Challenge Topics

How to build a better city

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The way we plan, design, and build our cities in the next decades will determine whether there is a thriving future for us and the natural world around us.

Schools Reinventing Cities, a partnership between Minecraft Education and C40 Cities, challenges students to think about how we can build happier, healthier communities for an inclusive and climate resilient future. Cities consume most of the world’s energy and emit the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. If we take climate action in cities, we can protect the environment and provide a better place to live for most of us. 

What are your ideas to reinvent our cities?  

Designing a sustainable neighbourhood is a complex task - many people live and work in cities and they all have different needs and ideas to improve their community. The good news is that making just one part of your neighbourhood better, like making it safer to cycle, can have other positive impacts, like cleaning the air we breathe!


To help guide you in developing solutions for your neighbourhood, we cover ten topics for building better cities. These cities would emit less greenhouse gases and be nicer places to live. You should consider the topics when developing your ideas, but your designs do not have to cover all topics. Whilst all are important, focus on topics that are most appropriate for your prompt, city and site. 

How do you build a better city?