The project MC-YOU aims to empower young people to take an active role in designing and creating the cities of the future by leveraging the creative and educational potential of Minecraft. It also raises awareness among young people about the importance of sustainability and modernity in urban planning and development. UBC is a partner in the project.
The three project partner cities: Faro, Portugal, Riga, Latva, Sandanski, Bulgaria were implementing the MC-YOU model.
In each city, the MC teams were formed, consisting of young people with the support of practitioners and policymakers. The teams explored a part of their city to identify buildings or spaces that they want to remodel. Then the teams organized Agora events – public hearings, covering the broad cross-section of society, including citizens from different age groups, professions, social backgrounds, and political affiliations.
The aim of Agoras was to facilitate discussion in society, give their opinions and feedback on resilience, sustainability and urban development. This enabled to better understand the needs of society concerning public spaces.
Afterwards, MC-YOU teams made decisions about what spaces/buildings they wanted to remodel and then re-designed them using Minecraft.
In Riga, “Rendezvous with the City” Agora online events gathered over 100 participants: students, teachers, citizens & city representatives, neighborhood associations, engaging them in discussions. 8 public locations were selected for re-designing, according to 3 rules: 1. the property is publicly owned, 2. the place is in development (or with uncertain future), 3. the place could be used or have value for youth.
The Municipality of Sandanski carried out a participatory survey to reimagine 6 key public locations in the city, for example Old Military Building, City Public Pools, Zoo Garden Area. 161 citizens, including students, parents, teachers, and residents, participated in the survey.
In Faro 48 participants, students, teachers, citizens & policymakers, joined the MC-YOU Agora activities. The exhibition was located in one of the schools and featured information about local places for redesigning and displayed the work done by youngsters. Finally, four places were selected.
Afterwards, the proposals of teams were presented and voted.
Followingly, during the Award ceremonies in implementing Cities, the proposals were introduced and then the winning teams got prizes. The next step was a meeting of the winning teams at the City Halls with the Mayors and members of the administration as well as representatives of related departments: youth, urban planning, sustainability. The aim of the meetings was to advocate by the teams for policy adjustments.
This autumn in the MC-YOU project several activities will also take place: 6 Community of Practitioners webinars, 7 Sustainability Conferences and the Final Conference with all the winning teams. One of Sustainability Conferences is the UBC workshop to be held at the UBC General Conference on 5.11.2025, with a main topic to be discussed: how cities can adapt gamification and use it when activating young inhabitants.
More information: https://www.mc-you.eu/