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Does playing Cities: Skylines influence how players perceive and engage with real-world urban planning, resource management, and sustainable development?

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Key Urban Planning Elements:

How closely do features such as traffic, zoning, pollution control, and public services in the game parallel their real-life counterparts?

Are citizens in the game more attuned to high-level issues such as budgeting, citizen contentment, and environmental protection?

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Player Attitudes and Behaviors:

What are the individual backgrounds (educational, cultural, etc.) influencing the in-game tactics of players?

Does prolonged play lead to players becoming more knowledgeable regarding real-world urban planning or sustainability?

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Educational and Civic Implications

Can Cities: Skylines serve as a teaching tool for urban design or public policy?

Do players translate any learned skills or insights from the game into real community engagement or career decisions?

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There is a combination of elements within Cities: Skylines that work together to influence players’ understanding and attitudes toward real-world urban planning. These elements include:

Urban Layout

Zoning & Land Use
Residential, commercial, and industrial zones shape a city’s core structure.

Road & Traffic Flow
Balancing highways, streets, and public transport routes to maintain efficiency.

Resource Management

Budget & Taxes
Allocating funds and adjusting tax rates to keep the city financially stable.

Utilities
Power, water, and waste management systems that reflect real-world infrastructure challenges.

Environmental Factors

Pollution Control
Air, noise, and water pollution requiring strategic zoning and green initiatives.

Sustainability & Green Policies
Encouraging clean energy, tree-planting, and public transportation for lower emissions.

Public Services

Healthcare & Education
Managing hospitals and schools affects citizen well-being and long-term growth.

Emergency Services
Police, fire, and disaster response to maintain order and safety.

Player Agency

Decision-Making Freedom
The ability to shape city policies and experiment with diverse planning strategies.

Customization & Modding
Community-driven content that expands possibilities for unique urban designs.

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There is no guarantee that playing Cities: Skylines successfully translates to real-world urban planning. Critics say that the game necessarily simplifies to basic terms countless variables and constraints: budgeting, politics, human behavior that exist in real city management. Players may therefore form incomplete or overly optimistic solutions to real urban issues, suggesting that the educational value of Cities: Skylines remains limited in reality.

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Some scholars suggest that Cities: Skylines fosters higher civic awareness, inviting gamers to think about real-world urban issues.

Others argue that the game's minimal mechanics (e.g., automatic zoning, traffic flow) can by no means reproduce complex social, political, and economic factors, thus limiting its educational value.

Some view the game as a proof-of-concept for gamification of learning—resource allocation education, environment management, and citizen satisfaction administration, in particular.

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Should I focus mainly on the ways in which Cities: Skylines enhances players' planning and sustainability awareness, or should I also address its broader social impact (e.g., volunteerism or policy engagement)?

I don't want to dilute my argument by attempting to deal with too many strands.

I'd like to bring in more non-gaming sources, such as actual urban policy case studies, to strengthen the virtual city-real governance connection.

Perhaps I could add exhibits or examples showing how specific mechanics in the game mirror (or diverge from) actual city processes, giving the research a more comparative dimension.

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Cameron Lee Cowan, I Played Cities Skylines for 2500 Hours and Here’s What I Learned About

City Planning, June 9, 2022, The Cameron Journal,

https://www.cameronjournal.com/i-played-cities-skylines-for-2500-hours-and-heres-what-i-learned

about-city-planning/

Anthony Wood, How Cities: Skylines is Helping Psychologists Understand Complex Personality

Disorders, Apr. 28, 2023, IGN,

https://www.ign.com/articles/cities-skylines-is-helping-psychologists-understand-complex

personality-disorders

Tayyeb Ahmed Khan and Xin Zhao, Perceptions of Students for a Gamification Approach: Cities

Skylines as a Pedagogical Tool in Urban Planning Education, August 2021, ResearchGate,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/

354125514_Perceptions_of_Students_for_a_Gamification_Approach_Cities_Skylines_as_a_Pedag

ogical_Tool_in_Urban_Planning_Education

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Playing Cities: Skylines might lead to misconceptions or oversimplifications about urban planning, potentially causing players to underestimate the complexity and limitations of real-world city governance.