Playing, Mapping, and Power: A Critical Analysis of Using "Minecraft" in Spatial Design

Autor/in	Bashandy, Hamza
Titel	Playing, Mapping, and Power: A Critical Analysis of Using "Minecraft" in Spatial Design
Quelle	In: American Journal of Play, 12 (2020) 3, S.363-389 (27 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1938-0399
Schlagwörter	Video Games; Cartography; Building Design; Community Involvement; Foreign Countries; Personal Autonomy; Power Structure; Urban Planning; Philanthropic Foundations; Kenya (Nairobi); Brazil; Kosovo + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Video game; Videospiel; Videospiele; Kartenkunde; Kartografie; Baugestaltung; Ausland; Individuelle Autonomie; Stadtplanung; Philanthropismus; Brasilien
Abstract	Investigating the potential of video games as an aid to community mapping and participatory architectural design, the author discusses the use of the sandbox game "Minecraft" by the Block by Block Foundation in collaboration with Mojang Studios, Microsoft, and UN-Habitat for three projects--Model Street (Dandora Phase 2, in Nairobi, Kenya), Mind the Step (Jardim Nakamura, in São Paulo, Brazil) and Former Marketplace (in Pristina, Kosovo). The author offers different perspectives or "lens" from which to view the projects, including as an architect (which he calls a spatial lens) and as a community member (which he dubs a player lens). Favoring agency over participant choices, he claims, the institutional forces at work can prevent true access to space making by either the foundation or the game, each of which suffers from accessibility problems for both players and the communities. He argues for a need to look more closely into the politics of the Block by Block Foundation and "Minecraft" and seeks to make readers explicitly aware of the systemic mechanisms of exclusion. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01