Education and Games Take Center Stage with #BUcityplanning at the Sustainability Festival
On Thursday, September 14th The City Planning and Urban Affairs Program participated in the 2017 Sustainability Festival at Marsh Plaza. #BUcityplanning students, alumni, and faculty joined 24 clubs, from Net Impact to the BU Outing Club, as well as leaders from the BU Environmental Leadership Network to educate the larger BU community on the importance of sustainability on topics such as climate change, recycling, transportation, and agriculture. Participants also had to the opportunity to play games, win prizes, enter in a challenge to reduce their environmental footprint, trade in old light bulbs for LED bulbs, register bikes for Bike & Pedestrian Safety, and get a free “Ride Ready” safety check by local bike mechanics.
“Sustainability is a very important topic in the City Planning and Urban Affairs Program,” said Dr. Yesim Sungu-Eryilmaz, Assistant Professor. “Many of the classes in our program touch on sustainability, and we also offer a Graduate Certificate in Applied Sustainability.” It’s important for us to be a part of the conversation and educate the community on sustainability.
“We came up with idea to play a True or False game,” said Dr. Sungu-Eryilmaz. We wanted to do something that was interactive and immersive, as well as fun, quick, and educational, but not too difficult because everyone has a different knowledge base when it comes to sustainability, and we wanted the prizes to relate to theme as well.” Overseen by Dr. Sungu-Eryilmaz, three students, Patricia Cahill, MCP ’18, Fiona Coughlan, MCP ’18, and Diego Lomelli, MCP ‘18 and one alumna, Monique Yaptenco, MUA ’17 came up with fifteen True or False questions on topics relating to climate, food deserts, transportation, urbanization, and recycling. Each contestant had to answer two True or False questions. Even if the contestant got both answers wrong, everyone still won a prize. The goal was to help educate individuals on sustainability and to expose them to issues they might not be aware of.
The prizes were donated from Stride Incorporated, an environmentally friendly office supply company that is committed to making products and changes within their company that is beneficial to the environment.
Being a part of the Sustainability Festival gives #BUcityplanning a chance to get out and do something different, as well as a chance to share with the larger community issues and topics the Program is passionate about.
Article by Andrea Ciminelli