Schools Reinventing Cities empowers school students to share their proposals for more inclusive, green and thriving cities.
During 2024, over 5000 students worldwide have spent 80,000 hours researching and building their ideas with Minecraft Education. Through this year’s design challenges, students have designed ideas for reusing public city buildings, combating extreme heat, and making their neighbourhoods more inclusive and climate-resilient.
Stakeholders and partners in each city have reviewed and celebrated with the students presenting their innovative designs to peers, teachers and city leaders. As we launch our open-to-all climate action topic build challenges this month, we’re excited to share students’ ideas from nine participating cities
Schools Reinventing Rotterdam
The challenge: to turn the Rijnhaven into an inspiring habitat with sustainable and climate-adaptive homes that work with water, green recreational areas and a school that provides environmentally conscious education. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included an inclusive school floating on water with space for nature and a way to clean plastic waste from water.
Schools Reinventing Den Bosch
The challenge: to design a sustainable environment in the De Haren district that inspires young and older residents in an environment that is accessible to all. Congratulations to the winning ideas which included greenhouses, space for animals and urban nature, and multi-family homes.
Schools Reinventing Amsterdam
The challenge: to design the OBA Next public library in Amsterdam to be a library of the future; as a place for everyone that is dedicated to knowledge, built sustainably, and connected to the nature around it. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included a 24-hour concept that offers space for meeting, art and silence. A key strength was making space for different community needs, such as including a 3D model to explore the neighbourhood and spaces for guide dogs.
Schools Reinventing Hengelo
The challenge: to design the Lange Wemen shopping centre to be a pleasant, safe and green place to live and shop. Congratulations to the winning ideas to enhance community life, which considered environmental and social aspects. This included creating vegetable gardens and beehives in the neighbourhood. Students created spaces for residents to socialise in recreational activities together, especially those living alone, such as outdoor coffee gatherings, spaces to play, and meeting points.
Schools Reinventing The Hague
The challenge: to reinvent the Binkhorst Noordwest neighbourhood as a place where people like to live and work and others like to visit. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included green spaces near roads to absorb pollution and that are accessible to both young and older residents, water fountains and public toilets, and green energy sources for apartments.
Level Up Los Angeles
The challenge: to develop ideas for a climate-resilient city. Students built ideas to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat in the finale. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included designing a school that stays cool even on the hottest days to combat the increasing danger of extreme heat in the city. This included considering the colours of walls and roofs and replacing asphalt with grass and flowering vines to make cooler, shaded areas for students.
Schools Reinventing Alkmaar
The challenge: to design and build a sustainable and liveable residential area on the Alkmaars Kanaal near the old gas works. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included insulated housing with green energy, community centres, emergency food and drink stores, and spaces to charge electric cars.
New York City Battle of the Boroughs
The challenge: to design ideas for new uses of public buildings identified for renovation and development. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included new community uses and green energy infrastructure to make sites more inclusive, future-ready spaces – from the Kingsbridge Armory to the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
Design Future London
The challenge: to build a better London for everyone using the priorities of the London Plan update. Congratulations to the winning ideas, which included improving air quality through public realm design, affordable and energy-efficient housing that is accessible to a multi-demographic community and creating inclusive spaces for young people by young people.
Get involved! The Schools Reinventing Cities Toolkit is available for everyone, anywhere to design their own ideas for a green and thriving neighbourhood in Minecraft Education.
Contact schools-reinventingcities@c40.org to learn more.