The author's previous series on Europa Universalis IV greatly emphasized that the game simulates a specific model of states, rather than trying to portray reali

The author's previous series on Europa Universalis IV greatly emphasized that the game simulates a specific model of states, rather than trying to portray reality perfectly. This model is very similar to fields in Political Science such as realpolitik. Sim City is the same thing for high modernism in urban planning. I'd guess the reason for the division between optimal Sim City cities and cities in reality doesn't come from the game being a poor model, but that the high modernism model of urban planning has ridiculous conclusions.