COLUMN: Worshipping at the temple of the city god

From Binyamin Appelbaum's, "Carving Marble," Fall '99 From Binyamin Appelbaum's, "Carving Marble," Fall '99The premise is simple. You get $10,000 -- more if you know how to cheat -- and a tract of land. Then, the race is on to build up your city, and its tax base, before you run out of money. The game swept the nation, and remains the all-time surprise success story of the computer game industry. But not just any god. Maxis, SimCity's owner, has tried to market similar "god" games -- SimAnt, SimEarth and SimIsle come to mind -- without comparable success. No, it is the god of cities that we yearn to be. The master builder, the creator of a thriving, artificial ecosystem, the omnipotent force empowered to decide who gets to build what where. The people who run the University of Pennsylvania grew up long before SimCity took the nation by storm. But sometimes, I wonder if they don't fire up a game late at night and stare happily at the screen as a city thrives before them. And sometimes, I wonder if they aren't playing SimCity on a grander scale -- the campus we call home. You see, to keep the simulation simple and entertaining, SimCity's building blocks are discrete zoned areas -- one for industry, one for commerce, one for residential life -- and never the twain shall meet. The result is a city that lacks the single thing most responsible for making cities vibrant -- the eclectic mix of businesses and residences; of streetfront stores in apartment buildings and office towers with movie theaters inside. That can never happen in SimCity, and Penn seems determined not to let it happen on our pristine campus. Observe. Superblock is a designated residential square. Once upon a time, there was a plan afoot to build a gymnasium in Superblock. But that would never do. Indeed, even the use of Superblock's fields for recreation seems to have disturbed the makers of SimCampus. And so, dormitories will replace the sometimes-green playing fields. And where, you might ask, have the SimAdministrators deigned to place recreational facilities? Apparently, the long-term goal is to centralize most such facilities down by the Schuylkill River. One possibility would include a new fieldhouse where the central post office currently sits. If and when that project is completed, only Gimbel will be out of place. It is worth noting that an exercise facility in the rooftop lounge of Harrison House would have conflicted with this vision of discrete zones. It is also worth noting that the planned exercise facility was never built. The trend in the heart of campus is equally clear. From 34th Street to 40th, Walnut to Spruce, SimCampus is a designated academic zone. Fraternities are gradually removed from Locust Walk. The old University Bookstore will give way to a new Wharton School building. The Faculty Club, at 36th and Walnut, will soon be hosting classes rather than meals. And the adjacent Christian Association building will likely one day be purchased and put to similar use. Then there are the vendors -- they used to open shop wherever they pleased. That, of course, could not last. Now, they too vend from designated zones. Stores in Stouffer Triangle will have to go. Those in Houston Hall already have. The former are in a designated dining zone. The latter once sat in the soon-to-be student center. Retail will now be concentrated in a zone along Walnut Street, henceforth to be known as Sansom Common, and in another along 40th Street. None of this may sound particularly insidious. Indeed, many of the changes are undoubtedly for the better. But the pattern is disturbing. As anyone who has ever spent hours governing their own SimCity knows, one of the major problems SimMayors face is making the commercial and industrial zones accessible from the residential areas. When people live where they shop, life is simple. But as the corner store moves farther from your corner, life becomes increasingly inconvenient. And if the SimCitizens decide that the nearest commercial district is inconvenient, they don't go. It's a longer walk to the vending trucks these days, and it'll be a longer walk to the recreational facilities in years to come. Superblock is just further from most classes than Stouffer and the designated fraternity house zones aren't quite as close to Locust Walk as living on Locust Walk. Balancing the convenience of proximity with the benefits of consolidation is one of city planning's greatest challenges. In SimCampus, as in SimCity, the penalty for failing to do so is simple: The city you've built withers and dies. And only computer games have restart buttons.