Minecraft and UN team up to rehabilitate urban areas

Minecraft will be used in an initiative called Block by Block, encouraging young people to offer suggestions on how to rebuild local environments.

Based on a similar program implemented in Sweden, and with Mojang as primary sponsor, Block by Block will support the UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Urban Development Network in its plans to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016.

On a Mojang blog post, the publisher showed off its pilot prgram - a Minecraft reconstruction of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya.

Local children and young people will be invited to use Minecraft to shape the space, in order to have input into how the UN will overhaul it.

Mojang expects to launch a dedicated site for the program soon, so fans and interested parties can follow along.

Thanks, Kotaku.