In the search for and development of innovative approaches to urban design, UN-Habitat and the company behind the popular video game Minecraft have developed Block By Block, a methodology based on the principle of co-creation, which proposes the development of an inclusive and integrated design of public space.
The Block by Block methodology, designed since 2017, uses the video game Minecraft as a collective participation tool to co-design public spaces. The methodology ensures that the voices of everyone in the community can be heard, understood and analyzed throughout the creation process, and all needs are reflected in the design.
Minecraft a game for some is called the “digital Lego”, built on an interface that allows participants to be creative and build structures in a three-dimensional world. The public space as it is built is replicated in this game so that participants can associate and/or recognize their neighborhoods in the game. Next comes the ideation process, which takes place thanks to a brainstorming session that allows participants to intervene the designs of the public space through the game. Subsequently, the final designs of the city are analyzed, prioritized and somehow translated by experts in technical drawing for construction.
The Block by Block methodology ensures a botom-up approach to public space design and encourages participatory ownership by all users. One of Minecraft’s strong points is that it is easy to learn, even for people with no previous digital knowledge. Minecraft generates a visual language that is practical and intuitive enough for all people – regardless of their background – to communicate their needs from an equitable experience that encompasses all perspectives.
The overall goal of this methodology is to support local governments in creating and promoting socially inclusive, integrated, connected, environmentally sustainable and safe streets and public spaces, especially for the most vulnerable. Through this multi-sectoral approach, a greater impact on the community and its environment is created, as by collecting, centralizing and projecting all this data, it informs the local government on the performance of their city (according to SDG 11) and creates a baseline to be able to develop and adopt relevant planning frameworks and strategies to manage public space, while contributing to the long-term transformation of the city.
Through Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity, a Program supported by the European Union and implemented inter-agency between UNHCR, IOM and UN Habitat, which was born as a response to the exodus of more than 5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the region, and is materialized through an urban-territorial approach, which seeks effective integration through the social construction of the habitat as a vehicle for social cohesion. One of its expected results is the strengthening of local governments’ capacities, based on the design and implementation of tools to face the challenge of human mobility in cities, within which the Block By Block methodology works as a cornerstone to meet the needs of this result.
