School/ Organization:SAINT MICHEL FRENCH HIGH SCHOOL AND NOTRE DAME DE SION FRENCH HIGH SCHOOL

Delegation leader/ teacher: INCI KIMYONSEN, SEVAL EROL

Students’ names: SERRA ATILLA, HÜRMÜS GÖKSU TÜRKER, ASLI ÜNLÜER

MEHMET BARIŞ AVKOVAN, MEHMET HAMZA ULUTAŞ

It is hard to constitute an ecocity despite the growing population but in Turkey, the mayor of Eskişehir, Yılmaz Büyükerşen is reorganizing the city as an ecocity since 1999. The concept of eco-city, the search for the sustainability of the cities and the results of the work has emerged.

The Great Marmara Earthquake that lived in 1999 was effective in the re-creation of the city. With the project of "Creating a city example", the city was re-created.

Therefore, the students of the club “Sustainable Life/Environment” of Private Notre Dame de Sion French High School and of Private Saint Michel French High School visited Eskişehir between 16-18 March.

The students got information about Eskişehir which is also called “The City of Pedestrian” at the town hall. They made a tour of the city for two days and they witnessed the changes that took twenty years.

Water sports and transportation are now being carried out on Porsuk stream, where there is a risk of disaster in the past, and no living creature is dirty.

The restored Houses of Odunpazarı, especially the houses used as museums were worth visiting. The pool designed as a sea with a beach in the middle of the City Park was also impressive.

It was also pleasing to see that the city is designed for pedestrians and the life is not just between work and house. The people are able to stop by art galleries while they are walking home. Old industrial buildings have been transformed into tourism. With its extensive parks, museums and arts activities, the city attracts many tourists.

Sewerage, rainwater drainage systems and treatment plants for domestic wastes are other important works.

It was also a relief for the big-city students to see a city without traffic because the transportation is provided by the modern tram system. Trams of the city work with solar energy.ensuring that the air is clean. This city emerges as a self-sufficient eco-city project with zero energy and zero waste.

This study gave another perspective to the student’s relationship with the city they live in and an ecocity which they could live in.