The Guardian Cities: Skylines challenge – can I build a truly anti-capitalist city?
Urban planner Finn Williams uses the building simulator to create a 'post-growth city' with an economy based on social exchange rather than consumption
There is no "game over" in Cities: Skylines, just 400 or so citizens rattling around the remains of my city. Whole districts are abandoned, public services have been shut down, employment has collapsed and the budget is crippled by Greek magnitudes of debt. There is also no democracy, or I would have been voted out of office long before the lights went out. "Where has everybody gone? #ghosttown" peeps my timeline. I had tried to break the rules of the game, and ended up with a broken city.
I wanted to use Cities: Skylines to test an alternative economic model which challenges the assumption that growth is only good. In a world of finite resources, is it sensible, or even possible, to plan for infinite growth? Or as Tim Jackson asks, is it possible to achieve prosperity without growth? Could the game be bent to build a post-growth city where the economy is based on social exchange rather than consumption?
The soundtrack changes tone, from soft strings to a more ominous-sounding brass section
Related: The Guardian Cities: Skylines challenge - can I build the world's greenest city?
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