2024-05-01T20:17:25-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150042767/gamespace-urbanism-understanding-reality-through-simulation Alexander Walter 2017-12-29T12:18:00-05:00 >2017-12-29T12:18:33-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/06/067f058660d91cf4e95ef9dcdd8a41f9?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>The following examples show how gamespace can become the stage for a social, political and ethical critique: from a nondescript city under the effect of gentrification, to a barren luxury estate and a set of playful and absurd buildings for London. These examples suggest that, rather than allowing architects to indulge Piranesi&rsquo;s power-hungry ideal, games could work as a means of showing how dysfunctional reality really is.</p></em><br /><br /><p>In her essay <a href="https://www.failedarchitecture.com/can-virtual-gamespaces-help-foster-a-more-radical-urbanism/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gamespace Urbanism: City-Building Games and Radical Simulations</a> for <em>Failed Architecture</em>, Federica Buzzi looks at a new crop of indie city-planning computer games that promise fresh potential for simulation and exploration of radical urban scenarios &mdash; and subsequent social, political, and ethical critique: "Beyond critique and virtual entertainment, the question they open up is whether games can be used as reliable systems to study and solve actual and theoretical conflicts."</p>