City-building games, despite their niche status compared to mainstream action titles, significantly influence players’ conceptions of urban dynamics, governance, and spatial organization.
Objective
This study critically analyzes how selected urban simulation games represent the production and management of urban space, highlighting implicit ideological assumptions embedded within their spatial, political, and aesthetic dimensions.
Method and results
Utilizing qualitative methodologies from critical game studies and urban geography, this paper reveals that most city-building games represent urban development as a centralized, depoliticized process governed by rational managerial authority, often omitting representations of conflict, informality, and social inequality. Through procedural rhetoric, these games naturalize neoliberal and technocratic urban paradigms, reinforcing visions of cities as territories optimized for efficiency rather than as contested spaces shaped by socio-political struggles. While some titles attempt complexity by introducing alternative political systems or ideological conflicts, these remain largely superficial.
Conclusions
The findings underline the potential of city-building games as influential cultural narratives about urbanism, power, and society, calling for greater engagement between critical urban theory and digital game design to foster more nuanced and socially-aware urban imaginaries.
BereitschaftB. (2016). Gods of the city? Reflecting on city-building games as an early introduction to urban systems. Journal of Geography, 115(2), 51–60.
9.
BogostI. (2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. MIT Press.
10.
BrennerN.SchmidC. (2015). Towards a new epistemology of the urban?City, 19(2–3), 151–182.
11.
Colossal Order. (2015). Cities: Skylines [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Paradox Interactive.
12.
CuretonP.CoultonP. (2024). Game-based worldbuilding: Planning, models, simulations and digital twins. Acta Ludologica, 7(1), 18–36.
13.
Dyer-WithefordN.de PeuterG. (2009). Games of empire: Global capitalism and video games. University of Minnesota Press.
14.
Fourexo Entertainment. (2022). Highrise City [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Deck13.
15.
Fraile-JuradoP. (2024). Geographical aspects of open-world video games. Games and Culture, 18(1), 45–66.
16.
Fraile-JuradoP.Llovet-FerrerM.Roig-MunarF. X. (2024). Toward realism: An analysis of coastal environments in open-world video games. Simulation & Gaming, 56(1), 33–62.
17.
GingoldC. (2024). Building SimCity: How to put the world in a machine. MIT Press.
18.
GrahamS.MarvinS. (2001). Splintering urbanism: Networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition. Routledge.
19.
Haemimont Games. (2014). Tropico 5 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Kalypso Media Group.
20.
HarveyD. (1973). Social justice and the city. Edward Arnold.
21.
HarveyD. (2008). The right to the city. New Left Review, 53, 23–40.
22.
HickmanH.SturzakerJ. (2022). Ethical principles in an increasingly diverse planning profession: The potential impact of different types of planners. Town Planning Review, 93(3), 241–249.
23.
JollyR.BudkeA. (2023). Assessing the extent to which players can build sustainable cities in the digital city-builder game “Cities: Skylines.”Sustainability, 15(14), 10780.
24.
LefebvreH. (1991). The production of space(D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Blackwell. (Original work published 1974)
25.
Limbic Entertainment. (2019). Tropico 6 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Kalypso Media Group.
LoboD. G. (2005). A city is not a toy: How SimCity plays with urbanism. London School of Economics and Political Science, Cities Programme, Architecture and Engineering: Discussion Paper Series.
28.
MartensR. (2024). Fuelling the city: On the politics of energy resource extraction in city-building simulators. In: HuberL.ParhamJ. (Eds.), Video games and environmental humanities: Playing to save the world (pp. 47–69). Springer.
29.
Maxis. (1993). SimCity 2000 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Maxis.
30.
Maxis. (2003). SimCity 4 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Electronic Arts.
31.
Maxis Emeryville. (2013). SimCity [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Electronic Arts.
32.
MinneryJ.SearleG. (2014). Toying with the city? Using the computer game SimCity™ 4 in planning education. Planning Practice and Research, 29(1), 41–55.
33.
Naughty Dog. (2013). The Last of Us. Digital game published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
PlumleyW. (2018). Playing with people’s lives: How city-builder games portray the public and their role in the decision-making process (Doctoral dissertation). The Ohio State University.
36.
PoplinA.de AndradeB.SenaÍ. S. d. (2020). Geogames for change: Cocreating the future of cities with games. In: LeorkeD.OwensM. (Eds.), Games and play in the creative, smart and ecological city (pp. 64–93). Routledge.
37.
Reborn. (2017). Urban Empire [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Kalypso Media Group.
38.
Rockstar North. (2013). Grand Theft Auto V. Digital game published by Rockstar Games.
39.
SagerT. (2009). Planners’ role: Torn between dialogical ideals and neo-liberal realities. European Planning Studies, 17(1), 65–84.
40.
SehestedK. (2009). Urban planners as network managers and meta-governors. Planning Theory & Practice, 10(2), 245–263.
41.
Shining Rock Software. (2014). Banished [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Shining Rock Software.
42.
SicartM. (2011). The ethics of computer games. MIT Press.
43.
SmithN. (1984). Uneven development: Nature, capital, and the production of space. Blackwell.
44.
SojaE. W. (1989). Postmodern geographies: The reassertion of space in critical social theory. Verso.
45.
SztarkA. (2021). CityState II [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Andy Sztark.
46.
TerzanoK.MorckelV. (2017). SimCity in the community planning classroom: Effects on student knowledge, interests, and perceptions of the discipline of planning. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 37(1), 95–105.
47.
TreyarchRaven Software. (2024). Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Digital game published by Activision.
48.
Ubisoft Blue Byte. (2019). Anno 1800 [Microsoft Windows]. Digital game published by Ubisoft.
