Paradox Interactive, a publisher and developer of deep, complex strategy games, is preparing to assist city planners from Stockholm to design and build a new city district using their best-selling city-building game, Cities: Skylines. Norra Djurgårdstaden, one of Europe’s largest urban development projects focusing on long-term sustainability, will be a new city district within Stockholm which will add 12,000 new residences and 35,000 workspaces, providing much-needed growth to a city that has suffered a shortage of accommodations for its increasing population. During a workshop on September 3rd and 4th, the game Cities: Skylines will be used by real-world city planners to explore possible methods for this district to become sustainable, and versatile enough to support the needs of its residents.

The project has been organized by Swedish Building Services, Svensk Byggtjänst, alongside officials from the city of Stockholm and support from Paradox Interactive, publishers of Cities: Skylines. The game, created by Finnish developer Colossal Order, allows players to create and manage a city of their own design, facing the challenges of maintaining civic policies, infrastructure, and traffic congestion as their population grows and their citizens’ needs become increasingly complex.

Read the full story at worthplaying.com.