Project Utopia was an interesting and exciting project in Term 3 where I was given the opportunity to design ideas for the new rebuild of Fremantle Port. This was a project that was completed in Innovat[ED] but was also connected to Humanities, where we learned the factors of liveability and what would make our idea more liveable for all. And in English, we had to put together a speech to summarise our idea for the project. We also had to think about the ASC Capabilities and the UN Global Goals. In our group, we came up with an idea to create a residential area that was sustainable and affordable for all.
The ASC Capabilities are the skills that the school has chosen because those skills and capabilities would help us succeed and can be used in everyday life tasks. They were a big part of this project and we had to do a reflection on them after each lesson. I believe that my group used most of these capabilities to successfully finish and present the project in time. One of the capabilities that I thought the group used well was effective communication. This is because whenever one person was talking everyone listened and tried to collaborate on it. We were also creative when it came to making our vision board and coming up with our idea.
The UN Global Goals is a set of seventeen goals to make the world a more liveable, sustainable, and above all, a better place. We connected our idea to Global Goal 9, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and 11, sustainable cities and communities. We used Goal 9 when thinking of what we would use to build the residential area such as paints. We used Global Goal 11 when creating the underground car park and again when thinking about which materials to use. We also used it when thinking of what plants we would use, such as native plants that wouldn’t need any water, saving it for things like drinking and hygiene.
The level of liveability is separated and measured in two different factors, objective factors, which are the impersonal things such as climate and environmental quality. And the other factors are the subjective factors which are about a person’s personal feelings towards a place such as spiritual connections. This is why subjective factors are harder to measure because everyone has different feelings and likes about different things. Liveability was also a huge part of Project Utopia because it was one of the main things we had to use in our area to make it welcoming and liveable for all. I learned from liveability that
Sustainability relates to the ongoing capacity of the earth to maintain life. It is also a geographical concept. Our idea was mainly structured around sustainability and how we could make the area eco-friendlier. We did this through our use of materials and renewable energy sources (solar energy, geothermic energy, etc.). We also wanted to make it a no-car zone and that everyone would use bicycles instead. There would be lots of greenery and a rooftop garden on each house.
For Project Utopia, it was important that we were able to speak clearly and remember the speech so that we could perform well. I believe my group did this well and we were all very confident with the speech that was made. This was something that was done and practiced in our English classes where we were taught how to do it well. It was slightly challenging because we only had one minute each to speak.
Project Utopia was a fun project that took many skills and I am very grateful that I got this opportunity. Though there were some challenges such as when our vision board wasn’t quite right. It was a great opportunity and I’m glad we had it. The project was exciting to do, and I believe that my group did a great job.
