Sustainable Cities and Communities

This classroom presentation introduces Global Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, for children aged 7 to 11. It starts with what a city is: a busy area with lots of people, plus universities and hospitals. It explains why people move to cities, known as urban migration, and what urban sustainability means: cities that don't pollute too much or use up too many natural resources, so people can live safely and well.

The slides then look at real examples. London is working towards Net Zero, with over 3000 parks, rainwater collection, low energy lighting, recycling, bike sharing, public transport and a congestion charge. There are creative ideas too, like living walls, guerrilla gardening, co-housing and the Kingston Pound, a local currency. Children then travel further afield to see a railway track turned into a park in Bangkok, vertical forests in Italy, Switzerland and China, rainwater harvesting in Mexico City, homes made from shipping containers, and 24 restaurants in Paris providing more than 12,000 meals to students.

In the classroom, you could ask: which of these ideas would work best where we live, and why? The presentation ends with two follow-up tasks: discuss as a class how you could find out how sustainable your own community is, and look for local projects you could get involved in. It works well as a starting point for a geography lesson, a PSHE discussion or a class project on sustainable cities.