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20 Minute Neighborhoods just flowed through the front page. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26580238 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26580238 I wonde

20 Minute Neighborhoods just flowed through the front page. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26580238 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26580238 I wonder what kind of simulation model would produce a game where the 20 Minute Neighborhood design is optimal.

cycomanic 6y ago
It's been a long time since I played sim City, but I recall one could build cities with only trains. It was weird because the citizens would complain they want more roads, but at the same time would be perfectly happy. IIRC they would be happier than if you build roads, I always thought it was an odd parallel to the real world.
- antasvara 6y ago
  Honestly that somewhat reflects the real world, at least in America. It seems to me that most people believe that more roads equals more options and freedom of movement. However, this doesn't take into account the detrimental effects of increased smog, cities optimized for cars instead of pedestrians, and so on. The perceived benefits of more roads, in my opinion, seem to pale in comparison to the detrimental impacts that this would have on cities. Sim City seems to capture this perfectly through the third-person view of a city. There's a difference between being happy and wanting changes that you believe will make you happy, and a computer simulation has captured this distinction by showing both a citizen's actual happiness separate from their desires. Obviously this isn't an exact parallel to the real world as desires can have an impact on one's happiness as well. However, it asks the important question of whether or not we should be designing cities to match desires, or to match what city planners believe would make people the happiest.
kolinko 6y ago
One of the very few things I liked about the communist system was that something similar to 20 Minute Neighborhoods was very much in place then. There was a rule, that each neighborhood had to have access to all the services (healthcare, kindergardens, schools, "stores" etc) within a walking distance - and you can really see it in the neighborhoods built in that period.

cycomanic 6y ago

It's been a long time since I played sim City, but I recall one could build cities with only trains. It was weird because the citizens would complain they want more roads, but at the same time would be perfectly happy. IIRC they would be happier than if you build roads, I always thought it was an odd parallel to the real world.

antasvara 6y ago
Honestly that somewhat reflects the real world, at least in America. It seems to me that most people believe that more roads equals more options and freedom of movement. However, this doesn't take into account the detrimental effects of increased smog, cities optimized for cars instead of pedestrians, and so on. The perceived benefits of more roads, in my opinion, seem to pale in comparison to the detrimental impacts that this would have on cities. Sim City seems to capture this perfectly through the third-person view of a city. There's a difference between being happy and wanting changes that you believe will make you happy, and a computer simulation has captured this distinction by showing both a citizen's actual happiness separate from their desires. Obviously this isn't an exact parallel to the real world as desires can have an impact on one's happiness as well. However, it asks the important question of whether or not we should be designing cities to match desires, or to match what city planners believe would make people the happiest.

kolinko 6y ago

One of the very few things I liked about the communist system was that something similar to 20 Minute Neighborhoods was very much in place then. There was a rule, that each neighborhood had to have access to all the services (healthcare, kindergardens, schools, "stores" etc) within a walking distance - and you can really see it in the neighborhoods built in that period.