Who is Agent Plan-it?
Agent Plan-it is a town planning superhero!
She knows all there is to know about town planning and is helping us learn all about how to plan a town!
Watch this video explaining the things town planners need to think about when it comes to waste and power…
After that you should have a good idea about what planners need to think about when planning their town.
How does a town get power?
Most power for a town will be electricity so when planning a town you need to think about how you supply it with this power.
In the countryside electricity is usually supplied by big overhead wires supported by pylons like these…
In towns and cities this might get in the way though, so instead they tend to have big underground cable that take electricity from the power station to the town.
These aren’t the only options though, maybe you could have a wind farm near the town that supplies electricity? Or maybe every house could have solar panels?
We also need to think about getting rid of all the toilet waste!
A town makes a lot of wee and poo and it all needs to go somewhere.
You do this by having a sewage system that will take the waste away using pipes underground that take the waste far away to a waste treatment plant.
What happens if the town gets bigger? Surely the pipes can only hold a certain amount of waste?
That’s right, sometimes towns and cites do grow in size and the population increases above what the town planners planned for.
This can mean that sewage systems can’t handle all the waste that goes through them and new systems need to be built.
So all the waste goes to a waste treatment plant? Somebody told me it all went into the sea!
Well back in the olden days before waste treatment plants it did just all go to the sea. In fact, even today sometimes it gets dumped in rivers and the sea if there’s too much.
Take London for example, it’s sewage system was made in the 19th century. The population has gotten much bigger since then so the amount of sewage it has to handle has also gotten a lot bigger.
This means that sometimes, when there’s too much sewage, some gets dumped in the Thames river!
Is that all the waste we need to think about then?
Not quite you also need to think about the bins!
You need to make sure that bin collection is in place so that the binmen can come and collect them.
You need to make sure there are places for the waste to go such as recycling centres and landfills.
You need to think about how much recycling the town can do. Will people have different coloured bins so they can sort the rubbish at home?
Your mission is to plan your own town!
Having completed all of this week’s missions you know quite a lot about planning a town so we need you to plan your own town!
Click on the blank map and cut outs below to download and print them off and use them to design your own town!
Here are some tips to help you make your town…
Click here to see the next lot of missions all about how your eyes work!
If you want to know more about Agent Plan-It and town planning then listen to the podcast below.
MOBILE: Building Towns and Cities: Planning and Architecture Explained for Kids
Discover how towns and cities are built!
Week 4: Town Planning
This week our missions are all about how you plan a town and Agent Plan-it is helping us along the way!
More From Week 4: Town Planning