FWIW, Electronic Arts open-sourced the original SimCity code for the OLPC project, so you can now look at the original formulas/algorithms directly: http://www

FWIW, Electronic Arts open-sourced the original SimCity code for the OLPC project, so you can now look at the original formulas/algorithms directly: http://www.donhopkins.com/home/micropolis/ http://www.donhopkins.com/home/micropolis/ http://code.google.com/p/micropolis/ http://code.google.com/p/micropolis/ It looks like the creator of Magnasanti optimized his solution by hand using pencil and paper, first finding modular arrangements that worked well, then assembling them in a predetermined overall design ("inspired by the Wheel of Life and Death"), which makes this more of an art project than optimization exercise. I wouldn't be surprised if there were still better solutions that sacrifice, for example, aesthetics or regularity.