L'impatto delle città virtuali sulla pianificazione urbana nel caso dell'interazione sociale e della democrazia partecipativa = The impact of virtual cities on urban planning in the case of social interaction and participatory democracy

Understanding, simulating, and forecasting the future of cities in the virtual world are necessary for controlling and analyzing the effect of virtual cities on the real world. Cities, where the global population is gathering and providing a physical environment for citizens, are becoming the locus of virtual, networked-based economic, political, and cultural activities. Thus, digital cities will represent a new manifestation of this phenomenon. Moreover, virtual reality systems give experts visual access to digital information about this environment through initiatives to digitally model and simulate the real environment, users, and services. Virtual models can be used to democratize planning, evaluate many future scenarios, understand how the built environment operates, and train emergency response, maintenance, and operations employees across scales, from buildings and neighborhoods to infrastructure and cities. However, besides the use of virtual cities in different aspects of urban design, we can use them as a tool for participatory and social interaction in building democratic communities. The purpose of this research is to analyse what virtual reality is and how it can change the experience of urban planning. It investigates the definition of virtual cities and compares their effects and uses for planning in the real world. Since cities without citizens are without meaning or function, it also explores the explanation of digital society, social interaction, and the user experience in the virtual environment. Additionally, it explores the usage of virtual cities as a tool for participation and how they affect the existence of democratic cities. By studying the history, cases, and future of this technology, we can have a better outline of this issue and build practical and better cities in the future.