Example of Virtual City Values

When urban design project competitions have a significant physical, spiritual, economic, and emotional impact on a community's sense of itself, an existing virtual city model can help the public visualize the goals of competing submissions. The Providence Waterfont Park project that recently was awarded to its design submitters makes a major improvement to a desolate section of land along the west bank of the Providence River. As part of a slew of upcoming opportunities to improve the livability of downtown, the changes to the physical city can be a source of community pride. Before and after visualizations through a interactive temporal virtual city model show great promise in building and emphasizing that pride in anticipation of change.

Next for Providence comes the I-195 interstate relocation and update project which will open up 40 acres of downtown property for creative and beneficial reuse. What are Providence's options for use? How do decision-makers and residents decide which options to support? Maps are OK, fixed-perspective
movies are even better, but why not let an interactive 3-D virtual city provide unencumbered exploration?