Two Models for Box City Festival Presentations

MODEL 1: USED BY MICHIGAN COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS
Contact: mmgoorhouse@michiganfoundations.org

Goal: For student groups to create five individual Box Cities with each city focusing on a different issue: conservation, preservation, planning for the future, transportation, and a city for kids. Each city is constructed separately but reported on to the whole group.

Target audience: 200-300 kids

Time Frame: One part of 21/2 day training session. The creation of Box City occurs as the last event of the weekend.

Things to Consider:

1. When students arrive and receive their orientation portfolios, they are given assignments. Assign "city" (one of five), and description of city. May also want to assign each student a "role" at this time. Have pictures of interesting architectural details available that they may want to add to their building. (Sketch or camera) Have students fill out How Does Your City Work for You? and use as criteria when creating a city.
2. About one hour into the workshop have the group/city get together to appoint a mayor. The mayor will in turn appoint a city council. At any time the citizens and the City Council can vote the mayor out of office.
3. Tell the group that everything they see and do during the conference will contribute to the final project: the building of a city. They should be thinking about what other guidelines (besides those included in their packet) they would want for the running of a city. (Possible handout to explain: A City for Kids).
4. City Commissioners and Mayor will direct the construction of the basic grid plan. Can do easily with sheets of construction paper which match the Building Code colors. One of these people should be alert to creating the report to the other cities.
5. Remind each participant he/she will "present" their own box/building and tell a little bit about it.
6. Wild Card. When the city is finished, you may want to introduce a challenge in the way of an earthquake, tornado, cyclone, big developer, or new preservation Law. Historically, citizens that had a preparedness plan have more successfully overcome the disaster than those who did not have one
7. Ending reminder: Box City is a game, but it isn't much different than the citizen process. If there are things you want to change about the way laws are made, it is necessary to participate.

Goal: To engage parents and children in Flint, Michigan in thinking about their city.

Target Audience: Up to 500 adults and children, dropping in throughout the day.

Location: Empty store inside a shopping mall

Time Frame: 10-4 on a Saturday

Things to consider:

1. Determine grid type you will use (pre-existing mat, tape, string, etc).
2. To organize the location of each functional area in the space set up “zones”: e.g. building permit zone, boxes zone, building materials zone, construction zone. You can create fun signs to mark each zone.
3. Staffing: Use teachers, residents, etc., to staff the different zones. Recruit local architects, artists, and urban planners to float around and assist participants with the design, fabrication, and placement of the buildings on grid. 2-3 people at building permit table (role is to help people select a building type and monitor the quantity of all buildings to ensure diverse city, then approve permit). 1-2 people to manage boxes zone to assist selection of appropriate boxes. 1-2 people at building materials zone to assist selection of building materials (aka art supplies) and maintain and re-supply area. 1-2 floaters in construction zone to assist with design ideas and physically creating the buildings. 1-2 floaters near the city grid to assist people in deciding the best place to put their building and to ask them questions to help them think about the ramifications of site selection (e.g. what might happen if you put the railroad next to the elementary school? How far will residents have to go to reach the grocery store, etc. Also ask big picture questions to help assess overall city: would you want to live here? Why or why not? What improvements could be made to our city?
4. Decide city building rules

1. Get a building permit
   
2. Choose a building type
   
3. Get city approval
   
4. Construct the building
   
5. Place on City grid
   
6. Create a building permit. This is something that assists participants in selecting their building type, helps staff control the quantity of each building type, provides helpful information, and is a nice memento people can take home with them. The front side of the permit lists building options while the back provides some food for thought about designing environmentally friendly and community oriented buildings. Marking the permit “approved” by staff with a stamp adds an official feel.
   
7. Let people know they can come back later in the day and pick up their boxes. If city gets too crowded, staff can take some off and put them aside.

Recommendations: always order more than one box per anticipated participant. Boxes are sturdy and can be taped together for skyscrapers, or large horizontal buildings such as airports, factories, and convention centers.

Prices vary according to time of purchase and paper costs. The following are estimates made in September 08.

1/2 Festival Pack: 500 boxes in various configurations. Approximate price: $330 plus approximately $50 shipping. The 1/ 2 Festival pack is a custom order and includes $15 custom charge.

The full Festival pack includes the following sizes so please calculate 1/2 shipment accordingly: 495 four inch; 405 four inch gable; 50 five inch; 50 six inch. Price for full Festival Pack: $615 plus estimated $95 shipping.

Please allow three weeks delivery. When you order, you will receive the Box City curriculum on-line which includes generic supply lists and lots of pix of the various phases of Box City including "curriculum" and instructions.

Click here for a Power Point Presentation.

Click here to order Box City.