Within the stakeholder management of the SPARCS city vision activities, the Maia Municipality challenged the Castelo da Maia School’s group (AECM) to develop a school contest, coordinated by the citizenship education responsible team, and focused on interdisciplinary collaborative work to provide significant learning in multiple disciplines related to imagining Maia in 2050. The contest was developed under the Civic Participation School Project (PEC) of the Castelo da Maia School’s (AECM).

This contest aims to challenge students, of different levels, to respond to the Municipality challenge of developing a project integrating interdisciplinary collaborative work and providing significant learning in multiple disciplines, addressing the challenge of imagining Maia in 2050.

As a preliminary result of this challenge, on the 22^nd April 2021, senior year students presented 14 proposals consisting of a variety of integrated action fields, including civic action, scientific and/or technological projects, all of them addressing a Maia’s future in 2050 of energy positiveness and zero carbon emissions.

Several ideas were presented in differentiated domains such as sustainable mobility, RES production (solar PV, but also wind and water turbines); carbon capture; nanotechnology applied to air and water pollution; solutions applied to the agro food sector; hydrogenation; compressed air energy storage; harvesting energy from traffic noise and civic awareness of campaigns actions.

After this fruitful first session, Maia Municipality is very proud of their students and would like to recognise them for the work they have invested on these wonderful projects. All of them have revealed to have the civic awareness and the willingness to work in building-up a better future in the path of carbon neutrality and energy positiveness!!