When I think of the places I would like to live, they are often places where the design emerged from the bottom-up instead of places that were subject to top-down urban planning. Places like SoHo, NY or the Marais, Paris epitomize the beauty of bottom-up design. Top-down design often results in ugly, artificial systems and generic, characterless neighborhoods. By contrast, bottom-up cities take the shape of the needs and desires of their constituents.

Christopher Alexander, a Berkeley Professor who created a body of work about architecture design theory, once wrote:

When the oak tree grows, there is no blueprint, no master plan, which tells the twigs and branches where to go. We know in general that it will have the overall form of an oak… but it is unpredictable… and a town which is whole like an oak tree must be unpredictable also. The fine details cannot be known ahead of time.

I think this captures my opinion of city design very well. As such, I’m incredibly excited about the latest edition to the SimCity franchise: SimCity Societies.

In past SimCity games, you plan a city from the top-down as the Mayor (more like a God figure than a Mayor). As the game develops your decisions will be more successful if they are shaped by the needs of your citizens (more fire departments, less expensive housing zones, etc), but ultimately all the decisions are your own and are made from a top-down approach.

In the latest installment to the SimCity series, SimCity Societies, you shape the design of your city by changing the societal energies of your city. Do you want harsh, efficient architecture design? Then you have to encourage your citizens to value efficiency through obedience. Want a wild party city? Then you should foster creativity in your citizens. Your city will emerge from the needs of your citizens based on their values and personalities.

SimCity Societies is a much more accurate simulation of good urban design than its top-down predecessors. I can’t wait to try it out.