In the last months some people started believing in the city analysis tools space syntax: On Spaceyntax.com it reads that "Space Syntax provides a unique, evidence based approach to the planning and design of buildings and cities.” Here, the focus lies on the creation of environments which are socially and economically successful. The main idea is to utilize technology to generate knowledge and give ideas that aim to assist in making key decisions about the world around them.

The domains include:

• sustainability
• accessibility
• social cohesion & exclusion
• crime & security
• workplace innovation
• retail space & visitor search
• spatial components in culture

With this tool several cities has been analyzed, poorly except New York City. But somebody already started rebuilding New York City virtually in the computer game Simcity 4 which comes with several city analysis tools like: sustainability, accessibility, social cohesion & exclusion, crime & security, workplace innovation, etc. According to some people this game is nothing more than a sophisticated model railway for nerds. As I know space syntax for a long time and used it a few times I am questioning if a simcity simulation of a city is very different from a space syntax analysis.

What do you think about simcity analysis of cities?

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