Minecraft To Help UN Regeneration Projects

Minecraft to aid UN regeneration projects

Development plans for 300 places around the world are being modeled in Minecraft so residents can help determine how the locations will change.

It is known as Block by Block, the programme is part of a partnership between Minecraft-maker Mojang and UN Habitat.

Minecraft will allow residents to create virtual tours of urban locations.

They will also have the ability to alter the model and decide where the regeneration money should be spent.

The Undugu playground, which is located in the Kibera region located on the outskirts Nairobi was one of the first places to be recreated in Minecraft for Block by Block''s pilot program.

"We''ll be putting that into the game so players can walk around and feel as if it''s real," Lydia Winters (community liaison manager at Mojang), told the BBC.

Undugu has been recreated on computer by Minecraft modeling company Fyre UK. The UN plans to restore the park is in the near future available to people who live close to it.

Virtual visits

Minecraft is a world composed of cubes. Each cube is made from a different virtual material like dirt, stone, iron ore, diamond, and so forth. The game requires you to stack the cubes and then to break them down into their basic materials. This lets you create artifacts and objects.

The ease with that the real world can be recreated in Minecraft has prompted UN Habitat to approach Mojang to help it with its urban regeneration plans said Ms Winters.

In 2016 300 of the areas UN Habitat plans to remodel will be recreated in Minecraft allowing residents of those places to be involved in the process of how their neighborhood will be changed.

Ms. Winters said, "It''s bringing together decision makers with the youth to decide on an agreement for public spaces across the world."

Details about the project were revealed at the Minecon conference held in Paris between 24 and 25 November.

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UN Habitat

Fyre UK