Title
Minecraft as a Tool for Engaging Children in Urban Planning: A Case Study in Tirol Town, Brazil
Campus Units
Community and Regional Planning
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
3-13-2020
Journal or Book Title
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Volume
9
Issue
3
First Page
170
DOI
10.3390/ijgi9030170
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of Minecraft’s game environment for urban planning with older and younger children in a public school in Tirol town, Brazil. Minecraft is employed as an innovative tool to tackle the present lack of engagement and involvement of key societal actors such as children and young people in urban planning. Thus, how can games support children to co-design their future city? Which heritage values do they represent graphically in the game environment? Geogames are games that provide a visualization of a real spatial context and in this study, Minecraft is the tool which we use to explore youth engagement. We designed two experiments, which tested Minecraft as a geogame environment for engaging young people in urban planning. These experiments were conducted with children, who emerged as active emancipated actors to bring their values to the planning practice. The playtesting results revealed the potential of Minecraft to keep children engaged in the design workshop, as well as their relevant ludic ability to co-create walkable, green, and interactive places. New research questions arose about the potential of creating a culture of planning among children in order to motivate other social actors to share responsibilities for sustainable development and management.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Owner
MDPI
Copyright Date
2020
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
de Andrade, Bruno; Poplin, Alenka; and Sousa de Sena, Ítalo, "Minecraft as a Tool for Engaging Children in Urban Planning: A Case Study in Tirol Town, Brazil" (2020). Community and Regional Planning Publications. 42.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/communityplanning_pubs/42
Included in
Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons
Comments
This article is published as deAndrade, B., Poplin, A., Sousa de Sena, I., Minecraft as a Tool for Engaging Children in Urban Planning: A Case Study in Tirol Town, Brazil. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. 2020; 9(3); 170. Doi: 10.3390/ijgi9030170.