MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
What will the cities of tomorrow look like? That is a question middle schoolers around the country are tackling in a nationwide competition. They have spent months designing their dream cities, and these cities are packed with vertical farms, renewable energy and more. NPR's Kadin Mills checked out a regional contest in Chicago to hear what the students there came up with.
KADIN MILLS, BYLINE: At the Future City Competition, middle schoolers from all over Illinois buzz around the room.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, my God. Look at that (ph).
MILLS: It's sort of like a science fair. But instead of experiments, these students are showcasing their concepts for cutting-edge cities.
ANNABELLE KRAMER: So this is Maki Maki (ph), a city based off of the coast of Maroantsetra, Madagascar.
MILLS: Eighth grader Annabelle Kramer (ph) is team leader for Wood Dale Junior High, just outside Chicago. They're one of 16 teams at this regional competition - one of dozens being held across the country. On this January morning, judges - many of them professional engineers - roam from table to table.
MONICA CRINION: Hi. My name is Monica. I'm part of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
MILLS: Judge Monica Crinion has some questions for Annabelle.
CRINION: What is your favorite farm-to-table feature?
MILLS: That's the theme of this year's competition, farm-to-table.
ANNABELLE: One of my favorite parts of the city is how beautiful the vertical farms are.
MILLS: Annabelle points to Maki Maki's glass silos, which have rotating levels with crops growing on them.
ANNABELLE: On our model, the farms are orange. However, in reality, they are clear, which allows the plants to get equal sunlight.
MILLS: Competition rules limit team budgets to just $100 dollars, so students had to get creative with their models. Picture old computer parts as an industrial park and a PVC pipe becomes a high-speed train tunnel. Annabelle's teammate, eighth-grader Dominick Duzinskas (ph), describes how they built the plant-covered levels inside their vertical farms.
DOMINICK DUZINSKAS: What they are is, like, milk jug caps, and we put some glue on those and then cover them in sawdust.
MILLS: Sawdust that they painted green. Along with the students, there are also a ton of parents here. Joan O'Rourke (ph) is here to support her daughter. Her older son also participated in the Future City Competition several years ago.
JOAN O'ROURKE: This event was eye-opening for him because it was all these engineers interviewing him, asking questions.
MILLS: Now, he's a sophomore in college studying petroleum engineering. His sister, eighth-grader Siobhan O'Rourke (ph), also wants to be an engineer. She's here in a white hard hat presenting her school's city of the future.
SIOBHAN O'ROURKE: So we go to St. Paul of the Cross, and we decided to name it St. Paul of the Crops.
MILLS: In keeping with this year's theme, St. Paul of the Crops' economy relies on mushrooms. It also relies on something called exowatts. Here's Siobhan's teammate, sixth-grader Max Weber (ph).
MAX WEBER: That is our power source. So it uses these lenses to concentrate the sunlight. Basically, it heats up water and turns it into steam to push pistons and make energy.
MILLS: At the end of the day, it's time to announce the winners. But first, a drumroll.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD DRUMMING WITH HANDS)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Third place for Chicagoland regional in Illinois is St. Paul of the Crops.
(CHEERING)
MILLS: Second place went to an after-school program. And finally...
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: First place for Chicagoland Illinois Future City Competition 2026, Wood Dale.
(CHEERING)
MILLS: Annabelle, Dominick and their Wood Dale classmates will be in Washington, D.C. this weekend to compete in the national competition.
ANNABELLE: I'm so excited.
(LAUGHTER)
MILLS: Kadin Mills, NPR News, Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.