Minecraft as a Tool for Investing Adolescents in Climate Adaptation: A Case Study in Westport Washington

Abstract

Adolescents are often neglected or excluded from conversations about community environmental hazard adaptation in part because few community adaptation outreach strategies cater to their demographic. In the last decade, researchers and planners have identified the sandbox game Minecraft as an effective tool for gathering feedback from children and adolescents on community planning decisions and approaches. Minecraft has also been used by teachers across academic disciplines to engage students in immersive learning. This research included the design and implementation of a climate adaptation curriculum for Westport, Washington, a peninsula on the Pacific Ocean subject to multiple environmental hazards including sea level rise. Minecraft was used to quickly recruit and engage middle school students in adaptation conversations through a local park planning exercise. Students proposed park designs within a series of sea level rise scenarios and developed an understanding of their community's environmental precarity and possible design solutions. The pedagogy utilizes an iterative approach between design professionals and students to home in on planning solutions that respond to adolescent desires for their community in light of environmental hazard realities.