What if your city is a simulation?
Are we all just living in a kind of zoo?

What do zoos, The Truman Show, and Seaside, Florida all have in common? They’re carefully designed simulated realities—environments that feel real but are crafted, controlled, and curated. In this episode of CityDesign, architect and urban designer Martin Felsen explores the idea that we might all be living in our own version of a designed reality.

From wildlife enclosures to walkable neighborhoods, we ask: If a place feels real, does it matter if it’s artificial? And what does “authentic” community life look like in a world of planned cities, controlled environments, and invisible boundaries?

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

What the Captivity Paradox teaches us about simulated environments
How zoo design has evolved from cages to ecological parks
What the Simulation Hypothesis says about our reality
How The Truman Show reveals the illusion of freedom in perfect communities
Why Seaside, Florida feels real but staged—and what that means for urban design
What the Authenticity Paradox is, and why it matters in place-making
How urban designers can help build more genuine, connected communities
Why control in cities might limit freedom—but also spark creativity

What do you think?
Do you believe we’re living in a designed simulation—or just in cities shaped by invisible rules? And can authenticity be designed, or does it have to emerge on its own?
Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Tags
#CityDesign #SimulationTheory #TheTrumanShow #UrbanDesign #Architecture #Zoning #AuthenticityParadox #SeasideFlorida #UrbanPlanning #SimulatedReality #DesignedCommunities #SmartCities #UrbanDesign #Zoning #CityPlanning #Architecture #HousingCrisis #MixedUse #CityDesign #MartinFelsen #SmartCities #FutureOfCities #Architecture #CityPlanning #SpeculativeUrbanism #DesignFutures #UrbanDesignHistory #UrbanPlanning #Architecture #UtopianCities #UrbanDesign #UrbanDesign #AmericanUrbanism #ArchitectureHistory #DesignFutures

About me
Martin Felsen, FAIA, co-founded UrbanLab, an architecture and urban design firm in Chicago. Martin is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a Professor in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT, aka, Illinois Tech) College of Architecture. UrbanLab’s work synthesizes diverse design methodologies and technical innovations drawn equally from architecture and its complex urban and natural contexts. Built work to date includes houses, housing, mixed-use buildings, installations, and urban infrastructural projects. UrbanLab has received many design awards for projects across scales of production.

Attributions

The Truman Show
   • The Truman Show Trailer  

Secrets of the Zoo North Carolina
   • Secrets of the Zoo: North Carolina | MEGA ...  

Bisons of Yellowstone National Park
   • Bisons of Yellowstone National Park - 4K N...