Think of those ultra-sped up videos we have all seen, the ones that show a plant poke the first of its leaves through the soil, grow and flower, and then, petal by petal, begin to decay. It is a vexingly entertaining, and, by more dramatic accounts, beautiful thing to watch. It is also the same mentality game developer Jose Sanchez is using in Block’hood, a neighborhood simulator where the city is treated much in the same way as the growing and dying flower; as a living entity.
As motherboard.com reports, where Block’hood differs from games, such as SimCity, that came before it, is in where the complexity comes from. For SimCity, the game becomes more challenging as the city becomes larger and the possibility of an earthquake, flood, or alien invasion becomes even more devastating to the ever-growing system of roads, power plants, and buildings.
Additionally, SimCity is a game of supply and demand resource management. If you want to build that new high-rise, you are going to need to increase your electricity supply. Before people begin living in those houses, they need access to clean water. Controlling supply and demand is simple early on but grows more complicated as the city grows larger.
But Block’hood’s complexity is not born of sheer size or managing supply and demand. Instead, the challenge arises from managing the inputs and outputs of each addition you make to your block.
In the same way plants require different inputs and outputs of nutrients in the soil, sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, so too do cities. For example, if your neighborhood needs fresh air you will want to plant more trees. The game allows you to select from either “Dense Trees,” “Two Trees,” or “Trees,” (which is one single tree). Dense trees will provide a fresh air output of 4, while two trees will give a fresh air output of 1.5, and the single tree will provide a fresh air output of 1. Seems simple enough, go with the dense trees, right?
Image courtesy of plethora-project.com
But don’t forget, everything also has an input. While dense trees provide a high fresh air output, they also require the highest input of water, at 3. Additionally, their secondary output of leisure is a measly 1. Two trees requires half as much water, 1.5, to produce half as much fresh air, 2, but will also give a bit more leisure at 1.5. While the single tree only provides one fresh air, it only costs 1 water and also provides a 2 in the leisure category.
If your head is spinning, realize that is just one category and you also need to manage resources such as electricity, labor, money (yes, money is not an end game here, but a resource itself), organic waste, consumer, and greywater. If you fall behind on input requirements for whatever you may be building your neighborhood will begin to decay. Again, think of it as providing a plant with too much water and not enough sunlight, or an ample amount of water and light, but planting it in soil that is bereft of nutrients.
Sanchez hopes the game will have a positive impact on the future of designing, revitalizing, improving, and balancing specific inputs and outputs associated with cities.
As Sanchez tells Motherboard’s Richard Moss, ”Modernism was always thinking of how you would have this area for work, this area for leisure, but if you open up the problem of how to recombine different parts of the city I think people would be able to come up with all sorts of interesting ideas.”
Block’hood is a game of blocks, each with its own specific input and output values, and it is up to the player to make the whole that is created (meaning the city block or neighborhood) greater than the sum of its parts.
Image courtesy of plethora-project.com
Related Stories
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2024
Popular Denver e-bike voucher program aids carbon reduction goals
Denver’s e-bike voucher program that helps citizens pay for e-bikes, a component of the city’s carbon reduction plan, has proven extremely popular with residents. Earlier this year, Denver’s effort to get residents to swap some motor vehicle trips for bike trips ran out of vouchers in less than 10 minutes after the program opened to online applications.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2024
New York City’s safest year for pedestrians due to concerted effort of street redesign, speed restrictions
In 2023, New York City recorded its safest year for pedestrians since record-keeping began in 1910. In a city of 8.5 million people, 101 deaths were due to vehicles striking pedestrians, less than one-third the number of the early 1990s. New York City ramped up its efforts to make walking and biking safer in 2014 when the city reduced its speed limit to 25 miles per hour.
Codes and Standards | Apr 8, 2024
Boston’s plans to hold back rising seawater stall amid real estate slowdown
Boston has placed significant aspects of its plan to protect the city from rising sea levels on the actions of private developers. Amid a post-Covid commercial development slump, though, efforts to build protective infrastructure have stalled.
Mixed-Use | Apr 4, 2024
Sustainable mixed-use districts: Crafting urban communities
As a part of the revitalization of a Seattle neighborhood, Graphite Design Group designed a sustainable mixed-use community that exemplifies resource conversation, transportation synergies, and long-term flexibility.
Codes and Standards | Mar 18, 2024
New urban stormwater policies treat rainwater as a resource
U.S. cities are revamping how they handle stormwater to reduce flooding and capture rainfall and recharge aquifers. New policies reflect a change in mindset from treating stormwater as a nuisance to be quickly diverted away to capturing it as a resource.
Urban Planning | Mar 17, 2024
A new report surveys city dwellers about urban living
Architects are rethinking the city of the future in terms of relieving resident challenges.
MFPRO+ Special Reports | Feb 22, 2024
Crystal Lagoons: A deep dive into real estate's most extreme guest amenity
These year-round, manmade, crystal clear blue lagoons offer a groundbreaking technology with immense potential to redefine the concept of water amenities. However, navigating regulatory challenges and ensuring long-term sustainability are crucial to success with Crystal Lagoons.
Urban Planning | Feb 5, 2024
Lessons learned from 70 years of building cities
As Sasaki looks back on 70 years of practice, we’re also looking to the future of cities. While we can’t predict what will be, we do know the needs of cities are as diverse as their scale, climate, economy, governance, and culture.
Healthcare Facilities | Jan 7, 2024
Two new projects could be economic catalysts for a central New Jersey city
A Cancer Center and Innovation district are under construction and expected to start opening in 2025 in New Brunswick.
Sustainability | Jan 2, 2024
Los Angeles has plan to improve stormwater capture and source 80% of water locally
Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors voted for a plan to improve stormwater capture with a goal of capturing it for local reuse. The plan aims to increase the local water supply by 580,000 acre-feet per year by 2045.