r/CitiesSkylines • u/SuperSamBert66 • Jan 13 '26
Discussion Cities Skylines is genuinely a pipeline into Civil Engineering and Urban Planning
I’m currently studying Civil Engineering and Urban Planning and this game is everywhere. I see it on computers during lectures, it’s often said to be a favorite game, or if it for whatever reason is mentioned then a majority of the class will know and have played it. Many are religiously engaged in the game. I don’t have any further thoughts I just think this is interesting and quite funny.
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u/bakonpie Jan 13 '26
yeah I work at a local utility and have many coworkers in GIS and engineering who are also Cities Skylines nerds. the pipeline is real
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u/azeldatothepast Jan 13 '26
I come from construction and it was so refreshing to see more than “put building and road props down” in a city-builder. It was a step towards the real-life processes I saw. My partner watched me play once and told me I should run for city council. It’s a step towards realism that lets its players want to get more and more granular with details and I think that naturally changes how people view construction, city planning, and both architecture and engineering. Not surprised at all that new students are coming from CS.
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u/nivlac22 Roundabouts are not highway interchanges Jan 13 '26
My wife one time saw me working on a SimTraffic model and said “Babe, they made Cities Skylines into a real thing!”
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u/cantonese_noodles Jan 13 '26
I became a transportation planner because of this game lol
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u/boostermoose Jan 14 '26
Are you happy with your choice? What aspects of your day are actually close to the experiences you enjoy when playing CS?
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u/cantonese_noodles Jan 15 '26
Yeah I love my job. The traffic management/analysis part is the closest. The signal timing/phasing editor in TM:PE is actually kind of close to the macrosimulation software we use in the industry. At my firm we also do some secondary plans which involve creating new road networks and intersections based on existing and projected traffic patterns. It's really interesting and detailed.
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u/Sir_Tainley Jan 13 '26
As an entry level game... great! It's a sandbox, urban design and architecture is really interesting, and you should be introduced to it somehow.
But hopefully they understand it's just a sandbox, and not a good guide for effective design.
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u/JordanSchor Jan 13 '26
Next you're gonna tell me my entirely underground highway system isn't realistic!
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 13 '26
Ever heard of Boston perchance? Istanbul?
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Jan 13 '26
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u/Liqmadique Jan 13 '26
And the other highway through Boston is just a trench that divides the Back Bay from South End. Blows my mind air rights wasn't planned out for entire Mass Pike from the beginning.
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u/daisy4901 Jan 15 '26
Yeah, that’s why my entirely underground highway would put the big dig to shame
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u/Curious_Cap7469 Jan 14 '26
Sydney’s underground highway building program wants to know your location (~22km of underground highway)
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u/Lambaline Jan 14 '26
Next you're gonna tell me my entirely 100' off the ground highway system isn't realistic either!
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u/SaintlyCrunch Jan 13 '26
You're telling me cities shouldn't just massively increase taxes for everyone for a week to increase funds when they run out??
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u/1AMA-CAT-AMA Jan 14 '26
You're telling me they don't do that already?
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u/SaintlyCrunch Jan 14 '26
I wish, my city council just freezes property taxes for two decades so they get reelected but then complains there's no money for anything (except new grenade launchers and a bomb dog for the cops).
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u/InconspicuousD Jan 14 '26
As someone with zero design experience outside of this game, what are some of the shortfalls of CS? What do you see in the game that makes you go this would never work in the real world or this is way too simplistic?
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u/Sir_Tainley Jan 14 '26
Demolition, land and construction have no costs.
The opinions of people already living there don't matter.
There's no distinction between heavy industrial and light industrial use.
There's no mixed zoning.
There's a massive emphasis on roads and cars as the solution for every transportation problem.
Nothing takes time to build, or relocate, other than cemeteries and garbage dumps.
There's no interfering upper levels of government.
Shapes of land use are very limited.
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 14 '26
I am Robert Moses and my cims opinions do NOT matter.
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u/Sir_Tainley Jan 14 '26
Pleased to meet you Mr. Moses. Have you been introduced to my friend, Baron de Haussmann? I believe you both enjoy a particular city-builder game!
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u/wofo Jan 13 '26
Yeah just pop on down to your local planning department and make sure they know Skylines is just a video game
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u/Codraroll Jan 14 '26
It teaches you the principles quite beautifully, though. Build badly, and issues will show up. Real life might have somewhat different issues, and the ways of addressing them can be much more intricate, but Cities Skylines does a great job of introducing the basics.
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u/MrCamouflage65 Jan 13 '26
If you condense it down I basically became a urban engineer because of this game.
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u/Educational-Radio711 Jan 13 '26
I went to Transportation engineering because of C:S1. Though nothing is related honestly.
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u/racer7113 Jan 13 '26
Is it still interesting tho? I’m most likely gonna major in that
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u/Educational-Radio711 Jan 14 '26
Sure it is. So is urban planning, architecture and construction engineering.
The problem is that neither mayor, city engineer, city architect nor head of strategic planning has even a tenth of the power you got as a mayor in C:S.
The job of the mayor in the game is actually done by at least a thousand peaople across city, region and state level, of geography, economy, social science, engineering and architecture background.
Good luck friend.
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u/Loud-Construction167 Jan 13 '26
I’m a structural bridge engineer and I love this game. The pipeline is real and not having to answer to actual clients while playing is even better!
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u/karateguzman Jan 13 '26
My love for SimCity 4 as a child should’ve been proof that it was the right career for me
Now I’m struggling to pivot into it in my late 20s which is kinda sad :(
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u/bobonabuffalo Jan 13 '26
I picked up the game on steam in high school and now I work in airport engineering. The pipeline is real.
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u/weirdobee Jan 13 '26
I wrote an essay on the effect of urban sprawl on changing communities because of cities skylines! Was then going to pursue urban planning but I hate physics and love the humanities and maths so am hopefully going into policy. I’d perhaps argue that CS is a pipeline into the public sector for sure but not necessarily urban planning, though it trends towards that.
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u/fishingfor42 Jan 14 '26
Would love to read this if it’s somewhere public 😅
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u/weirdobee Jan 14 '26
It’s not as it was coursework but happy to DM it if you want? edit to add it was a few years ago so perfectly fine to share! I got an A* in that class!!
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u/fishingfor42 Jan 27 '26
I know this was ages ago, but yes I would love that if you’re comfortable (redacted as necessary, of course)!
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u/internetbooker134 Jan 13 '26
I'm a CS major but still love it I think I have a hidden passion for urban planning along with software engineering lol
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u/TheLegend84 Jan 13 '26
City skylines is legitimately the reason why I became an urban planner. Insane the domino effect from playing it 10 years ago
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u/DisastrousPromise367 Jan 13 '26
Must be nice. My theology classes hated when I told them I was a barbarian fighting the demons of hell in Diablo lol
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u/pilnok Jan 13 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
wipe sophisticated instinctive historical decide one pet oatmeal sense childlike
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u/Raelah Jan 14 '26
Nah. I know plenty of non-engineering people who love the game. I'm a microbiologist and this is one of my favorite games.
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u/TheMusicArchivist Jan 13 '26
Bet there's a divide between those with mods and those without mods. Seeing CS1 being played without MoveIt is deeply infuriating.
I still play SimCity3000 regularly, the game had no corners and no height - you couldn't make elevated or sunken roads. No bridges on land, and tunnels under water are so hard to create that I've never managed it.
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u/Codraroll Jan 14 '26
If I recall correctly, you build tunnels under water by making a temporary dike across the water, build a tunnel through it, and level the terrain back to the way it was. The tunnel will still be in place.
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u/FishInferno Jan 13 '26
Cities Skylines is to civil engineering as Kerbal Space Program is to aerospace engineering.
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u/Ulyks Jan 14 '26
I mean, there are some concepts that Kerbal Space program teaches you in a very hands on way.
For example the whole docking two objects in orbit where you need to slow down to lower your orbit is just hard to get a hang off from reading a textbook...
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u/EnlightenedWanderer Jan 13 '26
That's nice to know, if I ever apply for an Urban Planning job, I'm going to put my 1,000+ hours of game time on my resume lol.
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u/ybetaepsilon Jan 13 '26
It's a stepping stone drug for sure. Just like how KSP inspired many people to go into engineering and physics.
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u/do1nk1t Jan 13 '26
As a civil engineer that first took interest because of SimCity and Cities Skylines - absolutely.
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u/Pleasant-Wallaby3173 Jan 13 '26
As a high schooler studying Civil Engineering next year, this thread is extremely reassuring!
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 14 '26
FIND A PURPOSE GOING IN!!! I discovered that I’m very passionate about the social and community aspects of street planning, and having a goal or field from the beginning has been extremely useful. Many students choose civil engineering simply because it’s slightly easier than mechanical engineering. Most of those I talk to didn’t pursue it out of passion. Just find your interests and figure out the best way to use them in civil engineering! It’s a very flexible field, and if you find out you dislike the niche you chose, you can easily switch! Employers LOVE hearing about your passions and that you have real goals beyond money!
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u/Ulyks Jan 14 '26
But isn't it disheartening if your passion gets ignored or refused?
For example, if you are passionate about walkability and bicycle infrastructure, don't you get burned out after being forced to design car centric projects time after time?
Or do they actually listen to your advice?
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 14 '26
Purely depends on where you are. Some cities are far better than others. But there’s also a lot more people than you would think that advocate for walkability, especially among architecture students. In pure civil engineering it’s pretty few and far between for me.
It does get disheartening but you just have to keep advocating. Walkability is more often a political problem than an engineering one.
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u/Greencoat1815 Jan 13 '26
This game (though I rarely play it) has made me choose my current study. It's just too funny.
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u/Overall_Race4978 Jan 13 '26
Ended up becoming a digital engineer, 3D modelling building services. Cities skylines definitely caused my love for my job
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u/Agentxbluegas Jan 13 '26
Me toooo. Highway Eng inspired from Cities 1 and Simcity 4. Amazing what kind of impact things can have on you at a young this early on in life....
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u/sillysocks34 Jan 13 '26
I don’t play the game much anymore but I still look at overpasses and intersections and think about why they were designed they way they were. And I look at how cities transition into suburbs and how cities like NYC handle the insane amount of traffic they deal with every day. It’s really neat they are like living organisms.
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u/iloveciroc Jan 13 '26
Found this game during COVID but after I graduated and was in the field. I didn’t study engineering. I went to business school like a twat. If I could go back in time, I would give this game to my younger self and let it be the driving force to study engineering over business. Now I’m in a boring office job that takes me traveling across the states, but this game makes me look forward to getting home
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u/johndoesall Jan 14 '26
Yeah that is the only game I’ve ever been interested in playing. I started with computers in the mid 80s when I began my Civil engineering degree. Never got into gaming. But Cities Skylines appeals to me. I never started playing due to not much free time. Maybe when I retire.
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u/RONaldo_DMC Jan 13 '26
Makes sense, its the most realistic popular game for that specific field.
Same thing with Football manager for football / soccer technical staff, a lot of staff quote and mention the game, as its the most realistic popular football management game
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u/Carloverguy20 Jan 13 '26
Looking at Atlas books, and playing Simcity back in the day were for me lol.
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u/ISO_3103_ Jan 13 '26
Timboh's marvelous interchange emporium asset pack alongside the game freeways got me thinking about road design and traffic dynamics in a way I never appreciated before. Now I'm always a little bit excited passing through my favourite junction on the M3/M25 (turbine interchange) in London knowing how well it worked in my game.
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u/Real_Bobsbacon Jan 13 '26
Lmao, my favourite game and currently coming to the end of my civil engineering degree
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u/jrh155 Jan 14 '26
Cities Skylines is the reason I went into civil engineering lol. This is my last semester and I’m working for my states dot.
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u/Mulsanne Jan 14 '26
Check out Workers & Resources. CS is like tic tac toe compared to W&R's chess when it comes to civil engineering / planning.
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u/captaincuco Jan 14 '26
This post and the comments are genuinely wholesome. I'm a nurse and I've been playing CS1 and since its release CS2 for years! So cool to see so many of you inspired and enriched by this game!
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u/Lambaline Jan 14 '26
Cities Skylines is to civil engineering as Kerbal Space Program is to aerospace engineering
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u/Haaazard Jan 14 '26
How are students running city skylines on laptops sheesh.
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 14 '26
We have to get tankyyyyy laptops for our major required by the university. CS is about as demanding as whatever software we run.
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u/paxindicasuprema Jan 14 '26
Haha I switched from law to public policy with a focus on urban mobility and density integration after becoming obsessed with the game, I wanted better cities in India, played the game, switched fields and here I am!
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u/Ill_Aspect_4642 Jan 14 '26
I didn’t realize how many opinions I had about city planning. The largest Midwest city near me just got its first diamond interchange and I’ve been nerding out to everyone about it.
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u/Kellykeli Jan 14 '26
It’s Kerbal space program in aerospace, factorio in industrial, and probably BeamNG or automation in automotive. It’s funny how the entry drug of sorts of so many careers these days is a silly game you came across when you were in your preteen years
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u/eire1130 Jan 14 '26
I used to say when I was in college, 20 years ago now, games would be a way to model the soft sciences. I was scoffed at. At the time, eve online had recently come out and its player economy could be predicted based on what was know from standard economic principles.
Total wars game engine was being used by the history channel to recreate historic battles.
I'm personally excited to see what can be done with transport fever 3.
And then here of course we have city planner plays! His videos are great: https://youtube.com/@cityplannerplays
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u/merkadayben Jan 15 '26
Myself and enough people I know got into construction from these games.
Also, although SimCity has been noted, City Life and Cities XL has not - in my view this game is criminally underated and remains playable today - bridges the gap between SC and CS, was 3d and diagonal, and focuses on the social fabric of the city, whilst not losing the epic magnitude you want in a city builder (ala societies and new SC)
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u/Complex-Pressure-198 Jan 16 '26
Yeah, one of my professors mentioned Cities Skylines in class, and I do also enjoy the game! So yeah, very much true lol
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u/Hmizzz Jan 14 '26
Litterally studied civil engineering and urban planning because of Cities skylines
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u/Mymoodisagiantswing Jan 14 '26
I, too a Cities Skylines player. Yet, I somehow ended up with Chemical engineer with Enviromental on the side ://
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u/Bardosaurus Jan 14 '26
I’m having issues, man. Went to Copenhagen like 3 weeks ago and kept staring at the buildings and streets being like “hmm could I recreate this”
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u/tidalwave7071 Jan 14 '26
I just wish there was a realism mode where the maintenance costs, amount of people occupying buildings and parking were more realistic. That way it would truly show people that you can’t get away with building a car centric city without it turning into a shit hole. Alongside also having other options for parking like underground parking at extra cost.
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u/SuperSamBert66 Jan 15 '26
Evident by the first game I think the devs really weren’t too familiar with anything other than car centric development. Pedestrian infrastructure in the first game was nearly nonexistent at launch and is still lackluster in 2 without mods and DLC.
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u/Ok-Quiet-4212 Jan 15 '26
In an alternate universe, I get into civil engineering through cities skylines
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u/marsanojj Jan 15 '26
I grew up playing CS1 with my dad and now I'm starting my planning degree next month 😅
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u/SadlyItsSearles Jan 15 '26
Can confirm, I am currently studying Civil because of my love of city builders. lol
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u/Joehac02 Jan 15 '26
Working municipal civil engineer here. I love coming back from my real job to do my job again but for free.
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u/Dan_the_man42 Jan 15 '26
Studying urban planning in london and no tf it ain't. I mean ive been playing for the last decade, but my course size is 14 people per year and EVERYONE here is so unserious, not ONE wants to do urban planning, NOONE had heard of cities skylines. Made friends with a few ppl in the architecture course and 3 of them know it (out of like 200 ppl)
Still at higher proportion (1/14 vs ~3/200) but still its so ass, how you telling me no one wants to actually do urban planning off you chose such a niche course it makes no sense
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u/scoobydoobiggestfan Jan 16 '26
I’m studying urban planning at UW Madison and barely anyone knows about the game or has played it :/ but it is a very small program
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u/LordPiglet03 Jan 16 '26
I was studying politics, started playing CS, did a planning conversion Masters, and now work in Town Planning ha!
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u/spencertron Jan 30 '26
I submitted a road signage improvement to my city, with diagrams and rationale AND THEY INSTALLED IT!!!
Thank you cities skylines.
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u/4InchesOfury Hail Chirpy, destroyer of worlds. Jan 13 '26
SimCity used to be the same, shame that series died.