As the first and only design group represented in the international STEM competition of over 60,000 middle school students, ASLA is thrilled to sponsor the 2024-2025 Future City Competition with its Special Award for Design-Centered Solutions with Nature. 

Join us this year as a Mentor and help support an authentic project that transforms students’ understanding of the role landscape architects play with engineers to strengthen their teamwork, problem-solving, and project management skills. 

Time Commitment? 

With a time commitment of approximately 15-25 hours starting now through February 2025, mentors work alongside STEM teachers to serve as a coach and role model, share real-life STEM experiences, offer technical guidance, and help translate academic concepts to the real world of city design and landscape architecture.

Once you register, a Future City Regional Coordinator will contact you with optional school assignments that best match your schedule and region. Notify ASLA's Lisa J. Jennings of your participation as well at ljennings@asla.org. 

In the News: Past ASLA Special Award Winners 

• 2023-2024 - Glen Hills Middle School in Glendale, Wisconsin – Wisconsin 
• 2022-2023 - Waverly Middle School – Nebraska 
• 2021-2022 - Lawrence Southwest Middle School (The Lawrence Times) 
• 2019-2020 - Central Pennsylvania region 

 Photo Credit: Lisa Jennings

How Does the Future City Competition Work? 

More than 60,000 students compete every year from 37+ regions in the United States and three from China to imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue.  

Open to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students around the world, the Future City Competition starts with a question – how can we make the world a better place? 

Throughout the fall, participants work in teams of at least three students, an educator, and volunteer mentor to bring their vision of their future city to life. 

Students will imagine what it’s like to walk down the main street of a city 100 years in the future. What do they see, hear, smell, and feel? From this starting point, they will design a futuristic city with innovative solutions to some of today’s most pressing sustainability issues. 

Key Milestones/Team Deliverables 

Teams are responsible for producing five deliverables including: 

• A Project Plan – where students complete a four-part plan to help them organize their project, 
• A City Essay – in which teams have 1,500 words to describe their futuristic city and solutions to the Climate Change challenge, 
• A City Model – with only a $100 budget, teams creatively repurpose recycled materials to build a scale model of their city, 
• A City Presentation and Q&A session– where teams have up to seven minutes to present their city. 

Competition finals of nationwide regional winners are held each year in Washington, DC during Engineer’s week and are scheduled for February 16-22, 2025. 

Future City Competition Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

Of more than 45,000 Future City participants: 

• 48% of participants are girls. 
• 39% of participating students are from underrepresented populations. 
• 43% of participating schools are Title I schools. 

Future City Competition Honors 

• In 2017, Future City was recognized as the Most Innovative Hands-On Program by the US2020 STEM Mentoring Awards.  
• In 2016, the Future City Competition received the Prize for Innovation in Construction Henry C. Turner, presented by Turner Construction Company and the National Building Museum. 
• In 2015, Future City was named the grand prize winner in the UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc.) Innovative Education Award program and received a $100,000 award. The ULIEA program highlights the essential, urgent and significant value of E-STEM education. 

Please direct questions to Lisa J. Jennings, Senior Manager, Career Discovery and Diversity at ljennings@asla.org