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The future of Sandanski’s public spaces – Shaped by the people!

As part of the MC-YOU Agora initiative, coordinated by CESIE, the Municipality of Sandanski carried out a participatory survey to reimagine six key public locations in the city. With the involvement of 161 citizens—including students, parents, teachers, and local residents—the process was a true community effort titled MC-YOU Consultations

The engagement process was driven by local schools, where each Minecraft team promoted their own open day. Teachers played a vital role, spreading the word through class announcements, parent-teacher groups, and noticeboards.

Teachers and facilitators also supported participants in using the MC-Metre tool, making sure feedback was thoughtful and informed.

Promotion was further amplified through Sandanski Municipality’s social media and main communication channels—ensuring high visibility and local participation.

What did the community imagine for each site?

1) Old Military Building (near Sports Hall)

Proposals: Youth center, ecological hostel, elderly care space, training/events hub

Sustainability: Green roofs, renewable energy, autonomous infrastructure

Innovation: A clear call for a socially-driven, sustainable transformation

2) City Public Pools

Proposals: Wellness center, water park, sports & fitness facilities

Sustainability: Water conservation, green design

Innovation: A health-focused space, prioritizing recreation and well-being

3) Zoo Garden Area

Proposal: Public park, cultural zone, children’s playground

Sustainability: Biodiversity, recycled materials, energy autonomy

Innovation: A green, inclusive space for families and community life

4) Bulgaria Square

Proposals: Amphitheater, art & cultural space, coworking for digital nomads

Sustainability: Carbon neutrality, adaptable use, green design

Innovation: A vibrant city center for creativity, performance, and innovation

5) Pump Track Park Area

Proposals: Skate park, open-air cinema, green public park

Sustainability: Zero waste, biodiversity, renewable energy

Innovation: A youth-oriented area blending leisure and environmental awareness

6) National Revenue Agency Building – Bitus

Proposals: Community center, training space, repair café, social kitchens

Sustainability: Green roofs, solar panels, recycled materials

Innovation: A multifunctional hub for education, inclusion, and social care

📊 Who participated?

161 respondents, the majority of those under 18 (87), ensuring the process is being carried out by Sandanski’s young people

What trends emerged across the city?

✅ Sustainability first: Renewable energy, green roofs, eco-friendly design

✅ Social services matter: People want inclusive, multifunctional spaces

✅ Youth-driven ideas: Recreation and engagement opportunities for young citizens

✅ Creativity & culture: Artistic and educational spaces were widely requested

What’s next? Recommendations for future urban planning:

1) Design sustainable, multi-use infrastructure

2) Prioritize accessible spaces for all demographics

3) Expand cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities

This initiative proves that active civic participation—especially by young people—can lead to smart, inclusive, and sustainable urban solutions. Sandanski’s future is being built together, one idea at a time. 💚

MC-YOU in Sandanski

From March to April 2025, 195 participants joined Agora events in Sandanski, where students used Minecraft to present urban resilience projects in their schools.

With tools like MC-Metre, youth sparked dialogue on city futures. Teachers praised gains in digital & civic skills!

MC-YOU in Riga

“Rendezvous with the City” in Riga gathered 100+ participants—students, teachers, citizens & city reps—for online Agoras on sustainability, resilience & urban planning. With input from experts and locals, the sessions sparked valuable ideas & youth engagement despite timing and tech challenges.

MC-YOU in Faro

In Faro, Portugal, 48 participants—students, teachers, citizens & policymakers—joined the MC-YOU Agora activity to shape urban spaces!

Through exhibitions, Minecraft, & the Ideas Box, youth shared 45+ ideas for a better city.

Top spots like Praça de Tânger were chosen via Dotmocracy!

MC-Agora: A new way for communities to shape their future together

In today’s world, where societies are becoming more complex and divided, authentic and inclusive dialogue has never been more essential. To address this challenge, the MC-YOU Partnership is excited to introduce MC-Agora, a unique participatory model that encourages citizens to come together, discuss important issues, and make collective decisions about public matters. This innovative approach is currently being piloted in three cities: Riga, Faro, and Sandanski.

So, what exactly is MC-Agora? At its core, it’s a collective effort to create a gathering place, an assembly where citizens can meet to engage in meaningful discussions, share their opinions, and contribute to decision-making processes. The strenght of the MC-Agora model lies in its inclusivity – every voice is heard, and every opinion is valued. It’s not about top-down decision-making, but about empowering communities to actively participate in shaping the policies that affect their lives.

One of the key elements that make MC-Agora so effective is its use of Minecraft. While most people associate Minecraft with gaming, it’s actually an ideal platform for building collective spaces. On Minecraft, players can collaborate to design environments, providing a dynamic and interactive way for citizens to give feedback and suggest improvements. It’s a creative and fun way to bring people together, where each participant can contribute ideas to create a space that reflects their collective vision.

But it’s not just about building virtual spaces – it’s about building real-world connections. By adopting an Agora-style approach, public authorities and institutions can foster a culture of engagement and rebuild trust with their communities. This approach helps bridge the gap between the government and the people, ensuring that everyone has a voice in shaping the policies that affect them.

The MC-Agora methodology also works to strengthen social cohesion. It enables citizens to collaborate, empowering them to be part of the process that influences the policies and decisions that directly impact their lives. It’s a powerful tool for creating inclusive governance where no one is left behind.

The success of MC-Agora depends on a clear, structured approach. Here’s how the process works:

1. Purpose and Planning: Before anything can be organized, it’s essential to define the purpose of the Agora. Is it aimed at consulting citizens about a specific issue? Is it about gathering input for a policy decision? Or perhaps it’s simply about fostering dialogue around a community-wide challenge?

2. Inclusive Invitation Process: It’s vital that participation in the Agora is inclusive, representing the full diversity of the community. The goal is to ensure that all voices are heard, no matter their background or experience.

3. Establishing Rules of Engagement: To create a constructive and respectful environment, clear rules of engagement need to be established. These rules should promote active listening, equal speaking opportunities, and avoid personal attacks or inflammatory language.

MC-Agora is more than just a model – it’s a movement toward a more engaged, more connected society. By incorporating this approach, we can create communities where everyone has the opportunity to make their voice heard and where decisions are shaped by the collective will of the people.

In the end, it’s all about fostering genuine connections and ensuring that every citizen has a seat at the table. Because when we all have a say, we can shape a future that works for everyone.

CESIE

How to Write a Toolkit – Part 3: Developing the Content

With a clear structure in place, the next stage was content development. This was a complex process that required synthesising research, incorporating best practices, and ensuring the content remained practical.

Gathering and Organising Information

Content development started with gathering data from various sources:

Research on urban resilience and youth participation. We analysed existing methods and reports to ground the toolkit in evidence-based practices.
Case studies of successful projects. We collected examples of young people and city governments working together effectively to enhance resilience.
Review on participation workshops methods. The workshops must ensure a high level of participation of young people, so all methods were checked on this criterion.

Once we had all this material, the challenge was translating theory into action—making the content practical, engaging, and easy to apply.

Writing for Clarity and Impact

One of the biggest hurdles in toolkit writing is striking a balance between depth and simplicity. We focused on making the content:

Action-oriented. Instead of just explaining concepts, we provided concrete steps and instructions.
Engaging and interactive. The text included reflection questions, practical exercises, and real-life scenarios.
Relevant to different audiences. While young people were the primary users, the toolkit also needed to be useful for municipal staff and NGOs.

Incorporating Case Studies and Best Practices

Real-world examples were a crucial part of the toolkit. We selected case studies from various European cities to illustrate key concepts, ensuring diversity in location, scale, and approach. These case studies served as inspiration, showing users how resilience strategies had been successfully implemented elsewhere.

With the content developed, the next phase will focus on testing and refining the toolkit based on user feedback. This will involve pilot implementations and gathering insights from those who use it in real-world contexts. Once this stage is completed, we’ll finalise the design and dissemination strategy.

Stay tuned for Part 4, where we’ll explore how we tested, adjusted, and prepared the toolkit for broader use!

YEPP

How to Write a Toolkit – Part 2: Designing the Structure

Once the purpose and objectives were defined, the next challenge was designing the structure. Our goal was to create a logical, easy-to-navigate format that guided users through the process of understanding resilience and applying the strategies in their own cities. Also, it would have to keep a good balance between flexibility and firmness in terms of the time plan and methods to implement in the workshops.

Building the Framework

We started by mapping out key content areas and asking ourselves:

What are the essential building blocks of urban resilience?
How can we use Minecraft in a meaningful way?
What guidance do young people and city officials need at different stages?
How can we organise the content in a way that flows naturally?

Through multiple iterations and discussions, we settled on five core sections:

Introduction – Background on urban resilience, youth participation, and why this toolkit was created.
Key Concepts & Frameworks – A breakdown of resilience principles and participatory city planning.
Action Steps – A detailed, step-by-step guide for trainers to hold workshops with young people and city officials to co-develop resilience strategies.
Case Studies – Real-world examples of successful youth-led and municipal resilience initiatives.
Tools & Resources – Practical worksheets, checklists, and templates to support implementation.

This structure ensured a balance between background knowledge, practical guidance, and hands-on tools.

Creating a User-Friendly Experience

A toolkit is only useful if people can actually engage with it. To make the Resilient Cities Toolkit accessible and practical, we prioritised:

Clear, jargon-free language. We avoided overly academic or technical terms to make the toolkit easy to understand.
Modular design. Users wouldn’t have to read the entire toolkit in order; they could jump to sections relevant to them.
Visual elements. We incorporated infographics, icons, and colour-coded sections to make navigation intuitive.
Checklists and exercises. Instead of just providing information, we designed interactive elements to help users apply the content in real-life scenarios.

YEPP

How to Write a Toolkit – Part 1: Identifying the Need and Setting Objectives

Why Create a Toolkit?

With the Resilient Cities Toolkits, the goal was to provide city officials, young people, and community organisers with the tools to co-create solutions for urban resilience. However, before jumping into writing, we had to ask: Does a toolkit already exist for this purpose? Is a new one necessary? If so, what exactly should it provide?

The need for the toolkit emerges from the MC YOU project, which works on strengthening youth participation in urban resilience. Across different European cities, young people often face barriers when trying to engage in decision-making processes. City officials, on the other hand, sometimes struggle to integrate youth perspectives into urban resilience strategies. For the project’s workshops, interviews, and engagement with municipalities, we realised that existing resources either focused only on resilience theory or on general participation guidelines—but none directly addressed how young people and city officials could collaborate effectively to build resilient cities.

Defining the Need

To define the need for this toolkit, we conducted a needs assessment with two main groups:

Young people and youth organisations – to understand their challenges in engaging with city officials and shaping urban resilience strategies.
Municipal staff and policymakers – to identify the barriers they face in including youth perspectives in city planning.

Through discussions, surveys, and workshops, some key challenges became clear:

Many young people want to contribute to urban resilience but don’t know where to start.
Cities lack accessible, step-by-step guides for involving youth in resilience planning.
There’s often a disconnect between policy and grassroots action.

Based on these insights, we decided that the toolkit should be a hands-on, action-oriented resource that helps young people and city officials work together to develop local resilience initiatives.

Setting Clear Objectives

Once the need was defined, we focused on the objectives. Instead of creating a theoretical guide, we wanted a practical toolkit with actionable steps. Through several brainstorming sessions with project partners and target users, we shaped the following core objectives:

Make urban resilience tangible and applicable. The toolkit should break down resilience concepts into clear, real-life actions.
Provide a step-by-step process for collaboration. We aimed to give trainers hand-on advice for setting up workshops for young people using Minecraft and also give city officials structured methods to work together.

Incorporate best practices and case studies. Learning from real examples would make the toolkit more relevant and inspiring.
Ensure accessibility and usability. The toolkit should be visually engaging, interactive, and easy to use for trainers with different levels of experience.

Having these objectives from the start helped shape every decision in the toolkit’s development, ensuring it remained practical and user-driven.

YEPP

Riga schools participate in workshops on sustainable and resilient Minecraft building!

In November and December, more than 70 children from 10 Riga educational institutions participated in workshops on sustainable, resilient, circular and inclusive cities organized by the Riga City Municipality City Development Department and the Education, Culture and Sports Department!

The workshops took place within the framework of the MC-YOU project. Working in groups and discussing together, children, as well as teachers, learned about various topics relevant to better urban development – who and why plans cities, what is sustainability, resilience (adaptability), circularity, and “cities for people”, why the involvement of residents and children is important, what gamification and 15-minute cities are, etc.

All the topics covered are related to the priorities set in the MC-YOU project and will be useful for the children themselves, as they envision different places in Riga on the Minecraft Education platform as part of the project. The children are already getting to know these publicly accessible places, studying their history and meeting in the above-mentioned workshops to better prepare for the production of their vision. In January and February, each team will also meet with various representatives of the municipality, residents and professionals in “agoras” or public consultations-discussions, thus getting to know even better what Riga residents would like to see in these places; also what, for example, is restricted by various construction guidelines.

By the end of March, each of the 16 teams will have to submit their original vision for these places in Riga, taking into account everything that has been heard and discussed previously. Then, in April, each vision will be anonymously evaluated by both the jury and residents that will be able to vote for them.

“Within this project, we want to cement the feeling that we are interested in children’s ideas and needs,” says Mārtiņš Eņģelis, a project expert from Riga City Development Department. “In such projects, children are most often remote consultants, and their participation is limited to recreating ordinary places on the Minecraft Education platform or creating impractical visions. Within the framework of MC-YOU, we want to teach children from the very beginning that they have the right to be participants in the development of places in Riga, but it should be noted that this partnership is also based on various external conditions, for example, listening to local needs, taking into account the principles of sustainable cities (better materials, more environmentally friendly and climate-resilient solutions, etc.) or following urban development guidelines (for example, UNESCO regulations or underground communications). As a result, children are ready to offer visions that are more difficult for municipalities to refuse, and children can “get their foot in the door” for the urban development they want.”

The project lasts two years – from November 2023 to November 2025. The total cost of the project in Riga is 48,675 euros (Riga City Municipality co-financing 10%). The lead partner of the project is the European network Out of the Box International (Poland). Other project partners are the Municipality of Faro (Portugal), the Municipality of Sandanski (Bulgaria), the organization INA EUROPE (France); the non-governmental organization CESIE Palermo (Italy), the Union of Baltic Cities (UBC) and SIA LINK DMT SRL, Modena (Italy).

Municipality of Riga

Faro Experience, From Toolkit to Practice: Training Sessions for Young Multipliers – Part 1

In November and December 2024, Faro MC-YOU young multipliers undertook a set of 3 training sessions from the ”Method Box” of the Project ”Resilient Cities” Toolkit: 1) Resilient Cities, 2) Knowing my City, and 3) Minecraft and Defining Project Objectives.

This article briefly presents the main highlights and ouctomes of the experience of application of Session 1) Resilient Cities in Faro, with a special focus on the non-formal education methods used.

Session 1 – Resilient Cities

From breaking the ice, to learning about and exploring the project topics, while having fun!

Icebreaking: Bingo!

A thematic breaking ice game is an effective and fun way to kick-start sessions involving young people (and not only!). In fact, games can serve as an engaging introduction to the session topics, while also giving facilitators valuable information about the participants (e.g., their names, previous awareness and knowledge about the topics, etc.). A twist of the traditional Bingo game, with cards containing different questions, encourage participants to think, interact, share, and learn as they play, and is an excellent way to start a session.

The Bingo Game in Faro included a variety of questions regarding sustainability and resilience habits, and other project related topics (e.g., youth participation, minecraft) that were adopted to the group profile and context: ”Has participated in a Cleanup Action”, ”Reduces water consumption or reuses water”, ”Rides a bicycle”, ”Has participated in the School’s Participatory Budget”, ”Plays Minecraft”, etc.

When everyone was ready, the prompt was given – ”Find someone in this room that”… – and everyone rushed! By the end of the game, participants were energized, and initial presentations were made, connected to a variety of reflections and personal experiences regarding the project topics (Maria reuses water, António rides a bycicle, Carolina plays Minecraft, etc.).

Getting to know the project – from global to local

Participants were invited to follow a slideshow and describe what they saw: From Planet Earth…, to Europe…, to Portugal…, to the Algarve Region…, to Faro City…, to their School!! Their enthusiasm, pointing to the images, was contagious! After all, the themes of the MC-YOU Project concern all of our Planet, the project consortium is formed by 8 European Organizations, involving 3 Pilot-Cities, incluiding their own – Faro – and their School; and with the use of images, and other tactics, participants themselves can work together with the facilitators in understanding and explaining the project, and working towards making it their own.

In fact, although this is a very small example, actively engaging and inviting THE Participants to really participate, even in the most informative and ”knowledge transfer” parts of the process, is essencial in a project like MC-YOU where youth participation is not only important, but foundational.

Learning about and exploring the project topics

When explaining conceps, such as Sustainability and Resilience, or others, is important that participants not only ”get to know them”, but really understand them and explore them. Resourses that they may be familiar with already, like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), for example, and the inicial reflection and presentation of the definitions of the concepts is important, but is just the beggining.

In small groups, the Faro participants were invited to explore and map environmental aspects and social aspects of their own school – a setting that they are already familiar with, but now being invited to seeing it with the lens of Sustainability and Resilience.

Are there trees in the school? Where? Is the soil paved or permeable? Are practices like composting being used? And solar panels? Is there a bycicle parking? And in terms of acessibility? Is the place acessible for all? Yes? No? What could be improved? What materials are being used? How is the social life of the outdoor place – from doing sports, to chitchatting? And in terms of thermic comfort – are there enough shadows and trees for the Faro hot summer days?

With this activity youngsters were able to recognize, reflect and map different aspects of their own school, and started looking at the places surrounding them with new eyes!

Currenlty, this work is part of the School exhibition that opened the Faro Agora and Consultation phase of the project.

Before closing – Everyone needs feedback

The perception of facilitators, while important, can also be misleading. Was the session sucessful? Was it enjoyable and useful for the participants? For facilitators, the participants feedback is fundamental to evaluate the session and improve future ones; and for the young participants is fundamental that they, indeed, participate and express their opinion since session 1, working towards Laura Lundy’s model of participation (space, voice, audience, influence).

Feedback received – Faro participants stated that what they liked the most in the session was the ”Bingo”, ”drawing”, ”the theme”, ”the challenges”, ”searching for things in the school”, ”understanding the school’s architecture”, ”the teamwork outside the classroom (in the open air)” with some describing it like a ”unique” and ”fun experience”. Regarding what they liked the least and suggestions for improvement, some expressed the expectation of starting using Minecraft (”start with Minecraft right away”, ”play Minecraft earlier”, ”play Minecraft as early as possible”) and gave some suggestions regarding tools – ”Kahoot”, ”Fornite”. A feeback of ”I didn’t like the project with paper and stuff” reminds us that all participants are different, and that not everyone enjoys the same activities and methods.

Municipality of Faro

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