The seven Faro MC-YOU student teams from D. Afonso III School, in Faro – Portugal, presented their urban requalification proposals on 13 June 2025, during a public event held at the Auditorium of the Municipal Library of Faro António Ramos Rosa.
During the session, the seven proposals for the transformation of four public squares in the city were presented to the public and to the jury. Developed using the Minecraft Education platform, the proposals aimed to promote more sustainable, accessible, inclusive and resilient urban spaces.
The MC-YOU Faro teams and their respective proposals places were:
- Bob Crafters – Praça José Afonso
- Divas Pink – Praça António Sérgio
- Engarrafados – Praça António Sérgio
- Especialistas MC – Praceta Eng. Duarte Pacheco
- Os Aventureiros – Praceta Eng. Duarte Pacheco
- SRRBL – Praça de Tânger
- Tropa do Farense – Praça de Tânger
The community was invited to take part in selecting the winning proposal through an online public voting campaign. The final result combined public voting (50%) with the jury’s evaluation (50%). The winning team in Faro was Divas Pink, with its proposal for Praça António Sérgio.
This event marked a high point in the local implementation of the MC-YOU project in Faro that pilot-tested the MC-YOU methodology, which involved 39 students from D. Afonso III School, aged between 13 and 15. Following a participatory and interdisciplinary educational process that began in 2024, the young participants were challenged to imagine new uses and configurations for the selected public spaces in the city. Initially, seven potential sites for intervention were identified: Praça de Tânger, Praça José Afonso, Praça António Sérgio, Largo das Mouras Velhas, Parque Pontinha/Praça da Liberdade, Largo do Mercado Municipal and Praceta Eng. Duarte Pacheco. After a study visit to all locations in December 2024, the students selected four spaces as the focus of their proposals developed in Minecraft Education in 2025: Praça de Tânger, Praça José Afonso, Praça António Sérgio and Praceta Eng. Duarte Pacheco.
In the beginning of 2025, citizen contributions were also collected through a physical suggestion box and the online MC-Metre survey, reinforcing the participatory nature of the project. On 29 April 2025, Faro City Council hosted a feedback session with the two participating student classes, their teachers, local authority technicians, representatives of the University of Algarve and civil society organisations. The session provided an opportunity to share and discuss the ideas and creative proposals under development for the four city’s public squares. The final proposals were then presented by the 7 Faro MC-YOU teams on the 13 June 2025 at the Faro Municipal Library.
MC-YOU activities will continue until the end of 2025, fostering young people’s creative and critical thinking and their important role in shaping the future of their cities.
FARO