The Challenge
The Mayor of London worked with MOBIE, Minecraft Education, C40, Mayor’s Fund for London and Croydon Council on a design challenge that aimed to inspire young Londoners to develop an interest in designing beautiful, affordable and sustainable places to live, work and visit.
This design challenge was open to all students across London. Participants had the opportunity to explore a custom built Minecraft world of Croydon Town Centre, and build their solutions block by block in Minecraft.
The finalists
Isis Ciurleo and Thomas Li: Team Leoni
A resilient and inclusive Croydon Town Centre which mitigates climate change
Materials on roofing cover 20% of urban areas and are responsible for highest temperatures of thermal energy. To mitigate UHI we need high albedo roofing materials to reflect solar radiation To what extent can we mitigate UHI through urban design whilst creating efficient, inclusive public places in Croydon Town Centre? Changing Global Temperatures Slower than Average Faster than Average.
Ben So, Yin Shen, Jin Wen Kee and Matt Xi: Team Creative Croydon
Croydon town centre: reviving Croydon’s past retail centre
Backpack-sized, solar-charged device takes fibre-making out of the laboratory - and off the grid
UCL researchers have developed a portable, solar-charged device that can manufacture medical-grade fibres anywhere in the world without any connection to mains electricity.
11 Aug 2026
£8 million gift to create quantum institute at UCL
The new David Potter Institute for Quantum Information and Spacetime, established thanks to a landmark award from the David and Elaine Potter Foundation, will seek to reconcile quantum mechanics.
10 Aug 2026
RESILIENCE wins Gold Award at Learning Technologies 2025
The RESILIENCE project, established by UCL Biochemical Engineering, was recognised by the Learning Technologies Awards as the best learning technologies project in the public and non-profit sector
29 Jul 2026