SimCity

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines as an Urban Planning Tool

Computer simulations continue to play a novel and important role in urban planning, especially in finding new ways to engage the public and add some fun to the process of planning for the future of cities.

August 10, 2020 - parCitypatory

SimCity 2013

SimCity’s Impact and Evolution

The video game has inspired many people to pursue careers in planning. But, the newest version is also trying to better align the simulations with what planners face in the real world.

March 7, 2019 - Los Angeles Times

SimCity BuildIt

How a City Planner Plays SimCity

A gaming video on the popular City Beautiful YouTube channel shows of the Sim City skills of a professional city planner.

August 7, 2018 - City Beautiful

Simulation

The New Era of Planning Simulations

The continued improvement of digital technology should benefit evidence-based policy and decision-making. Welcome to a new era of planning simulations.

September 1, 2016 - Government Technology

SimCity 2000

Lessons for Urban Planning in 2016—From SimCity 2000

A tech writer had a chance to revisit SimCity 2000 after years away from the game for contemporary lessons in planning.

June 25, 2016 - Inverse

SimCity 2013

The Not-So-Great Lessons of SimCity

A game encountered as a youth has brought many adults to the ranks of professional planning. What, then, is the legacy of the lessons offered by SimCity and its brethren?

February 25, 2016 - City Observatory

Introducing the Latest City-Building Simulation Game

The "Cities: Skylines" city-building simulation game enters the scene long dominated by SimCity.

March 30, 2015 - Greater Greater Washington

SimCity BuildIt

3 Good Reasons SimCity Should Adopt a Form-Based Code

And an update from Codes Study about the 600 places that really are upping their game with form-based codes.

January 27, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Lessons for the Real World in SimCity 4's Homeless Problem

Emanuel Maiberg discusses an ongoing crisis in a simulated version of reality familiar to many planners—i.e., the homelessness problem in SimCity 4.

January 17, 2015 - Motherboard

Crowd

What a Megacity with 107 Million People Looks Like—via SimCity

Writing for Motherboard, Derek Mead details what it took for a particularly ambitious SimCity player to build a city of 100 million people.

September 2, 2014 - Motherboard

Could SimCity Become a "Swiss Army Knife for Teachers"?

Following a path blazed by Oregon Trail and other classic educational video games, SimCity is hoping to become a common classroom tool. Thousands of students are testing a tailored version of the game, and the results are promising.

November 27, 2013 - The Washington Post

A Never-Ending Map Of Imaginary Cities

Artist spends decades creating an always-growing hand-drawn paper map of an imaginary place. Development is determined by drawing a random card from a custom deck of cards.

September 5, 2013 - Visual News

Prominent Urbanists Face Off in SimCity Battle Royale

After a decade of waiting, today's the day planning geeks have been waiting for. SimCity has arrived! To celebrate, Fast Company has assembled "some of the most interesting urban thinkers...to see who would make the best fake metropolis."

March 5, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

SimCity-Style Interactive Map Seeks to Make Zoning Understandable

In an essay for Next City, Juan-Pablo Velez, member of the Chicago-based civic tech collective Open City, explains the rationale behind their latest project, which aims to make the city's zoning "digestible by humans."

February 8, 2013 - Next City

SimCity 2013

Grid vs Cul-de-Sac: Using SimCity to Test Development Patterns

Norman Chan uses a beta version of the new SimCity game to test the merits of three familiar types of suburban subdivision design - a rectangular grid, circular sprawl, and cul-de-sacs.

January 31, 2013 - Tested.com

Planners and Computer Nerds Rejoice at the Return of SimCity

After a decade of absence, Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, has announced plans to release an updated version of SimCity, the pioneering urban planning computer game, in 2013.

March 15, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Friday Funny: Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Tax Plan is Straight Out of SimCity

Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain has been touting a plan where individuals, businesses and a national sales tax would all be 9%. Reporter Amanda Terkel says this sounds suspiciously similar to the default settings in SimCity.

October 14, 2011 - The Huffington Post

Building the Virtual City

Beatville is a new "open source, multi-player environment for real cities", which purports to be a useful tool for democratizing urban planning.

January 28, 2011 - Urban Omnibus

Is SimCity Behind the Times?

Transportation consultant Garrett Walker asks, "Is SimCity still making us stupid?" Walker jumps into the Rush Hour 4 Expansion Pack to see if the user is rewarded for contemporary planning techniques or outdated, autocentric ideas.

December 25, 2010 - Human Transit

An Open Source "SimCity" for New York

"Betaville" is a virtual New York where users can experiment with the built environment and how new buildings will look in the cityscape.

October 22, 2010 - DNAInfo

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.