Future City Region

New York (City) 

Deadlines & Dates

City
Essay

December 12, 2023

City
Model

January 20, 2024

City
Presentation

January 20, 2024

City
Q&A

January 20, 2024

Regional
Competition

January 20, 2024

Project
Plan:

Part 1

November 17, 2023

Part 2

November 17, 2023

Part 3

December 8, 2023

Part 4

January 10, 2024

About this Region

Regional Coordinator(s)

Karen Armfield, P.E.

Welcome to Future City New York City!

The Future City Competition is a non-profit national competition sponsored by the engineering community to promote technological literacy and engineering to middle school students. The competition consists of three phases:

1) Design a city on the computer using the SIM City software.

2) Write an Essay and Abstract about the city.

3) Make a scale model of the city and present your city to a panel of engineer judges on the day of the competition.

Mentoring: Each team is matched with an Engineer Mentor who will visit the school periodically over the course of the competition and help the students learn about how engineers design and develop the infrastructure of a city.

Who can participate: The regional competition is open to all public, private, and parochial Middle Schools (6th, 7th & 8th grade) from the New York City Metropolitan Area.

When does the competition start: The competition runs from September to January each year. We recommend you register early in the season in order to have more time to complete the program.

Goal: To foster an interest in math, science, and engineering through hands-on, real world applications.

Result: Students will learn how math, science and engineering shape the infrastructure of the city around them. Students also learn life skills such as problem solving, teamwork, research, written and verbal communication, computer literacy, and gain an increased awareness of community related issues.

Prizes: The winning team from the Regional Competition will have an opportunity to compete in the National Competition in Washington DC, where the national winning team receives a trip to Space Camp.

Past competition results »

Mentors/Volunteers

Welcome Engineers, Architects, and all Professionals!

Competition Planning Committee

The competition planning committee meets once a month between September and January in order to compile mailings and also coordinates miscellaneous tasks between meetings via e-mail. Between February and August, there a few follow-up tasks for the committee to complete, but no meetings. If you would like to volunteer on the competition planning committee please e-mail Karen Armfield, the NYC Regional Competition Coordinator at newyork_city@futurecity.org .

Mentoring

A mentor should be an engineer from the New York City metropolitan area who is interested in visiting a local middle school approximately 7-10 times between September and January (one visit every 3 weeks).

Each time you visit the school you will go over a different engineering topic with the students, for example: bridges, buildings, zoning, power supply, power production, water supply, pollution, traffic impacts, transportation, manufacturing, etc. These topics do not have to be spoken about in complete detail; a general overview of each topic will suffice as the students are in seventh and eighth grades. Mentors can be from any engineering discipline, but should have a general knowledge of most of the topics listed.

 If you are interested in volunteering as a mentor, have any questions about mentoring, or would like to obtain additional information, please feel free to e-mail Karen Armfield, the NYC Regional Competition Coordinator at newyork_futurecity.org.

Sponsors

We welcome local engineering firms to become sponsors of the competition and help the next generation of engineers to learn the benefits of our profession. The New York City Regional Competition is supported by contributions from local engineering businesses and professional societies. If your organization would like to become a sponsor, please contact Karen Armfield at newyork_city@futurecity.org.

Sponsors of past competitions included:

 

  • ARUP
  • SWE
  • HDR
  • HNTB
  • IEEE
  • ASABE
  • Langan Engineering
  • MESC
  • NYC Transit
  • WSP
  • SONY
  • H & L Electric
  • NCEES
  • AKRF

Teacher Resources

See the Competition Deliverables section of the national website for each segment of the program.

As always feel free to call me 917-414-4654 or email me newyork_city@futurecity.org with any questions.

Contact Us

Committee Officers

REGIONAL COORDINATOR & COMMITTEE CHAIR
Karen C. Armfield, P.E.
WSP
1 Penn Plaza, 4th floor
New York, NY 10119
Phone: (917) 414-4654
karen.armfield@wsp.com

FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR /TREASURER 

Tim Ward
Langan 
21 Penn Plaza
360 West 31st Street, 8th floor
New York, NY 10001-2727
Tward@langan.com

MENTOR RECRUITING
Volunteer Needed
Company
Address 1
Address 2
newyork_city@futurecity.org

 

JUDGING AND AWARDS
Kenny Mui, P.E.
AKRF 
440 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
kmui@akrf.com

Committee Members

DAY OF COMPETITION COORDINATOR

Helena Tam, P.E., LEED AP
HDR
500 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10018
(347) 204-7307
Helena.tam@hdrinc.com

 

JUDGE/VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Jason DelNero, P.E.

Port Authority NY and NJ
2 Gateway Center
Newark, NJ 07102
Phone: (973) 792-xxxx
pantgraphj@gmail.com

PROGRAM AND COMPETITION PLANNING
Nicole Clarke
AKRF
440 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016

nclarke@akrf.com

WEBMASTER
Harris Sokoloff
H&L Electric
41-11 28th Street
Long Island City NY 11101
Phone (718) 361-6400
Harris.Sokoloff@HLElectric.com