Block by Block in 2014: How FyreUK Builds Public Spaces in Minecraft

Block by Block paired UN-Habitat, the United Nations agency for sustainable towns and cities, with Mojang, the maker of Minecraft. According to Pontus Westerberg, then Digital Project Manager at UN-Habitat, the programme began as a way to bring people aged 14 to 25 into planning projects in their communities, and Minecraft proved a good tool for it. The four-year partnership was meant to support the Sustainable Urban Development Network in upgrading 300 public spaces by 2016.

The method had two stages. In the 2014 projects, the UK Minecraft modding group FyreUK builds the existing site in the game, so participants start from an accurate model. Residents then redesign the space in the sandbox, producing a 3D picture of the upgrade that neighbors can read without planning training.

The first pilot took place in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, where UN-Habitat worked with the Nairobi City Council and community groups to upgrade the Silanga football field, one of the few public pitches in the area. In Mexico City, the programme joined the Aldea Digital digital inclusion festival, where more than 200 children redesigned Plaza Tlaxcoaque; the three winning designs were announced on April 27, 2014. The project was also shown at the 11th Games for Change Festival.

FyreUK also published time-lapse videos of sites in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, where public space is tied to ponds, stone spouts and wells, and in Les Cayes, Haiti, whose unprotected waterfront suffers flooding and erosion and was planned as a public walkway. In each case FyreUK builds the model before residents begin.

Block by Block has its own website, which loads in November 2026. It says the work began in 2012 as a partnership between the UN and Mojang Studios and that it has "catalyzed the revitalization of urban neighborhoods in 55 countries", reaching more than 3 million people. Nearly 31,000 community members have taken part in hundreds of workshops, and the Block by Block Foundation reports contributing more than $11 million to UN-Habitat.

The site groups its work under equity, resilient cities and peace, with examples from Hanoi, Addis Ababa and Kosovo. The bare address now forwards to the www version of the site. The website of the Aldea Digital festival did not load in November 2026, and nothing was confirmed about the current work of FyreUK.