Two passionate engineers from our Transport sector had the opportunity to attend St Ives High School and judge model cities created by year ten geography students.  

Graduate Site Engineer Joy Tanios and Site Engineer Nashwan Al-Bashiri from the Sydney Roads Asset Performance Contract (SRAPC) leveraged their industry experience and insight to provide the students with meaningful feedback on their projects. They were joined by additional guest judges from Ku-ring-gai Council and Macquarie University.

The students were challenged to create sustainable and livable cities for the year 2070. The designs had to incorporate a multitude of real-world elements including public amenities, education institutes and natural spaces. 

Joy, Nashwan and the other guest judges brought a wealth of experience and expertise from their time working in the planning and engineering space. They spent the morning talking to the students and asking them questions to encourage them think about the 'real world' application of their designs. 

"We got to walk around and interact with the students, looking at the projects they had planned and created. We judged their designs based on livability, sustainability and social equity," says Joy. 

^{Pictured above: Student 'Future Cities' project created using a digital platform.}

Sustainability was a key theme across the designs with common features including renewable energy, public transport and green community spaces to more unique elements such as compost centres and algae powered buildings. 

Joy says the projects showed a high level of planning. "It was great to see how well they thought through their designs and how they incorporated sustainability features," says Joy. 

Both Joy and Nashwan had a great time interacting with the students. 

Nashwan says it was great to see the level of thought and innovation the students demonstrated in their designs. "They showed a high level of conceptual thinking and had exceptionally creative ideas."

^{Pictured above: Student 'Future Cities' project.} 

The day culminated with a tough choice for Nashwan, Joy and the other guest judges, having to choose their favourite projects. Those that showcased creativity, sustainability and real-world application took out the top place however, a tremendous effort was put in by all. 

The designs were well researched, and they did a great job creating cities that would genuinely benefit the community, says Nashwan. 

Ventia hopes to return later this year to help judge the second group of student projects.  
 

Watch our video below to hear more from Joy and Nashwan about the day.

World Creativity and Innovation Day 

Every year on 21 April, World Creativity and Innovation Day raises awareness about the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development. It's also a day to encourage people around the world to engage in creative thinking.

At Ventia, we are obsessed with doing things better than we have ever done before. Innovation is about discovering smarter ways to achieve better safety, environmental and efficiency outcomes to benefit our clients, our employees and the communities in which we operate.
 

^{Pictured at top: Joy Tanios and Nashwan Al-Bashiri at St Ives High School}