13 August 2024, Jatni. – Imagine helping shape your city’s future just by playing a game. Sounds fun, right? That’s exactly what the Young Gamechangers Initiative is doing with Minecraft! This fantastic project gets people, especially young ones, involved in urban planning to make cities better places to live.
The Importance of Your Voice in Urban Planning
To create these better cities, we’re promoting to preserve SDG indicator 11.3.2. This goal ensures everyone can participate in planning and managing our cities. Inclusive urban planning is key to sustainable futures, strengthening social bonds, and supporting local democracy. Your voice is crucial. Learn more about UN-Habitat’s efforts here.
The Young Gamechangers Initiative
This is where the Young Gamechangers Initiative comes in. It’s an exciting programme that teaches young people how to make a real difference in their communities. Through five engaging studios, they learn how to:
- Evaluate public spaces across an entire city.
- Analyse the quality of public spaces and their 5-mins walking radius
- Design urban interventions in Minecraft
- Participate in architecture design studios:
- Engage in tactical placemaking
Check out the process on our website to learn more about these amazing activities and see how our three cities, Jatni, Armenia, and Bargny, are racing towards improved public spaces for and by young people.
Minecraft Design Studio: Training for Trainers
A major part of the Young Gamechangers Initiative is the Block by Block training. This unique approach engages neighbourhood residents who usually don’t have a voice in public projects. By teaching the YGs to use the methodology, they can visualize and design the spaces they’d like to see with their community.
Check out Block by Block!
Why Minecraft?
Block by Block started in 2012 with a cool idea: using Minecraft to plan public spaces. Minecraft is super easy to use, so people of all ages and backgrounds can jump right in. It’s a fun and cheap way to create 3D models, share ideas quickly, and work together.
Block by Block Training in Jatni
So, what does the Minecraft Design Studio training of teachers look like in action? Let’s take a look at what happened in Jatni, India.
Day 1: Introduction and Getting Started with Minecraft
On July 29th, we gathered at the newly renovated Young Gamechangers Lab to kick off the Minecraft Design Studio training of teachers. The Young Gamechangers (YGs) started by learning about the importance of participation in public spaces and the relevance of different stakeholders. They were then introduced to the Block-by-Block Methodology. The YGs received project laptops and a beginner’s crash course in Minecraft, including setup and basic controls.
Check out the YGs who participated in the workshop here.
Day 2: Advanced Minecraft and Building Skills
The excitement continued as YGs learned about advanced Minecraft processes, like mods, and the build process. This involved transferring Google Maps data into Minecraft and starting to design the space in the game. The two places they were building were selected by public voting last month: “Mundia Sahi Park and Ground” and “Maa Uttarayanee Youth Club Ground.”
Two selected sites inJatni, India.
Day 3: Putting Skills to the Test, Certification, and Celebration
This day brought some excitement and anticipation! The YGs had to test their new skills and prepare presentations for Jatni officials. The workshop ended on a high note with YGs receiving their certifications—a proud moment for everyone involved.
Next Steps
Now it’s up to the YGs to fine-tune their Minecraft skills and teach the methodology to their communities, so they can include as many members in the design as possible.
After completing this, they will proceed to the architecture studios, where they will collaborate with EVA Studio to develop detailed and actionable proposals, which will then be presented for participatory budgeting with the entire community.
Happy Building!
Head over to our Instagram to see the “behind-the-scenes”.
