Complete Story
08/17/2025
Planners in the Making in Normal, Illinois
In July, Town of Normal planners, Mercy Davison, AICP and Tessa Ferraro, offered their expertise to aspiring young urban planners (grades 1st through 6th) during the Children’s Discovery Museum’s (CDM) 4-day long summer camp. The summer camp focused on STEAM-based learning and taught the students about the basic principles of urban planning by having the students build their own cardboard city!
The week kicked off with a presentation from the two planners to show the students how awesome planning can be. The presentation included pictures of local projects to showcase the role that planners have in shaping the built environment. Easy to understand language was used to teach students the different hats that planners wear, with slides entitled “Building stuff!,” “Bike stuff!,” and “History stuff!,” to name a few.
Different strategies to teach the students the importance of planning also included:
- Showing before and after pictures of planning projects to highlight the importance of planning long-term
- Asking students questions such as, “What types of housing do you know of?” and “What kind of things make a great park?” and showing examples of each
To make sure that the students were ready to start planning their city, the planners asked, “What are necessities you need in a city?” The planners wrote the answers on the board so the students could reference it throughout the week. The planners also filled in some gaps and made sure that things like a water treatment plant and garbage dump made the list.
After the crash course in planning, the education experts at the Children’s Discovery Museum took the reins and worked with the kids on problem solving and building their city. After 4 days of planning and construction, the students made a megalopolis filled with missing middle housing, renewable energy, and even a wastewater treatment plant! They were each given a Lego person, and they had to make sure that it could fit into the buildings, cars, etc. The CDM said it was such a success, they are considering putting the camp into the regular summer rotation. Keep your eyes out for a new crop of urban planners coming out of Normal!
Written by: Tessa Ferraro, Town of Normal
Photo credit: Mercy Davison & Tessa Ferraro, Town of Normal
