Curated OER
Create the Ideal City
Learners examine the significance of city planning. They analyze maps, develop a crossword puzzle using vocabulary terms, and create a diagram of an ideal city and describe the features that make it healthy for the economy, the...
Curated OER
Air Pollution in Mexico City
A fantastic lesson on urban air pollution problems throughout the world is here for you. Learners understand that there are many factors involved in creating pollution, that there are many health effects brought on by air pollution, and...
Curated OER
Progressive City Planners
Students plan cities. In this environmental racism activity, students design imaginary cities taking into consideration the amenities and environmental hazards that exist. Students discuss city planning challenges.
Curated OER
Kid City, USA
What a model community would look like? Get your kids talking with an activity that allows them to create their own town. After printing out a "fold out village," groups of students use a variety of resources to help them build an actual...
Nature Works Everywhere
Sustainable Cities
Investigate aspects of sustainable cities and relate them to where you live! A detailed instructional activity first investigates the definition of sustainability. Learners then explore human impact on the environment and social justice....
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Effects of Urban Growth
Learners explore population growth in the United States and the impact it has had on society. First, they brainstorm the reasons for population growth and the results of these increases. Then, they design surveys, record results, and...
American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this...
Curated OER
Urban Planning: Plan a City
Students analyze the concept of urbanization by planning the placement of some of the major urban/suburban features that make up most cities. They arrange the cultural features to benefit the people who live there, and maintain respect...
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No More Traffic Jams: Lesson 3
Traffic is a very real concern for any Urban dweller. After watching a video showing various traffic issues and solutions, learners group up to discuss and develop innovative traffic solutions of their own. They explore vocabulary and...
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A Changing Society: Industrialization and Urbanization
Students participate in activities that teach them about the Gilded Age of industrialization and urbanization. In this social changing lesson plan, students answer questions, watch videos, have discussions, read texts, and more to teach...
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Conditions of City Life in the Late 19th Century
High schoolers examine tenement life. In this lesson on early urbanization, students research the role of journalism for social change in early American cities. High schoolers write a journal article for themselves that demonstrate an...
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Cityscapes
A perfect resource for an art teacher of any grade. First, click on the resource's second tab, entitled "Activities," to find four unique grade-specific lesson all based on the theme of cityscapes. Each activity utilizes the...
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Urban Changes
Students explore how landscapes undergo constant changes with urban development. They plan and build their own "city" by including features that have minimal resource demands to sustain the city itself.
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Country Mouse, City Mouse?
Students recognize the characteristics of a rural area. They analyze land use to determine whether the map is of a rural (country) area or an urban (city) area.
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Street Cows
A light, and humorous lesson on "street cows" is here for you. Learners listen to the story, "Street Cows," which is embedded in the plan. On a map of the US and the World, they locate the cities where the "Cows on Parade" exhibit was...
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Reaching for the Sky
Students consider features of skyscraper using descriptive words, reflect on notion of skyscraper as orientation point in a city, and explore New York Times Building in Manhattan by reading and discussing article, "Pride and Nostalgia...
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Create a City: An Urban Planning Exercise
Students explore the effects of population growth in Arizona. In this history lesson, students work in small groups to create a "perfect" city. Activities include examining the Arizona census results then discussing the importance...
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Growing up in Las Vegas; Memories of Childhood in the Neon City
High schoolers investigate the history of Las Vegas through conducting interviews. In this oral history lesson, students locate and speak with older residents of Las Vegas in order to gain a better understanding of the city....
American Battlefield Trust
Fredericksburg 360
Urban combat long preceded today's video games. Pupils today experience the battle of Fredericksburg—a major Civil War engagement in an American city—using a 360-degree interactive app. Users explore the battlefield online, using a...
Curated OER
Urban Concentration and Racial Violence
Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...
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Street/Urban Games
Students research and appreciate non-traditional games and activities that were played (and are still played) in our inner cities. They give presentations on stick ball, handball, off the wall, and stoop ball and invent their own game...
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Connecting Downtown
Learners examine how engineering and design make cities more livable and efficient. They study different types of walkways including elevated and underground walks, and where and why they would be used. They design their own walkway...
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Planning a Healthy City
Ninth graders create a scaled model city. They create a blueprint that provides for the economic and cultural needs of a community. They identify where essential elements of the city should be located and explain the rationale for the...
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Boundaries
Students identify and analyze the boundaries which exist between urban and rural, wildness and country and among rural areas, country, town, and city. Students actively participate in planning, obtaining materials, setting goals and...