method is to use project planning and management. A project plan is not a required deliverable for the Future City Competition and we can't guarantee that if you use one that you will win an award. However, we believe that preparing a project plan before you do anything else will make the rest of the project easier and less stressful.

Project Planning

Project planning is planning your work and project management is working your plan. There are many tools and techniques used to produce and manage project plans. Among the most used are PERT and critical path management. Microsoft Project software is an example of tools used to build and run a project plan (click here for examples). Since your Future City Competition project is much simpler, we made a worksheet for you to use. Click on the link below to get your copy.

See Project Planning Worksheets

A project plan is simply a list (yes, another list) of the things that you're going to do (tasks) to produce the deliverables, when you're going to do them (schedule), and who is going to do them (assignments). Tasks are sometimes called intermediate deliverables. Click here to look at a sample task list. Your project plan should always be in the Project Plan Folder in your Project Archive. Preparing a project plan will get your Future City Competition project off to a good start and have benefits throughout your effort.

Project Management

The person that you chose as the project manager/budget controller should manage the project plan. He or she should fill every "How Long Will It Take" and "When Will We Start It" space on the worksheet. If you're using the Excel version of the worksheet, it will calculate the "When Should We Finish" and "How Much Time Do We Have Left" columns. If you're doing this on paper, follow the instructions in the downloaded PDF file. This will give you the first version of the schedule for your project. Look at the deliverable dates that are highlighted on the worksheet and make sure that the dates in the "When Should We Finish" do not occur after the date that the deliverable is due.

The project manager/budget controller should review the worksheet to make certain that tasks are done on time. He or she can change "How Long Will It Take" and "When Will We Start It" numbers as things change during the project. It is very important to make certain that the new dates are not beyond the deliverable due date. There should be an agenda item at every team meeting to review the project plan and make changes as necessary. The project manager/budget controller should also tell the person responsible for a task (Who Is Going to Do It) when his or her task deadline is getting close.

After you have prepared the project plan, you do not have to do the tasks one after the other (serial development). You can do many things at the same time (concurrent development). This method is also called multitasking. For instance, you can be running the Virtual City simulation, doing research for the essay and city narrative, and collecting material for the scale model all at the same time. This is especially true if different people are assigned to the tasks.

Now you know what you have to do, when you have to do it, and who is going to do it.

How Do We Make a City Plan?

Like the project plan, the city plan is NOT a required deliverable in the Future City Competition. We can't guarantee that you will win an award if you make one. However, making a city plan will make it easier to write your essay, write your city narrative, run the virtual city simulation, build your scale model, and prepare your presentation. We will use outlines and a worksheet to help you think of what you want to put in your city. Outlines are lists that organize your thinking. You do not have to do everything that we show you. Choose from the outlines only those things that you think are important for your city.

City Plan

You should look at your city plan in two ways. First, look at things that you can see in a city; streets, buildings, airports, railroads, etc. Second, look at the community (people) and its needs. The ability to meet the community's needs drives the size and building of the city. For example, there are many ruins from Native American civilizations and ghost towns in Arizona that no longer met their community's needs. Let's look at what you can see.

(See City Planning Worksheets)

Geography

The first thing we think about a city are the things that we can see. Let's build our city plan from the ground up. Let's first look at the geography. Does your city have mountains, beaches, waterways, or forest land? If so, where are they located in the city (north side, west side, central, etc.)? How big are they? Are the waterways connected? Are the waterways natural or man-made? Do you have parks or golf courses? This is just a partial list of the questions you can ask about your city's geography.

Infrastructure

Next, let's look at the infrastructure. The infrastructure consists of roads, highways, and bridges; mass transit, railroads and airports; clean water delivery systems; waste management systems; and electric, gas, communications, and cable TV lines. How are your roads and highways connected? Do your highways connect to places outside your city? Do you have railroads? Are they diesel, electric, maglev, or a new technology? Where is your airport? Do the aircraft still use jet technology? Do your clean water delivery systems and waste management systems have water treatment plants? Where are your energy production facilities? Are your energy transmission lines above, below ground or through the air? Again, these are just a few examples of the questions you can ask your team about your city.

Buildings

Now let's look at the most visible part of our city, the buildings. Your city must have hospitals; how many and where? Does your city have commercial (office) buildings? Are they located together centrally or are they scattered in locations all over the city? Where are your retail (shopping malls, grocery stores, big box stores, etc.) located? Where are your residences (houses, condos, and apartments) located? Are they near retail and commercial buildings? Where are your entertainment venues (sports stadiums, theaters, restaurants, etc.) located? Are they easily accessible? Does your city have colleges and universities? Where are they? How big are they? Last, where and how many government buildings are in your city? For instance, do you have a City Hall, libraries, government offices, etc.? We've finished looking at the things that you can see in your city, but there are more city design questions that you can ask. Now let's look at the community that lives there.

Community Outline

(See Community Outline Worksheets)

As we mentioned earlier, the city is not just buildings. It is also the people who live there. Cities grow and thrive because they meet the needs of the people who live there. Our outline is based on an idea from a man named Maslow who lived in the middle 20^thcentury.

It's called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Don't let that title scare you. It's just a set of levels that people throughout the world move through. There are five levels. They are physical needs, safety and security needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. It is often shown as a pyramid because everyone in the world must meet the first level, physical needs, before they can progress to the next level. However, few people in the world reach the fifth level, self-actualization. For example, the unfortunate people of Somalia are stuck in the physical needs level while some people in large cities in other parts of the world are meeting their self-actualization needs.

Physical Needs

Physical needs are those things that we need to survive. Food, water, shelter, clean air, and energy are some of the needs. How does your city grow, transport, store, preserve, and sell food? Are there new technologies for doing any of these? How does your city obtain clean water? Do you use technologies like desalination, wastewater recovery, or do you have a new technology? How are your buildings constructed? Do they use new materials? Do they incorporate new technologies for lighting and comfort features? How do you create energy? Is it a local solution or global solution? Do you use a single form of energy production or a variety of solutions? How do you ensure clean air?

Safety and Security Needs

After their physical needs are met, people want their safety and security needs met. This means your city must provide access to medical care, to police protection, to fire protection, and to waste management facilities. Normally, government assumes the responsibility to satisfy most of the safety and security needs. Where does the money come from to pay for all of this? Taxes, tolls, and fees are a few sources of money to run a government.

There are some questions you may wish to consider. How do residents of your city access medical care? Do you have a good first response system? Do you have any new technologies to improve medical care? Do you have any new technologies that improve police or fire protection? How does your city dispose of waste? Are there any new technologies for that?

Social Needs

Once your residents are safe and comfortable, they will want to socialize with other people. How do your residents communicate with one another; telephone, Internet, or some new technology? Do you have sports teams and venues like stadiums? Do you have an arts community with theaters and galleries? Do you have restaurants and nightclubs? Do you have organized recreational activities such as softball leagues, running clubs, etc.? Do you have religious organizations?

Esteem Needs

Esteem needs are met when people have confidence and feel good about themselves. Esteem needs can be met through education, community service, and employment. Does your city have quality colleges and universities? Do they have any specializations? Does your educational system provide opportunities to succeed for all children? Do you have libraries? Do you have many community service organizations? Are there numerous employment opportunities? Is your city known for certain types of industries? For instance, geothermal energy production.

Self-Actualization Needs

Self-actualization needs are met when your residents have the opportunity to maximize their personal potential. For one resident that may mean community leadership while another resident might wish to excel in sculpting. Self-actualization is an individual need. Does your city have free and open access to community leadership positions? Does your city have opportunities for people to start their own businesses? Does your city encourage people to pursue their dreams?

You should now have a pretty good idea of what you want to include in your city. Now let's design how all the pieces are going to fit together.

City Layout

From Google Earth

The city layout is a map of your city. You will probably make at least two of these. The first one is your basic city map. The second one is a detailed map showing what you intend to build in your scale model. The easiest way to make a map is to use butcher paper (schools have more of this than grocery stores). Your basic map can be any size, but your detailed map should be the size of your scale model (25" x 50"). We recommend that you use colored pencils rather than markers or crayons because it's easier to make changes to the map.

Basic Map

You should start your basic map by drawing the landscape. Next, draw your infrastructure. You do not have to show all of the structures at this point. Just show the areas where the structures will be. For instance, where your commercial buildings are, where people live, or where are your sports stadiums? We suggest that you use different colors to show different types of structures. For example, blue for housing, red for office buildings, or orange for retail. What colors you use are up to you, but the map will be far more useful if you can see the different areas clearly later in the project. You would use this map to build your virtual city (SimCity^tm4).

Detailed Map

Your detailed map is used to build your scale model. Whether you choose to show your entire city or just a section you should draw a detailed map. A reminder, make sure that your map is exactly the same size as the scale model. You may have to glue or paste pieces of butcher paper or other paper together to get the desired size. We recommend using colored pencils so that it's easy to make changes. On this map, you will draw your landscape, infrastructure, and every structure to scale.

Hint: use what you learned from the virtual city simulation to revise the design of your city.

Scale

Scale is a very important requirement for your scale model. Scale reduces the size of the real world to your scale model size. Scale is a ratio often shown as a measure of your city to the real world. It can be shown in many ways. For instance, model = world, model/world, or model: world. In order to convert the real world to your model size all measures should be in the same units. For example, 1 inch = 1 mile is not 1 = 1, it is 1 = 63,360.

How do you figure out what scale to use? A good tool is Google Earth. Choose a city somewhere in the world that has a similar landscape to your city. Zoom in on the city. As you zoom in, you will notice that the numbers in the lower left-hand corner are changing. That is the scale. When you zoom into the size that you think will look good for your city, write the scale from the lower left-hand corner onto a sheet of paper. This becomes the basis for your scale.

Hint: you will probably find that the entire city does not fit within the scale size that you like. Use this knowledge when planning what you are going to show in your scale model.

Scale Conversion

(See Scale Conversion Worksheets)

We created a scale conversion worksheet that can help you convert features in your city to the size of your scale model. Remember, make sure that all measures are expressed in the same unit e.g. inches. If you have Excel, once you choose your conversion ratio, the worksheet should convert the real world measures to your scale model size. Your conversion ratio is your scale shown as a fraction. For example, 1 inch = 1 mile is 1/63,360. Multiply the real world dimensions by this fraction to give you the scale model dimensions.

Hint: if you're using the spreadsheet, type the fraction preceded by an = into the conversion rate cell and Excel will calculate the decimal equivalent as your multiplier. If you're using paper, enter into your calculator your scale number and divided by the real world number and it will give you the same decimal equivalent. Write that decimal in the conversion rate cell on the worksheet.

You will notice that we also included a shape column and an area column. The shape column combined with scale model dimensions will help you to find parts for your scale model. You will also use it to choose the formula for area that goes in the area column.

You will notice that when you enter an area, it will reduce the remaining space figure. This will show you how much space is left on your model after you added that piece.

From the information on your scale conversion worksheet, you can begin to find the pieces for your scale model and begin drawing the city features on your detailed city map. Once your detailed city map is complete, you can use it to build your scale model and prepare your presentation props.

We hope that you enjoyed designing and creating maps of your city. You'll have a lot more fun completing the deliverables for the competition.