The Problem with Cities: Skylines 2 (with Cities by Diana)
Dec 1, 2023
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Diana, a City Simulators expert, discusses the limitations of city-building games and their impact on understanding real cities. The topics covered include the divisive opinions on tree placement in Cities: Skylines 2, the historical development of US cities around walkable neighborhoods, challenges in creating realistic cities in the game, cultural assumptions in the game's design, and the lack of diversity in player-created cities.
City Skylines 2 lacks realism and customization compared to its predecessor and other city builder games.
Traffic management in City Skylines 2 is challenging due to issues with lane widening and unrealistic zoning.
City Skylines 2 has a concerning car-centric focus and lacks support for pedestrianized cities, ignoring the negative impacts of car culture.
Deep dives
City Skylines 2 has mixed feelings
The podcast introduces the mixed feelings about City Skylines 2.
City Skylines 2 lacks realism and customization
The podcast discusses how City Skylines 2 falls short in terms of realism and customization compared to City Skylines 1 and other city builder games.
Traffic management challenges in City Skylines 2
The podcast explores the challenges of traffic management in City Skylines 2, including issues with lane widening and unrealistic zoning.
Implications of car-centric focus in City Skylines 2
The podcast discusses the concerning car-centric focus in City Skylines 2, which ignores the negative impacts of car culture and lacks support for pedestrianized cities.
City Skylines 2's potential and limitations
The podcast acknowledges the potential of City Skylines 2 as an enjoyable game for simulation and management, but also recognizes its limitations and suggests that it may be more suitable for gamers rather than city enthusiasts.
City Simulators, such as SimCity and Cities: Skylines are very popular, both among gamers and the general public. But these are just games: they don't accurately model real cities, and that can result in misleading assumptions about what a city is, and how it functions.