Need help with my writing homework on In Praise of the Urban Sandbox by Jeff Ferzoco. Write a 1250 word paper answering;

Need help with my writing homework on In Praise of the Urban Sandbox by Jeff Ferzoco. Write a 1250 word paper answering; Video games can be used to educate planners and also make the planning process exciting. It gives ideas and a practicing platform, which allows the player to be able to apply various planning principles that do not only apply in a particular game, but also to real-life situations. Some of the games include SimCity, Metoquest, and Cities in motion. This treatise is a reflection of the ideas and issues raised in the article in relation to actual practice.

The argument in this article on the use and application of such games in the practical planning process is an interesting and a well-informed one. Rarely do people think beyond the entertainment aspect of the city planning games. However, a closer look at the way they are played reveals that they incorporate various urban planning principles (Ferzoco, 2011). There are several urban planning axioms that are meant to reconcile and integrate the diverse urban planning and management issues. Some of them include environmental sustainability, the right technology, institutional integrity, and the efficiency of the infrastructural network. These are issues that are experienced in real-world scenarios. From the article, it is also evident that the games take these factors into consideration thus allowing the player to feel as if he is practicing in the real world.

One urban planning theory that is widely applied is the principle of intelligent urbanism. The theory consists of several axioms that are meant to guide the formulation of city plans and urban designs. Planners and designers are expected to rely on these axioms and planning fundamentals to ensure that their work is perfect. The article openly divulges that this theory is a part and parcel of video games, further proving their applicability in planning practice. According to the proponents of the theory of intelligent urbanism, balancing of nature needs to be done in order to distinguish between the utilization and exploitation of the available resources. The focus here is to identify the threshold beyond which the planning practices will lead to deforestation, soil erosion, and siltation. It requires carrying out an environmental assessment in order to detect the fragile and endangered zones (Ferzoco, 2011).