By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Think of it as SimCity on steroids.
Developers unveiled a new urban planning tool Thursday they hope will dramatically transform the way that planners develop New York.
"Betaville," which is available for download now, looks a lot like Google Earth, with true-to-life 3-D models of Manhattan's buildings and streets. But instead of a static landscape, users can alter the map, moving buildings and adding new ones, as well as roads, bridges, parks and public art.
Other users can then weigh in, adding comments and proposing changes, or upload variations of their own.
"This was supposed to be science fiction. It's not," said Carl Skelton, the project's head and director of the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
Skelton equated the program with a massive multi-player video game, designed not for virtual warfare or fantasy battles, but for urban planning and development. He hopes it will become a hub where architects, designers, urban planners and community members can come together to converse.
"It's not only a tool for urban design, but urban engagement," Norman Jacknis, the director of Cisco IBSG Public Sector, said at the Municipal Art Society's Summit for New York City, where the project was unveiled.
The site is free, open to anyone, and compatible with most common 3-D design software systems, including Google’s free SketchUp.
So far, the development team has come up with several plans of its own.
Levis Reyes, 26, a volunteer for the group, spent about two months designing an add-on to Battery Park that he calls "Liberty Piers." The homage to the Statue of Liberty extends Manhattan using landfill to create a massive new five-pointed park and a mixed residential-commercial development.
Ashwin Ranesh, 22, one of the 3-D artists who has helped to build the city base, said the team, which began working last August, still has a long way to go.
Lower Manhattan is almost done, but other neighborhoods and boroughs need more work.
Still, he said, he's excited to see what the public will build.
"Nothing else gives you the power to create aspects of cities," he said. "This is a whole new world."
Others were more hesitant.
Artist Will Martin, who attended the summit, said he likes the idea of collaborative design, but worries about who will decide who will get credit for plans.
David J. Lieberman, an associate architecture professor at the University of Toronto, said that, while the graphics are not as sophisticated as professional programs out there, the concept has "extraordinary potential."
"What Betaville provides that no one else provides is a forum for conversation,” he said. "Is there a forum for the 21st Century? This may be it."
