Found this incredible channel on YouTube where they use Cities:Skylines to talk about real urban issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvUByM-fZk&list=PLwkSQD3vqK1S1NiHIxxF2g_Uy-LbbcR84&index=1 Another cool video and article for today is on Polygon: "Unboxing the hidden politics in Sim City" https://www.polygon.com/videos/2021/4/1/22352583/simcity-hidden-politics-ideology-urban-dynamics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_51_YJQpeg0 I am really loving this approach to taking simulations seriously, although I dislike the tone of the Polygon video. He seems to be ready to call for pitchforks instead of helping to figure out how do we build better, more nuanced dynamic models. A little key background info: Will Wright talks about 'social simulations', and the first SimCity was based on Jay Forrester's Urban Dynamics, in particular the 'stocks and flows' model, that 'you can use to model anything'. Of course, the model here is used to create, and the Polygon guy's video is analyzing its effects only. Classic confusion of models problem here. What he does not understand is that, as a designer, you can not in principle predict all the outcomes of a dynamic simulation, so his underlying (and not very subtle) calls for 'responsibility' are somewhat misplaced. The fact that you can actually model a whole city based on a set of parameteres is nothing short of incredible. We need better, more detailed and nuanced models. Of course, Forrester's [[model]] is highly problematic as it reinforces the biases and assumptions of the day. It is easy now to summarily dismiss all of that but it is extremely complex to try and propose a new model. Eventually, Forrester modeled the [[World]]: **Forrester’s world dynamics model World2** (Forrester, 1971) was the basis of all subsequent models **predicting a collapse of our socio-technological-natural system by the mid 21st century**. ![[World dynamics, as defined in the World2 model of Forrester (1971).jpg]] ![[new product adoption diagram.gif]] Some quotes from this article: https://towardsdatascience.com/world2-model-from-dynamo-to-r-2e44fdbd0975 the model in R is here: https://github.com/amignan/hist_gc_sysdyn/blob/master/Rworld2.R **System dynamics is an approach to understanding the nonlinear behaviour of complex systems over time** using stocks, flows, internal feedback loops, table functions and time delays ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_dynamics)). It in fact derives from earlier works on cybernetics. World2 was not Forrester’s first major work in system dynamics, as he had already applied the method to factory planning in ‘Industrial Dynamics’ ((Forrester, 1961), and then to city planning in ‘Urban Dynamics’ (Forrester, 1969; which, fun fact, would later be influential in the creation of the video game SimCity; Lobo, 2007). Forrester’s work on urban dynamics was noticed by the [Club of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_of_Rome) which led to discussions on global sustainability and the book ‘World Dynamics’ in 1971 where the World2 model was presented. **Meadows’ team developed an extension of the model in parallel, leading to the World3 version** (Meadows et al., 1972; Meadows, 1974; updated in Meadows et al., 2004; see also Randers, 2012). Interestingly, Forrester had sketched out a preliminary version of the model, called World1, on his flight home from his meeting with the Club of Rome in Switzerland (Hayes, 1993). ..to be continued, especially as I am working on a world sim project right now.. [[The Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK)]]