What it doesUrban Alchemy was inspired by a simple but persistent problem we noticed every day at UGA: people constantly mixing up what belongs in recycling, compost, and trash. Even with good intentions, unclear waste sorting leads to contamination and environmental harm. We wanted to address this issue in a way that felt approachable, fun, and memorable—especially for a younger audience just beginning to learn about sustainability.
We built Urban Alchemy as a drag-and-drop game where players sort common waste items into magical cauldrons, earning points and unlocking new Georgia locations. An AI-powered wizard provides feedback after each decision, explaining why a choice was correct or how it could be improved. While integrating generative AI was one of our biggest challenges, we learned how to structure prompts, handle API responses, and ensure the feedback stayed educational, friendly, and age-appropriate. Overcoming these challenges helped us better understand how AI can be used responsibly as a teaching tool.
Through this project, we learned not only about front-end development and AI integration, but also how thoughtful design can make complex real-world problems easier to understand. Urban Alchemy shows that learning about sustainability doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it can be magical.
Although it does not work perfectly, we are so proud of what we were able to create in the short time we had.
Built With
- css
- html
- javascript
- openai
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