(Water) Townies

Townies is a city game set in a real town: Watertown, Massachusetts, every street, parcel and building to scale, from open data. You're the City Manager. The Council wants the Square alive again, the state wants 1,701 new homes, landlords want "next Somerville" rents, and the comment section has opinions about all of it. • The real town: buildings from the assessor's records, roofs and trees from lidar, every street tree from the town's inventory, the MBTA buses on their real routes and timetables. • Main Street that pushes back: landlords chase the buzz, independents close, chains move in. Tap Why? on any storefront to see the rent, who can afford it, and what happened there. • Zoning and housing: zone for homes, retail, offices, mixed use, labs, civic buildings and parks; set the inclusionary rule and height limits, and watch the state's 10% affordable line. Fall short and a developer…