I offer electives to my 4th-6th grade GT students (see Offering Electives to Elementary Students). They chose paper engineering. A few started making city structures. They then stated that they should make a city. I suggested that it be a sustainable city (Sustainable Development Goal 11).
I provided them with with 20" x 30" size pieces of foam board - enough pieces so they can work in small groups of 3 per group along with green poster paint. The students realized they needed a planning session to coordinate their efforts deciding they needed to figure out how their boards would connect, and where different areas would go. What follows in a snippet of their planning process.
I watched as they worked together as they planned their city, deciding what will be included and where it would go. I watched as they almost spontaneously created new areas and artifacts: gardens, orchards, farmers’ market, stables, and bike racks.