Local authorities have been "amazed to see that young women from slums could design as architects or urban planners", according to the co-ordinator of a United Nations initiative using the video game Minecraft to get communities designing their own public spaces.
The Block by Block project is the work of UN-Habitat ? the United Nations agency for sustainable urban development ? together with the makers of the hugely popular world-building computer game Minecraft, Mojang.
Block by Block is a global UN-run programme in which Minecraft is used as a community participation tool in the design of public spaces, like this one designed for Dandora, Nairobi ? the location of the biggest dump site in East Africa
Since 2012, they have used the game to engage communities all over the world ? particularly young people, women and slum dwellers ? in the design of their local public spaces, and have now reached more than 25 countries. Kenya, Peru, Haiti and Nepal are among the nations to have Block by Block-designed spaces. Last month, Pontus Westerberg, coordinator of Block by Block, took to the stage at Made In Space, a three-day festival held at Space10 in Copenhagen's meatpacking district, to explain how the initiative uses Minecraft as a community participation tool in urban design for public space projects all over the world ? particularly in poor communities within developing countries.
Communities are able to build into virtual landscapes that correspond to the real-l...