Novi, Mich.—Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026—A team from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula won the 31st edition of the Michigan Regional Future City Competition, hosted by The Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD), an annual celebration of science, engineering, creativity, and future-forward thinking to design and build a scale model of a city at least 100 years from now.
For the third year in a row, the team from the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe Academy in Sault Ste. Marie was the winner with its Future City, called Tkaranto.
Future City begins with a fundamental question: How can we make the world a better place? This year’s theme, Farm to Table, challenges students to design a futuristic city that eliminates food waste by creating innovative, sustainable systems for producing, distributing, and consuming food, ensuring citizens remain healthy and safe. Teams must engineer solutions for everything from futuristic farms (like regenerative agriculture) to waste-reducing food distribution, reimagining the entire food system to be circular and resourceful. Teams build a scale model of their city, write an essay about their city, and make a seven-minute presentation about their city to a panel of engineer judges.
Thirty-five teams comprised of hundreds of middle school students competed for first place in the event, held in the Vibe Credit Union Showplace in Novi. Students made presentations on city models built of recycled materials to a panel of esteemed judges, comprised of professionals from engineering, architecture, and urban planning.
The Tkaranto team advances to the National Future City Finals in Washington, D.C., held during National Engineers Week in February.
Second place in the event went to Team Sorpresa from Pierce Middle School in Grosse Pointe Park, while third went to Team Thryve Metropolis from Scranton Middle School in Brighton. A total of 35 teams from 16 schools from all areas of Michigan competed.
More than 30 special awards were also awarded by sponsors that included engineering companies, technical societies, and higher education institutions. For a complete list of winners, visit https://www.esd.org/programs/futurecity/2026-esd-michigan-regional-future-city-competition-winners/.
Future City was created by the nonprofit organization DiscoverE, formerly known as the National Engineers Week Foundation, to inspire K-12 students in STEM, involving them in designing sustainable future cities through a hands-on competition. DiscoverE is a coalition of engineering, science, and tech organizations, leading this initiative since the early 1990s to promote engineering and build a future STEM workforce
For more information about the Michigan Regional Future City Competition, visit www.futurecity.org or www.esd.org/programs/futurecity.
About The Engineering Society of Detroit
Founded in 1895, The Engineering Society of Detroit is a multi-disciplinary society uniting engineering, scientific and allied professions to enhance professional development and foster excitement about math and science to produce our next generation of leaders. Serving this generation of engineers and fostering the next. For more information, visit www.esd.org.
About Future City
Future City is a national education program that encourages middle school students to explore the engineering design process and engage in creative problem-solving. Since its inception, Future City has inspired hundreds of thousands of students to imagine and build a better world.