Polar bears and a skytrain: kids reinvent downtown Winnipeg with Minecraft

Downtown Winnipeg BIZ is hoping a series of Minecraft lounges will help shed light on how the next generation of Winnipeggerswould change the downtown core to make it better.

Kids of all ages are invited to leave their mark on a future Winnipeg using the Microsoft video game, which allows players to dig (mine) and build (craft) buildings using natural resources (called blocks) to create everything fromsimple structures or toentire cities.

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Hazel Borys, CEO of PlaceMakers and strategic plan consultant with Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, says Minecraft can give the planners a sense of how children use and want to use downtown Winnipeg.

The BIZ is committed to taking downtown Winnipeg from "good to great" and iscurrentlycompleting its new strategic plan, Borys says, a process the organization undertakes every three years.

"We have to nurture [our communities]," she said."It's almost an exercise of citizenship."

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One of the ideas children generated includes a skytrain and polar bears, an idea Borys advised against because the large Arctic marine mammalstend to crash the system.

So far about 12 children have taken part in the Minecraft lounge, Boryssaid, addingmore will be held onthe following dates:

• Wednesday, July 27 (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) at the northeast corner of MTS Centre by theticket booth.
• Thursday, July 28 (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) at the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural and Community Centre.
• Tuesday, Sept. 6 (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) at the University of Winnipeg.