Environmental issues are a global concern nowadays. Natural resources management, goods consumption, wealth distribution, industrialization, pollution, energy production and use, water use, land use, intensive agriculture, food production…, are all aspects involved in environmental problems. Carbon footprint and ecological footprint are two examples of how to measure the human impact on the Earth. Both show that we are living well over Earth´s capacity, creating such severe problems as global warming and depletion of resources. Mankind must therefore find a way to a conscious and respectful economic progress that do not compromise the future generations´ needs. The solution is a sustainable development. Being aware that zero growth is never to be reached, green industry, circular economy, efficiency, conscious consumption, renewable energies, recycling, life-cycle analysis of products, offer solutions to the 21st century most challenging problem: saving resources and keeping the Earth as a livable place for more centuries ahead. Most of these solutions are strongly dependent on technology and investment. In Europe we need to promote them. European governments are now involved in the hard task of achieving the 2020 climate&energy package, the so-called 20-20-20 package (20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions, 20% of EU energy from renewables and 20% improvement in energy efficiency), a keystone of an ambitious strategy for sustainable development. A long-term objetive of EU is the 2050 Energy strategy (energy transition consisting of long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95%, largely by means of decarbonisation), which will become a crucial part of the sustainable development in this century. It is a task of the governments to implement solutions, but also a commitment of the citizens to use them after information and education campaigns. In this project we would like to contribute to sustainable development by giving small-scale solutions for a big problem. And we are planning to do this by focusing the project on the students, because we think the best approach is to drag the students´ attention to the issue. The closest reality to students is the place they live in, their town. They will inherit the town and they will live there for a long time, so they are the ones to redesign a 21st century urban environment. This is the main motivation for the project -what the students can imagine and do to improve their town in terms of life quality and sustainability, meaning that in terms of energy efficiency, less pollution and noise. The project is structured following a four-phase concept: • What is my town like • How is the town I want to live in • Let´s design my new town • My sustainable town in the future PHASE 1. WHAT IS MY TOWN LIKE Duration: 6 months Concepts development: Noise, air pollution, urban planning, open data Method: Data collection Evidences/documentation: Existing maps, field measurements, photos, interviews, statistics (respiratory and noise diseases) Tools: Mobile phone apps: sonometer, air-quality apps. Mapping software Products: Noise map, pollution map/chart, videos, infographics, PPT, webgraphies, etc PHASE 2. HOW IS THE TOWN I WANT TO LIVE IN Duration: 6 months Concepts development: Transport, energy efficiency, noise&pollution reduction, sustainable development, Method: Research Evidences/documentation: Possible solutions to implement, establishing objectives & pre-planning Tools: Internet search of existing models in the world Products: Base designs, videos, infographics, PPT, webgraphies, etc PHASE 3. LET´S DESIGN MY NEW TOWN Duration: 6 months Concepts development: Urban planning, design, 3D printing, architecture Method: Working out solutions Evidences/documentation: Detailed urban planning with implemented improvements Tools: 3D printing sofware (SketchUp, TinkerCAD or similar) , mapping software (QGIS or similar) Products: Advance design drafts and 3D models, infographics PHASE 4. MY SUSTAINABLE TOWN IN THE FUTURE Duration: 6-8 months Concepts development: Sustainability, projections, predictions Method: Speculative imagining Evidences/documentation: Research on how future cities will be like Tools: Augmented reality (AR) apps (Wikitude, Augment3D or similar) Products: AR basic simulations of sustainable solutions to be overlapped on real town´s images , the designed models being the reference; infographics
The project was initially conceived with the objective of contributing to sustainable development by providing small-scale solutions that will help solve the environmental problems in which we are immersed. This project was designed by putting the students at the center of the project and that they would be the ones to provide solutions to local problems previously identified in their closest reality, which is none other than the place where they live, their city. The problems were approached from the premise that since they are the ones who will inherit the city and live in it for a long time, they are the ones who should redesign an urban environment for the 21st century. This was the main motivation for the project: what the students could imagine and do to improve their city in terms of quality of life and sustainability, that is, in terms of energy efficiency, less pollution and noise. As for the objectives we can say that the following were clearly achieved with the development of the project: - To create a positive environment for the teaching-learning process and integration between the different levels. - To train students as future responsible citizens endowed with global awareness. - Encourage the responsible use and learning of ICTs, highlighting the use of platforms such as eTwinning, as well as advanced software for graphic design and augmented reality. - Acquisition of new teaching methodologies in general. - Instilling an international feeling throughout the community. - Improve competence in the use of a foreign language. - Improve teachers' competencies, to adjust their professional development to new challenges. Regarding the results obtained, we have to say that through the implementation of the project, we have created a wide range of products that are uploaded to the European Results Platform. The most important products have been the design using advanced computer tools of different solutions to environmental problems encountered in the immediate environment of our cities. The four centers have been using Qgis, Sketchup and Twinmotion as localization, graphic design and augmented reality programs in the development of their projects, as well as, in the case of three of them, models obtained by 3D printing of the new spaces created. It should be noted that the achievements of the project are not only the final products, but also the exchange of experiences of working in graphic design and 3D printing among the teachers of the participating schools, as well as the work in international teams of students. The virtual reality section included among the objectives of the project focused on the use of the Twinmotion program, for which teachers were previously trained by means of a classroom course given by the company Iscar, which took place in Madrid. The use of this software obliged the participating centers to acquire equipment that met important requirements in terms of processing capacity and graphics cards. Subsequently, the students received online training on the use and management of this advanced tool. Due to the situation caused by the pandemic, this training in graphic design and augmented reality could not be completed with visits to industries and businesses, which would have given us a better understanding of them. We must also mention among the achievements and results of the project, the awareness of students in environmental issues and the development of activities that allow them to propose improvements in the environment. Likewise, with the development of activities such as the international debate, the students were able to freely express ideas with responsibility and respect, assume different roles, and learn to listen to other opinions. The improvement in the practice of the English language and the awareness of environmental problems can also be considered as other results or benefits of the Project As for the difficulties encountered, we have to say that the biggest problem we faced was the appearance of the pandemic in early 2020. This came to us with the project half developed and with the problem of how to deal with such a serious situation. The first thing we did was to consider the possibility of requesting an extension of the deadline for its completion, which we did and was accepted, changing the deadline from November 2020 to June 2021. After that, it was necessary to change the dates foreseen to carry out the short-term mobilities in Portugal and Finland, deciding to carry them out if possible in the months of November and February, something that in the end could not be done either. Faced with this situation, the partners decided to change the format of the mobilities, converting them into virtual mobilities and designing new activities that could be completed with the computer resources available in the centers. These new activities included an online workshop on Twinnmotion, a virtual exhibition of the work done, a workshop on sustainability, an international debate, and an international race from Portugal to Finland. Another of the problems caused by the pandemic has been the situation in which a Spanish student who was doing a long term mobility in the Czech Republic had to spend the confinement with the host family in this country. This caused an important task of coordination between the two schools. As for the conflicts that may have arisen, we believe that those that have arisen have been small scale and that thanks to the dialogue and the proactive attitude of the different partners have been resolved within the normal channels.