The 8th grade students at the EB 2,3 D. Afonso III School, Faro, and, within the scope of the international project MC-YOU – Minecrafting Resilient Cities, were challenged to design more sustainable public spaces for their cities. The urban requalification proposals was presented on June 13th, starting at 9:30 am, in the auditorium of the Municipal Library of Faro – and the entire population was invited to attend.
During this session, seven proposals for the transformation of four public squares in the city, created using the Minecraft Education platform, was presented to the public and the competition jury, “with the aim of promoting more sustainable, accessible and resilient cities”.
The community was invited to participate in choosing the winning proposal, through an online public vote that was available until 11:30 am on the same day. The winning proposal was announced at 12:30 pm, resulting from the combination of public voting (50%) and the evaluation of a jury of experts (50%), invited by the Municipality of Faro.
This presentation marks the high point of the local implementation of the MC-YOU project, which involved 40 students from the 8th B and 8th C classes of the EB 2,3 D. Afonso III School, aged between 13 and 15 years old.
Through a participatory and interdisciplinary pedagogical process, which began in 2024 at that school, young people were challenged to imagine new uses and configurations for urban spaces in the city, applying the principles of sustainability and resilience.
With the support of the local authority, seven public spaces with potential for intervention were initially identified: Tangier Square, José Afonso Square, António Sérgio Square, Largo das Mouras Velhas, Pontinha Park/Liberty Square, Largo do Mercado Municipal and Praceta Eng.º Duarte Pacheco.
The students chose four of these locations as the focus of their projects, which are now up for voting: Tânger Square, José Afonso Square, António Sérgio Square and Engº. Duarte Pacheco Square.
Through suggestion boxes and online surveys, the population was also invited to contribute ideas and opinions, in an exercise of active civic participation.
The winning team in Faro was “Divas Pink”, with a proposal for the inventory site Praça António Sérgio.
On April 29th, the Noble Hall of the City Council of Faro also hosted a meeting between the two participating classes, their teachers, local authority technicians, representatives of the University of Algarve and civil society organizations, to share ideas and creative proposals for the city’s squares.
The activities continue until the end of 2025, in a celebration of the power of creativity, citizen participation and the commitment of young people to the future of their cities.
FARO