Projects

Project Utopia Capabilities Reflection

Leticia Avery InnovatED, Innovation & Enterprise, Project Utopia, Projects

Project Utopia was part of InnovatED, which required us to work in groups to redesign the Fremantle Port area. In the future, the government wants to move the existing port down to Kwinana where there is more space for cargo ships and containers to be stored. Over the course of about 2 terms, we worked in groups to design what the space would look like when removed. We created innovative solutions to problems that may occur and presented our final design to parents and guests at the Project Utopia Showcase at the end of the term. There were also guests from the Fremantle Planning committee who would get inspiration from our ideas and possibly implement them in the real thing. This project also tied in well with English and Humanities. In English, we read a novel called The Giver by Lois Lowry, which described the life of a boy named Jonas who was living in a ‘perfect world. This novel alerted us to the fact that a seemingly organised and controlled world does not always equal a liveable world. I Humanities, we learnt about liveability and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, a list of goals created by the UN that will help the world become a better place. Below are some of the capabilities that we needed and developed over the course of this project.

Leadership

When working on our project design with groups, we had to work together with a plan to ensure we could complete a task efficiently, and effectively. To do this, we needed to have a leader in our group, or a manager, who will “direct” the team. This person will take charge when there is confusion, and will resolve issues if needed. Developing leading qualities is important for the future if you are in a leadership position, or are ever working in a large group.

Organisation

Organisation is vital to working efficiently for large projects like Project Utopia. We needed to know what we were doing to complete the project, and plan out our task. We also needed to know how long things would take, and prioritise our tasks to ensure our project would be completed in the most effective way. Without organisation, we would not be able to efficiantly complete the project, and may have finished with an incomplete project, or one below the satisfactory standards.

Creativity

In this project, we had to create an original and innovative design, so creativity was at the heart of our work. Because our projects were contributing ideas for the government’s Fremantle Port redesign, our final projects needed to differentiate from previous designs, and include unique, innovative solutions to key problems faced once the port is relocated. Creativity in projects and the real world is important because you can create new solutions or ideas to solve problems or create unique beneficial items.

Problem Solving

During Project Utopia, we faced many different problems or obstacles that we had to overcome. There were problems that would arise from the relocation of the port which we had to design solutions for, such as businesses and job loss. In our groups, we had to overcome friendship and colaboration issues, as well as organisation and communication problems. Problem solving is such an important skill for our lives, as it allows us to learn new skills to overcome any challenge we may face.

Collaboration

As Project Utopia involved lots of groupwork, collaborating effectively with my groupmembers was one of the most vital parts of the project. Collaboration involves lots of capabilities like leadership and problem solving to make a successful team. Without collaboration, our presentations would not connect, therefore not sending an effective message of how our ideas would work. Collaboration is also a key part of real world jobs, because people are always working together to solve a problem.

Effective Communication

Communicating effectively amongst our class was important to ensure all our presentations and props were connected. People working on virtual models had to communicate with the people working on the physical model to ensure they had the right length, height, or width of their model, and vice-versa. Within our presentation groups, we needed to make sure our speeches were connected, and relative to each other, and the area of the project we were focusing on.

Photo Gallery

Photos from 7Y’s Project Utopia Showcase 2022

Green Spaces Project Utopia

Leticia Avery Project Utopia, Projects, Science, Subjects

What is a green space?

Green spaces are areas within a city that has many natural objects in them, like grass, flowers, trees, bushes, veggie patches, and much more. Green spaces can be any size or shape, in the city or your garden! Green spaces are designed to relieve residents from the stress of the urban landscape and re-connect with nature. Native gardens have native plants and flowers that are suited to the Australian climate and are used for many purposes. Green spaces with native gardens incorporate native plants to preserve the plants and impact the environment in a way that improves air quality and climate. Green spaces are key to good well-being in an urban environment.

How do green spaces work and impact a city?

Diagram and explanation of a fictional green space by Leticia Avery

How will green spaces be incorporated into my Project Utopia?

Green spaces should be a very common space in the city. Each house will have at least one green space, to allow for mindful and stress-free areas and times at home. Balconies on apartments will have a small area of green as well. These will help relieve the stress of school and work, and they allow for brilliant entertaining spaces for guests. Public green spaces will also be very frequent so that there are many places and options for socialisation, exercise and mindfulness. These spaces will be divided into three main sections: growth areas (areas for growing food, native plants and others), leisure areas (for exercise, sporting events, or pet walking), and community spaces (for public events, picnics, or social events). These areas will be in the same green space but allow for a multitude of purposes without interrupting others. Below are some images of green spaces that could be incorporated.

Bibliography

Image 1: From Inhabitant: https://inhabitat.com/clip-on-plant-room-adds-green-space-to-apartment-buildings/

Image 2: From Government Buisness: https://governmentbusiness.co.uk/features/benefits-public-green-space

Image 3: From Inhabitant: https://inhabitat.com/dubai-plans-huge-pedestrian-friendly-urban-green-space/dubai-public-green-space-4/

Image 4

Mixed-Media Mapmaking

Leticia Avery Project X, Projects
Final Artwork

About This Artwork

This artwork is created out of old, unused maps, map pins, embroidery string, and paint pens. The artwork emphasises different areas of our chosen map, mine being Europe. The map pins are placed on important and well-known places (and others) and are all connected with embroidery string. Each region (or country) has a story connected to it, which is written in paint pens, across the border of each country. This artwork took 7 weeks to create.

Steps of the Process

Drafting

We created 3 draft projects, each taking 1 week to create. They allowed us to try out different pin and string layouts, as well as colours and words. Below are my 3 draft projects.

Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Prototype 3

Final Planning

We needed to plan out beforehand what our final product would look like. Below is my planning for the colour and positioning of the pins, and what I would write for each country. This process took 1 week.

Download

Creation of the Final Artwork

The creation of my final work took 3 weeks. The map was a real map that came from an old National Geographic magazine. I started by placing the pins in the appropriate places on my map. After, I wrote the stories, before adding the embroidery string. I made the artwork on a corkboard, and a black frame was placed on the inside edge.

Final Artwork

Capabilities

Organisation

I needed lots of organisation if I wanted to finish the project in the allocated time. For each lesson, I aimed to finish at least one important task. For example, finishing one draft, the planning process, or laying down the pins.

Creativity

Of course, I needed lots of creativity to add a little personal flair to my artwork. I needed to see the different possibilities that my artwork could have, so that I could decide what my artwork would look best as.

Problem Solving

Lots of problem-solving was required to get through the task. For example, there were many times that the string came undone halfway through winding it, and many times I had misplaced the pins. I needed to think of effective solutions to these problems.

Wayne’s World 5 (Reflection)

Leticia Avery Projects, Wayne's World 5

What is something in your where the price soars and then drops suddenly?

One time when prices soar very high and fall quite low is Christmas decorations. During the Christmas season, demand is high, and so are the prices. This continues until after the season when there is usually a massive sale on these items. My family buys our decorations around this time, as not many people want these, and the prices are low.

Wealth Protection

Compactia will ensure that its wealth is protected in the future by making sure that we have currencies of different types. We predict that soon, the World Bank will stop accepting Red Tulips, and accept another currency like AmpereCoin. We need to make sure that we can survive with money and not go bankrupt if one currency is abandoned. We also need to make sure that we have popular resources to sell to receive our chosen currency.

Why is it important for Compactia to have cool stuff, wealth, and to be “inclusive”?

It is extremely important for Compactia to have cool stuff and be inclusive because it ‘attracts’ more visitors, and creates a bigger sense of community. (It also means a higher score for our city). It is important for Compactia to be wealthy because it means we can buy more currencies (to sustain our wealth), more resources (to create cool stuff) and buy Bone Meal (fertiliser) for our tulips.

What have you enjoyed about this Inquiry?

I have enjoyed being able to learn about so many aspects of economics an a super fun way. I loved how we get to have fun learning and being creative at the same time. It involves lots of capabilities like collaboration, creativity and problem solving to ensure that your city runs smoothly. (It was also incredibly fun to play Minecraft every Friday!)

What have you found difficult or frustrating about the Inquiry? What changes would you make?

At the beginning, I found it hard to agree with my partner about how we should finalise our city plan. Along with many other miscommunication incidents, I think I learnt more about collaboration from these experiences. It was also incredibly frustrating when the world changed to Survival Mode, where we had to buy or find our own resources, farm food and make our own tools instead of having everything available to us in Creative Mode. Despite this, I still enjoyed it and learnt a lot, so there is nothing I would change (apart from the Wayne’s World War…).

Wayne’s World 5 (Compactia)

Leticia Avery Projects, Wayne's World 5

Wayne’s World 5 (WW5) is a Minecraft World designed to simulate cities, economics, and stability. In pairs, we each designed a city and tried to make it as livable as possible. We included things like renewable energy sources, a stable government, schools, transport, and housing. Later on, as our cities built up livability, we introduced currency, farming, and making resources. All of this has been developed over the past year. Ctrl+C this link into your browser to see the progress: https://spark.adobe.com/page/yRF4kxOipMQob/

Livability

In our city, Compactia, we are aiming for a high livability rate. We have included houses that are connected together inside a special apartment called a ‘togetherment’. This is because instead of being apart, everyone lives separately but comes together in a community. The houses are also different sizes to cater for different people. We also have a quick and sustainable transport system within each suburb (walking) and across suburbs (solar-powered trains). Compactia also includes a wind turbine to supply renewable energy to the city.

Stability

Wealth

The currency in our world is Red Tulips (ŧ). This is because we can grow these, allowing most cities to have equal wealth. Tulips allow us to buy resources, and even a cryptocurrency called ApmereCoin. We can also buy and sell to other cities, not just the World Bank for negotiable prices. Our city has a tulip farm, where we can store and grow tulips. This currency completely disobeys the saying: “Money doesn’t grow on trees!”. No, money grows on the ground.

Cool Stuff

In our cities, our scores are also based on how much cool stuff we have in our city. Compactia has a range of buildings and structures to offer you a cool experience. We have a waterslide that runs off the edge of a cliff in Everest (another suburb). We have a ginormous rooftop flower garden on our Rainbow Parliament House (which, unfortunately, doesn’t grow red tulips 😥). There is even the Birdseye Observatory which has an amazing view of our Capital suburb, Tookee. Compactia is definitely the coolest city by far.

Inclusivity

Inclusivity is a very important part of any city, as it provides a more connected community. Compactia has many items promoting inclusivity. Our Parliament includes the Aboriginal flag on the front to acknowledge the original owners of the land. We have a rainbow on our Parliament to acknowledge the LGBTQIA+ community. We have a school that caters for every child, and an easy to use transport system.