London Mayor Sadiq Khan is now in Minecraft helping to redesign Croydon
"It was an honour to be rendered in blocks and join the Minecraft family."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been immortalised in block form as part of a Minecraft Education challenge to redesign Croydon.
The 2023 Design Future London Schools Challenge is a partnership between City Hall, Microsoft's Minecraft Education, and C40 Cities, and invites students to redesign Croydon town centre as a "greener, safer, and more prosperous place for everyone".
Khan features in the game as a non-player character to introduce the challenge.
Participating teams will need to produce a two minute video of their Croydon creation, explaining their vision. Full details available here.
Khan is chair of C40 Cities, a global network of city mayors aiming to tackle the climate crisis with science-backed targets.
"Creating a greener, fairer and more prosperous London for generations to come is a key priority of mine. Achieving my missions of tackling air pollution and reaching net zero carbon by 2030 are a huge part of this, so I'm thrilled to be getting help from the voices of tomorrow," said Khan.
"It was an honour to be rendered in blocks and join the Minecraft family to launch the Design Future London Schools Challenge to young Londoners. The London Minecraft World is a fun and engaging way for young Londoners to think critically about the built environment, collaborate with friends and peers, and be creative in showcasing their vision for the capital's future.
"I can't wait to see the brilliant ideas that come out of this challenge and wish all young Londoners taking part the very best of luck with their entries."
Croydon is London's southernmost borough with landmarks including the former Nestlé Tower and arts centre Fairfield Halls. It even has 327 listed buildings dating back to before Domesday records in 1086.
Minecraft has collaborated on a number of educational initiatives. Last year that included a partnership with The National Trust to recreate real-life castle ruins, and another with BBC Earth on a Frozen Planet game.