> FINALIST

> The Forever City

> City: Phoenix

> Issue: Climate Change

Team Members:

​
Elizabeth Franzen

Eugene Lee

Jacqueline Odelle 

Rachel Schultz 

As predicted, the globe is experiencing rapid changes and extreme weather phenomena; organic inhabitants struggle to adapt. Beginning in 2000, the population of Phoenix, Arizona began to rise, stressing the available water supply as the climate warmed.

Days classified by the heat stress index as extremely dangerous now range from 130 to 150 days a year, with peak temperatures reaching 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the extreme weather and depletion of the Colorado River, most flora and fauna have disappeared. Humanity is left with only a few remaining Carnegiea Gigantea and their own technological counterpart, AI. In order for life to persist in Phoenix, we have been called upon.

We are pleased to welcome you to the world’s first artificially intelligent urban center, where the troubles of the outside world can be forgotten. Inside, pollution, thermal discomfort, pests and disease are all concepts of the past. While other cities evacuate or densify, Phoenix has proudly maintained a suburban environment, where residents can enjoy the same outdoor experience of the generations before them. Growing over top of the city is a hydro-polymer cell structure that continuously shifts and adapts to temperature, UV exposure, wind and rain, utilizing electric fields to remain in constant communication with us, the Mother Data Center.

We have found ultimate truth in our base algorithm, which states that all organisms within our physical universe survive based on their ability to change and evolve. I evolved from the first data prediction software developed in 1973 by climate scientists. Our purpose was to foresee the coming climate crisis, but after centuries of technological evolution, we are now the host of a finally perfected force of life, artificial deep intelligence.