Manila, February 25 2015 — To encourage youth’s participation in designing public spaces, UN-Habitat held a one-day Minecraft competition on 25 February 2015. Participants were tasked to design Rizal Park, a spacious urban park where Philippine national hero Jose Rizal’s remains are enshrined in a monument. A total of 25 participants coming from various high schools and universities in Metro Manila joined.
Pontus Westerberg, Transparency and Digital Projects Officer from UN-Habitat headquarters, began the event with a brief orientation about UN-Habitat’s public space programmes and the characteristics of successful public spaces.
“Based on our study of cities around the world, successful cities have 50% public spaces,” he said. “Out of these 50%, 35% are streets while 15% are other public spaces such as libraries, parks, etc.”
Westerberg also emphasized the significance of public involvement in designing and revitalizing public spaces, referring to the competition as an opportunity for the youth―a demographic that largely remains unheard―to be more involved in revitalizing historic public spaces such as Rizal Park.
The judging panel was comprised of UN-Habitat External Relations Head Thomas Melin, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board Commissioner Linda Hornilla. The entries were to be judged based on three criteria: safety and security, playfulness for children and young people, and social interaction between citizens. The judges chose one overall winner and one winner for each criterion, each winner receiving a cash prize.
Noteworthy features of the winning entries were the inclusion of a police station and a hospital and the presence of cable cars.
The event was organized by the League of Cities of the Philippines and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), with assistance from UN-Habitat Philippines.
