Community development, environmental restoration, and educational reform must go hand in hand.
We seek partnerships among advocates for each in order to combine forces and resources. We believe that youth have a crucial role to play in this process. This conviction comes from three decades of work in low-income communities on projects that simultaneously address issues of poverty, race, deteriorated neighborhoods, polluted water, and troubled schools.
WPLP
West Philadelphia Landscape Project
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ASCE Future City Competition
In 1995 and 1996, WPLP research assistants coached Sulzberger Middle School students on their submission to the annual American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Future City Design Competition. Two teams of Sulzberger students created their own designs for a city of the Future. In 1996, the team's design, "Silver City," won Best Design at the Philadelphia region competition.

Since the American Society of Civil Engineers' Future City Competition began in 1992, the purpose of the competition has been to introduce students to engineering through practical applications of math and science and work with engineers. In 1995 and 1996, students from Sulzberger, advised by WPLP staff, entered their designs. The Sulzberger Middle School teams were the only African-American students in the Philadelphis region to participate.

1996 Future City Competition Winners

In winter 1996, students in Daisy Century's science class participated in the 5th annual National Engineers Week Future City Competition. The team consisted of three Sulzberger students plus two advisors: a licensed civil engineer and Martin Knox, a landscape architecture graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and WPLP research assistant. The Sulzberger students designed their Future City on a computer using SimCity Classic software, used a blueprint to build a model of a section of the city they had designed, which they called "Silver City."

"Silver City" won Best Design at the Philadelphia Regional Competition held at the Franklin Institute.

1995 Future City Competition

From October 1995 to January 1996 several Sulzberger students participated in the 4th annual National Engineers Week Future City Competition. The team consisted of three students, Adam Ankrah, Nagia Owen and Dennis Williams, assisted by Sulzberger teacher Daisy Century and two WPLP research hassistants: Rachel Sterling-Boyers, a University of Pennsylvania landscape architecture graduate student, and Laura Aibel, a licensed civil engineer and a graduate student in regional planning. The Sulzberger studentsy designed their future city on a computer using SimCity Classic software, built a model of a section of their proposed city, and wrote an essay on considerations in designing a manufacturing zone. The Sulzberger students competed in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 27, 1996 at the Franklin Institute.