For decades, few games have managed to combine entertainment, economics, politics, and urban planning as well as SimCity. What began as an innovative experience in the 1980s evolved into an entire genre of urban management simulators, culminating in the success of Cities: Skylines, which became the main reference in the market after the setbacks of the Maxis franchise. Today, these games are much more than a source of fun: they are tools for understanding how cities work.
The birth of a legend
Created by Will Wright and released in 1989 by Maxis, SimCity allowed players to take on the role of mayor, defining residential, commercial, and industrial zones, while also managing the budget, infrastructure, power, security, and transportation. At the time, the proposal was revolutionary: instead of defeating enemies or completing levels, the goal was to build a functional city. The game also featured unexpected challenges, such as natural disasters and even alien attacks on the city, which made the experience more dynamic, fun, and challenging.
Perhaps that is exactly why the game left such a mark on so many players. I myself had a lot of fun with SimCity 2000, which I played on a PC at the end of the 1990s. I never got tired of playing it and was always curious to discover what new problem the population would bring to the mayor.
There is also a lesser-known episode that demonstrates the game’s cultural impact. In 1990, during the mayoral election in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, candidates took part in a competition based on SimCity, using a version of the city recreated inside the game. The goal was to observe how each contender would make administrative decisions. The experiment attracted a lot of attention and even sparked discussions about the relationship between managerial ability and performance in urban simulators.
The following versions increased the complexity:
- SimCity 2000 (1993) introduced isometric view, subways, and more advanced systems.
- SimCity 3000 (1999) deepened economic and environmental management.
- SimCity 4 (2003) is considered by many fans to be the high point of the series, with integrated regions and detailed simulation.
- SimCity (2013) tried to modernize the franchise, but was heavily criticized for requiring a permanent internet connection and for limiting map size.
It was precisely in this context that the biggest rival in the genre emerged.
The arrival of Cities: Skylines.
In 2015, the Finnish company Colossal Order, led by Mariina Hallikainen and with notable participation from designer Karoliina Korppoo, released Cities: Skylines, a city simulator that gave players greater control over urban planning, the distribution of residential, commercial, and industrial areas, transportation, and public services.
The game quickly won over the community by offering what many fans felt was missing from SimCity:
- larger maps;
- greater freedom of construction;
- a robust modding system;
- continuous expansion through the community;
- detailed traffic management.
While EA and Maxis faced criticism over SimCity 2013, Cities: Skylines gained ground and established itself as the new standard in the genre. The success was so great that many analysts consider the game the true spiritual successor to SimCity.
What can we learn from playing?
Even though they are games, these simulations teach real concepts of public administration and urban planning.
- Urban planning matters
Many beginners spread neighborhoods without planning and end up creating giant traffic jams. The lesson is clear: disorderly growth generates mobility problems that are expensive to fix later.
- Infrastructure comes before growth
Building thousands of houses without water, electricity, and transportation usually results in the collapse of the city. In real life, something similar happens when cities grow faster than their infrastructure.
- Public budgets have limits
Lowering taxes increases population satisfaction, but reduces revenue. Raising taxes increases revenue, but can drive residents and businesses away. Players learn that governing almost always involves balancing conflicting interests.
- The environment affects the economy
Installing polluting industries near residential neighborhoods reduces quality of life, affecting health and land value. This is therefore a simplified representation of the challenges faced by real cities.
- Traffic is a complex system
One of the biggest lessons from playing Cities: Skylines is understanding that adding more roads does not always solve congestion. Often, an efficient public transportation system produces better results than simply expanding roads.
YouTube videos about Cities: Skylines
When I started playing SimCity, I did it only for fun and in a fairly random way, without worrying much about urban planning concepts. Today, however, games like Cities: Skylines 2 show that the experience can go far beyond entertainment, allowing players to understand city-building and administration processes that are quite close to reality. One of the things that surprised me most was the work of the channel Infrastructurist, which uses the game to explore urban concepts in a detailed and didactic way.
This is evident in the video: “Starting a BIG Japanese City with the NEW Japan Region Pack | Cities: Skylines 2 - Infrastructurist”. In it, the creator develops a city inspired by the Japanese urban model, highlighting features such as high population density, integration with public transportation, mixed-use land use, and compact neighborhoods that favor mobility. The project also includes the construction of an extensive rail network inspired by Japanese railways, designed to connect different parts of the city efficiently and integrate them into urban development. Beyond being visually impressive, the video shows how urban planning decisions directly influence a city’s efficiency, functioning almost like a practical lesson on the principles that made many Japanese cities world references in organization, mobility, and infrastructure.
Another interesting example appears in the video: “Building a Highly-Detailed Realistic European Village From Scratch in Cities: Skylines!”, also by the Infrastructurist channel. Instead of focusing on high density and large transportation networks typical of Japanese cities, the project seeks to reproduce the characteristics of a traditional European village, with narrow streets, a central square surrounded by cafés and restaurants, a historic church as a landmark, and buildings integrated with the local landscape. The result shows how urban planning aimed at the human scale can create pleasant spaces for walking and socializing, while valuing public spaces and the visual identity of the community. The video demonstrates that good urban solutions do not depend only on large infrastructure works, but also on urban design that favors social interaction, accessibility, and residents’ quality of life.
Conclusion
Looking at the evolution from SimCity to Cities: Skylines, it becomes clear that these games have become much more than simple pastimes. Without realizing it, anyone who plays comes into contact with themes such as public transportation, budgeting, urban planning, and quality of life.
The first time I played SimCity, back in the late 1990s, I did not pay attention to urban planning concepts. I just wanted to build a cool city and deal with the challenges that arose. Today, seeing projects as detailed as the ones created by the community, it is clear that city-building games can be a powerful and accessible way to understand how cities really work.
What seems like entertainment at first glance can become a practical introduction to the complexity of urban life, revealing that every street, avenue, neighborhood, and public service has a direct impact on the daily experience of the people who live there.
Vocabulary
Isometric view: it is a way of representing three-dimensional objects or scenes on a two-dimensional surface, showing width, depth, and height at the same time without using the traditional perspective where distant objects appear smaller. In videogames, this creates the impression of depth while keeping a fixed, clear view of the environment.
Robust modding system: it is the ability of a game to be extensively modified by the community through user-created content.
Mixed-use land use: it means that different activities share the same urban area. Instead of completely separating housing, commerce, and services, you find apartments, shops, restaurants, offices, and markets close to each other, often in the same block or even in the same building. This reduces the need for long commutes and makes neighborhoods more lively and convenient.
Compact neighborhoods: they are areas planned to concentrate housing, commerce, and services in a relatively small and dense space. Since everything is closer, people can walk, bike, or use public transportation more easily. This model also reduces dependence on cars and makes better use of urban infrastructure.
Urban design: it is the way the physical elements of a city are organized and connected to influence people’s lives. It involves planning streets, sidewalks, squares, buildings, green spaces, lighting, and public areas to make the city more functional, accessible, and pleasant.
Urbanism: it is the field of knowledge that studies cities and how they are organized. It includes concepts such as mobility, housing, public spaces, land use, quality of life, and urban design. It is broader and more theoretical.
Urban planning: it is the practical application of urbanism. It is the process of defining rules, projects, and strategies to guide the growth and organization of a city.
Buildings integrated into the local landscape: these are structures designed to harmonize with the surrounding environment instead of standing out in an artificial or disconnected way.
Human-scale urban planning: it is an approach that places people’s needs at the center of city design instead of prioritizing only cars, wide avenues, or urban expansion.