Imagine MK 2030: Ideas Competition Exhibition

On 28 May 2021 the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Mohammed Khan, awarded our Imagine MK 2030 ideas competition winners in a public ceremony in the East Walk of Midsummer Place that also marked the launch of the exhibition displaying all the competition entries.

The winning entries

Imagine MK 2030 winning entries
CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW EACH WINNING ENTRY

Here are the pictures of the winners receiving their prizes alongside their winning entries.

Under 12s category

Our 1st place winner

Here he is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded his £50 gift voucher.

1st place Under 12s

The judges remarked on the originality and innovation of this idea. All other MK transport ideas put forward were for electric cars. Whereas, this creative solution proposes a different approach to traffic problems – using cable cars! One judge remarked that it could be feasible by using our large central reservations in MK and how this novel form of public transport could be a great way of encouraging people to leave their cars behind. 

1st under12s

Our 2nd place winner

Here he is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded his £40 gift voucher.

2nd place Under 12s

A very thorough, visual representation of lots of ideas for what living in a sustainable MK would look and feel like in 2030. Our Anglian Water judge particularly liked the idea that having water filters per town would save pumping water so far around the region, support a reduction in carbon emissions and could even help raise awareness of the amount of water being used if the cleaning process is visible.

2nd under12s

Our 3rd place winner

Here she is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded her £25 gift voucher.

3rd-Under-12s

This comprehensive, visual submission from an individual entrant, covers a number of very important issues that will help us become more sustainable. The creator drew and annotated social suggestions like how we can raise money for homeless people via our shopping and how schools can grow or forage for food that can be shared, through to environmental solutions like how we should be using more renewables, planting trees, and providing every household with a water butt to prevent water shortages. The detail of the ideas was amazing and this submission was a hit with all our judges! 

3rd place winner in under12s

12 – 16s category

Our 1st place winner

Here he is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded his £50 gift voucher.

1st-Over-12-16s

This original idea was commended by several judges for the well-researched proposal. Their clever idea takes the concept of wind turbine technology and practical use-cases known to be used elsewhere, to create a novel evolution of it that imagines our cars powering them to produce a MK based solution that could give energy to our homes and street lamps.

1st in12-16s

Our 2nd place winner

Here she is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded her £40 gift voucher.

2nd-Over-12-16s

This idea combines local communities working together to take ownership for their environment with use of technology. Providing a very thorough appraisal of a specific litter problem in Loughton, this insightful solution was described by one of our judges as: “offering a simple solution to address environmental issues while building community cohesion”.

2nd in 12-16s

Our 3rd place winner

Here she is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded her £25 gift voucher.

3rd-Over-12-16s-

This young person’s idea was picked up for the research they had done to find a solution to a topical social issue we have in MK. Their innovative idea is to contribute to the circular economy and help combat homelessness by reusing old bus stock to provide solar powered shelters.

3rd in 12-16s

Over 17s category

Our 1st place winner

Congratulations Anna!
Here she is being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded her £50 gift voucher.

1st-Over-17s-Anna

This idea uses a central thing that Milton Keynes is renowned for – our roundabouts! The originator has come up with the ingenious idea of using our hundreds of roundabouts to plant bee-friendly flowers and bee hotels. This imaginative idea was a hit with our judges. One remarked what a clever use of space it is to make our roundabouts attractive and pollinator friendly. Whilst another commenting on how this idea considers the uniqueness of the MK landscape and offers a simple solution for using green, otherwise unusable space, to help increase biodiversity. The creator showed she’d done her research, by stressing the importance of us taking care of honey bees for us to have a more sustainable future. 

1st in Over 17s

“I work for Inspiring Futures through Learning, who have 11 primary schools in MK. I’m always inspired by the staff and pupils and decided to enter my Round-bee-bouts idea into the Imagine MK 2030 competition and I’m delighted to have won 1st prize in the over 17’s category. It was fantastic meeting the new Mayor of MK and seeing all the amazing entries – the children’s designs and ideas were brilliant. I really hope some of the ideas get made into reality to make Milton Keynes a greener place to live and work”

Anna, 1st place winner in the Over 17s category

Our 2nd place winner

Unfortunately the originator, Chris, couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony, but he’s soon to be the proud owner of a £40 Centre:mk gift voucher.

This idea of using roofs as planting space is familiar to us, but was a hit with our judges for how it explains the many benefits of doing it, and demonstrating how the scope of applying it to Milton Keynes roofs would cover the equivalent of 6 football pitches! 

2nd in Over 17s

Our Anglian Water judges were particularly impressed with how green roofs are a sustainable use of existing space as an important way of mitigating the effects of climate change and the impact of extreme weather on the existing sewage system. 

They commented in particular on how they like the idea of this solution helping to promote storm water management and flood retention – which is a focus for them when installing/retrofitting Sustainable Drainage Solutions (SuDS).”


Our 3rd place winner

Here are the representatives from Camphill Milton Keynes Communities being congratulated by the MK Mayor and awarded their £25 gift voucher.

3rd-Over-17s-Camphill-MK-Communities

This entry was awarded for its beautifully presented collection of sustainable-living ideas for Milton Keynes residents. The judges remarked on how clear and concise the variety of ideas were on this winning entry, and liked how accessible all the points are for everyone to do right now to help us reach our 2030 aims. 

3rd in Over 17s

Highly Commended Entry

This entry from a class from Southwood Primary School was “highly commended” and has been awarded with some natural history and sustainability-themed books. Although the group entry was not eligible to be awarded for an individual prize, it was commended for its originality and the great deal of thought, time, and effort that went into creating it.

Southwood school entry

As they depict in their creative idea, they see the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals as being like a jigsaw – where parts of the puzzle are coming into place, whilst other parts are missing and still to be found.

Jigsaw-1

Some scenes & quotes from the day

Imagine-MK-exhibition
MK Mayor
The MK Mayor with our Imagine MK 2030 exhibition display
Central-display
Mayor+Jeremy
MK Mayor with Jeremy Draper, Sustainability Manager at MK Council

The imagination shown by all the submissions for this project was inspiring and addressed the core issues faced by our city, in common with all cities across the globe.

The council’s INTENSIFY project, funded by Interreg Europe, seeks to promote the Sustainability strategy to all people in Milton Keynes. The Council has used the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a basis for the city’s Sustainability strategy and many of these figure prominently in the ideas shown in the posters.

Healthy food and water, renewable energy systems, clean transport, biodiversity are the main goals addressed by the ideas submitted, along with other wonderful ideas. This shows that MK citizens have no shortage of imagination.

Imagination is a powerful resource and this competition shows that there is plenty of it in Milton Keynes. 

Jeremy Draper, Sustainability Manager, Milton Keynes Council

Mayor-TTMK-Chair
Hosting the awards ceremony with the MK Mayor
TTMK Chair, Michael Sheppard, hosting the event with the MK Mayor

“Congratulations to all the winners. There are some wonderfully imaginative and creative ideas on show that we’re honoured to display in our centre for visitors to enjoy.”

Shelley Peppard, general manager at Midsummer Place

All other entries to the competition

Imagine MK 2030 competition entries
CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW ALL OTHER ENTRIES

“We have been absolutely delighted with the engagement in our Imagine MK 2030 campaign so far. After all, change starts with imagining it first! 

Some great ideas have been put forward by entrants of all ages showing the changes they would like to see happen here in Milton Keynes before 2030. The display serves to remind us all that many of us are rightly worried about the environmental and climate problems that the world is facing now. 

We are grateful to Milton Keynes’ sustainability team for their ongoing support, and to our judges for the difficult job they had to do, and thank Midsummer Place Management for enabling our awards ceremony and exhibition to take place in the shopping centre. 

We look forward to seeing people visit our exhibition at Midsummer Place over the coming month, and to welcoming everyone who has taken part to join us on more sustainability projects and events in future.”

Michael Sheppard, Chair of Transition Town Milton Keynes