My Future City is Houston?

The BMW Guggenheim Lab has released an online urban planning game called "Urbanology," which asks a serious of questions to determine the type of city you think is the future.

1 minute read

August 22, 2011, 7:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


To his surprise, Planetizen Editor Tim Halbur apparently puts a low priority on livability and a high priority on innovation, making him an ideal citizen of a future Houston.

Itir Sonuparlak of The City Fix summarizes the game:

"Each player assumes the role of a decision maker and answers questions to determine the priorities of a fictitious city. By answering 'yes' or 'no' to questions like, 'Will you double the cost of public transport to fund its conversion to a carbon-neutral system?' or 'Will you pay for a free bike service in your city?' players build a city that best matches their urban ideology. As we've written about before, 'serious gaming' like this 'can help people become astute, collaborative and creative problem-solvers.'"

Thanks to Jeffrey Riecke

Friday, August 19, 2011 in TheCityFix.com

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