Responding to the Future Cities India 2020 design competition, launched by the Ministry of Science & Technology and Bentley in 2006, Class XI students from ten Delhi schools have been busy these past two months. And on Wednesday morning, they displayed their final models.

A core concern across the teams was creating an eco-friendly design. Miniature green trees and shrubs abounded on the model presented by Ramjas School (team one), RK Puram. They’ve even installed solar cells on the central feature of their model - an exhibition centre to match Pragati Maidan - to generate additional electricity.

Trips to the proposed area, near Akshardham Temple, have helped students visualise their plans. “We went to the Delhi Development Authority for information about the landscape, its water level, wind direction and so on,” said Apurv Saxena, from Father Agnel School, Gautam Nagar.

Clearly, a lot of thought has gone into the final product. At Mount Carmel School (team two), Dwarka, students have devised an “Indian Values School Complex”. “It was inspired by the shooting at Euro International School, where we felt the children involved had lost some core values,” said Archit Arora. The public-private partnership model will be used to run the school, he explained.

All schools would like to boost tourism in the area.

One solution is to create a resort, according to the Appejay School (team one), Saket. “Everyone goes to Goa and just stops in Delhi on the way, saying it’s too claustrophobic. We’ve imagined a green and spacious complex, where people would choose to stay,” said team leader Zoya Khan.

Scott Lofgren, global director of Bentley Systems, said the competition is stirring an interest in infrastructure engineering. He’s not sure if the students’ ideas will be used by the Delhi government when it hits 2020, but he “would hope so”.