Michigan Central is embarking on a generational mobility project in a historic Detroit neighborhood.
Traditionally, city planning decisions are made by professionals behind closed doors. Minecraft at Michigan Central flips that model by inviting residents of all ages to help co-author the future of their city.
What if you could help design Detroit’s next transportation hub — using Minecraft?
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Minecraft at Michigan Central is a creative civic design project where community members explore real city challenges by building their ideas in a shared Minecraft world.
Participants will:
Learn how cities are designed
Explore transportation and public space
Work in teams to design future ideas
Present their creations to planners and designers
This is based on the real project where residents build speculative designs in Minecraft as part of a community engagement process.
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Learn the Basics
Participants learn about:
urban design
mobility and transportation
public spaces
Minecraft building tools
Explore the Minecraft Detroit World
A 1:1 digital build of the Michigan Central site has been created in Minecraft.
Students explore the site and understand how cities function.
Design the Future
Teams will receive design challenges such as:
Design the commuter hub of the future
Create healthy public spaces
Imagine Detroit’s future mobility systems
These example missions come directly from the project framework.
Share Their Ideas
Teams present their builds and ideas.
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STEM skills
Participants explore:
architecture
urban design
sustainability
transportation systems
technology and digital design
Other skills
teamwork
creative problem solving
presenting ideas
civic leadership
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Minecraft as a Creative Design Tool: Minecraft turns imagination into real design ideas.
Used Around the World: Cities across the globe have used Minecraft to design parks, streets, and public spaces.
Examples from the United Nations Block by Block initiative:
Youth redesigned a plaza in Haiti that was later built.
Women in Nairobi redesigned unsafe pedestrian routes.
Youth in Mexico City helped design new public spaces.
These examples come from the UN Block by Block initiative.
A Platform Young People Already Love: Minecraft has hundreds of millions of players and is one of the most widely used creative platforms in the world—why not tap into an existing, beloved platform to engage our community?
Envisioning the Multimodal Facility
Why Detroit?
Michigan Central is part of a major effort to rethink how people move around Detroit — including trains, buses, bikes, and new forms of transportation.
Detroit has a culture of co-creation—and residents want to be included in ideating what the future of the city looks like.
As the only UNESCO City of Design, Detroit is a design-forward city—and utilizing equity, access, and creativity as design foundations in partnership with lived-experience can position Detroit as a national mode for inclusive, creative engagement. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
Meet the Team
Parent FAQ
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Minecraft at Michigan Central is a creative learning experience where students explore city design, transportation, and public space using Minecraft as a digital design tool.
Participants work in teams to imagine and build ideas for the future of Detroit’s mobility hub and surrounding neighborhood. The experience combines STEM learning, creativity, and civic engagement.
The program is part of a broader effort to invite residents—especially young people—to help imagine the future of Detroit through creative design tools.
Minecraft at Michigan Central is a creative learning experience where students explore city design, transportation, and public space using Minecraft as a digital design tool.
Participants work in teams to imagine and build ideas for the future of Detroit’s mobility hub and surrounding neighborhood. The experience combines STEM learning, creativity, and civic engagement.
The program is part of a broader effort to invite residents—especially young people—to help imagine the future of Detroit through creative design tools.
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No!
Participation is free and open to all.
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Minecraft is one of the most widely used creative platforms in the world, with hundreds of millions of players globally.
Because it allows participants to quickly build and visualize ideas, it has been used internationally as a community design tool.
For example:
Youth in Haiti redesigned a public plaza that was later built.
Women in Nairobi redesigned pedestrian routes to improve safety.
Youth in Mexico City helped design public spaces adopted by local government.
These projects were part of the UN Block by Block initiative, which uses Minecraft to help communities participate in city design.
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Participants will:
Learn the basics of how cities and transportation systems are designed
Explore a Minecraft world based on the Michigan Central area
Work in teams to design a future idea for the site
Present their ideas to other participants
The activity is collaborative and creative, combining design thinking, teamwork, and digital building.
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No.
While some students may already be familiar with Minecraft, the session begins with a short introduction and tutorial to help everyone get comfortable with the building tools.
Students can participate regardless of prior experience.
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Participants explore concepts connected to STEM and creative design, including:
architecture and urban design
transportation systems
sustainability and public space
digital modeling and visualization
teamwork and collaborative problem-solving
The goal is to help students see how creativity and technology can be used to solve real-world challenges.
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While Minecraft is a game, in this program it is used as a design platform.
Students are using Minecraft the same way architects and planners use modeling tools: to explore ideas and visualize future possibilities for real places.
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Michigan Central and its partners are exploring the future of a multimodal mobility hub that connects trains, buses, bikes, pedestrians, and emerging transportation systems.
This project invites young people to help imagine what that future could look like.
Insights from the pilot experience will help inform broader community engagement and future programming.
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The project is a collaboration between:
Michigan Central
Cities Reimagined
design and technology partners
Together, we are working to create new ways for communities—especially young people—to participate in shaping the future of their cities.
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The session is facilitated by trained staff and mentors who guide participants through the activity, answer questions, and help teams develop their ideas.
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Most civic planning processes involve adults and professionals.
Minecraft at Michigan Central invites young people to become co-creators of their city’s future, using tools that feel natural and creative to them.
The goal is to make civic design more accessible, imaginative, and inclusive.
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No special preparation is required. All tools and instructions will be provided during the session.
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Students who enjoy the experience may be interested in fields such as:
architecture
urban planning
engineering
environmental design
transportation innovation
digital design and modeling
Programs like this aim to show young people that they can help shape the future of their communities.