Metricle Phase I

Metricle is envisioned as a tool for cities. Phase I of this tool was developed as the final project for two of my classes, Planning Theory, and Introduction to Urban Informatics.

A .gif showing what the tool can do

Phase I of Metricle is designed as a simple arcade game that tells you if your placement of a new business is ideal. You can create your own city or load the city that has been created as a stock. This city “MetriCity” is modeled after New York.

The game tests the placement of the marker (new business) in the city, in terms of two metrics: diversity, and affordability. Diversity here refers to demographic diversity, and affordability refers to how affordable it may be for the business owner to set up shop in the respective location given the population and economic profile of the neighborhood. The “radius” (in this case it is a square) of influence around the marker indicating the new business can be seen from the buildings within this range of influence, highlighted in orange.

This work is inspired from my reading of The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and The Radical Bookstore by Kimberley Kinder. To read about my reflections on their works concerning diversity, please read this document below.

When you place the marker (new business) in any location in the hypothetical city “MetriCity”, the code at the backend calculates whether it falls into the sweet spot of diversity and segregation necessary for the business to function. Why do I mention segregation? On reading The Radical Bookstore by Kimberley Kinder, you’re brought to question whether complete isolation from one’s common ethnicity is really a good thing. For public spaces to really function in the rosy way that we imagine them, minority groups and disadvantaged peoples must have their own safe space to get away, be themselves, and collect their thoughts and emotions about the world around them, standing and being comfortable in their own shoes and skin. The Radical Bookstore goes into a lot of detail about the presence of third spaces that allow for this to happen within the city. That said, it is more probable to find such radical third spaces in dense cities that support a lot of diversity than a small majority suburb or town.

A tool for cities must cover a range of functionalities. The conundrum suggested by the topics that these two books touch upon is a starting point to test out as a proof of concept for Metricle.

I am currently working on the next phases of this project through an Independent Study.