SimCity legacy: smarter cities when urban planners play for keeps

Architects and planners brought up on SimCity are using the principles of gaming to encourage sustainability

Many children of the 1990s would have fond memories of the smash-hit computer game SimCity. The open-ended simulation that allowed players to plan entire cities while balancing public service, environmental and budgetary pressures smashed preconceptions of what a video game could be.

At the time of SimCity's emergence in 1989, a video game with no end and no set target was considered absurd. But the sheer detail (down to crime and traffic levels on each street), the ease of learning, constant feedback to player decisions (citizens moving into suburbs or buildings becoming derelict) and the ability to "play god" lifted this title from mere simulation to a global sensation.