If City
2 min | 3D animation | MAYA | November 2022
Reimagines the rise and fall of Web 3.0, overproduction, organization of mass media, uneven power distribution happening online. Yet we ask "why can't we reach web 4.0?"
Q: WHY XR? IF XR IS TRUE?
Q: WHY XR? IF XR IS TRUE?
If City
This project reverse-engineered the question "why XR" into "if XR is true" to construct a real time urban simulator that runs an ever-growing ecosystem of XR market. - depicting the future under the premise of XR technology. It seeks to establish an ever-growing and self-running ecosystem of XR urbanism.
2 min | 3D animation | Unreal Engine | April 2024
What remains after the relentless evolution of humanity, nature, and technology? "I see field but no beings. I hear wind but no conversations. I live in ruins but nothing works, until I found this place...”
Welcome
Main Video
Overview
Final Product
Winter Show
Demo Video
Concept Animation
Scenes
Pick A Scene
Slidedeck
Design
Lobby Design
Thought Beings
Question Spatial Archive
MoodBoard
Before Birth
Questoin Lobby
Living Query Sysetem
Lobby Architecture
FreeForm Streams
Training Level
Training Explain
Training Blueprint
Problem Flying in VR
Question Level
Question Overview
Path Diagram
Question Demo
Particle Diagram
Cylinder Diagram
AI Answer Creation
AI Generation
YourUniverse
Generation Overview
Generation Demo
Universe Level
Comparison Diagram
Transition Demo
Game Level Overview
Earth Level
Show Demo
Cesium GIS
Earth Level Overview
Earth Level Demo
Summary
If City : XR Urbanism Simulation
Overview
This project reverse-engineered the question "why XR" into "if XR is true" to construct a real time urban simulator that runs an ever-growing ecosystem of XR market. - depicting the future under the premise of XR technology. It seeks to establish an ever-growing and self-running ecosystem of XR urbanism.
"Reimagine New York City as an XR-oriented smart city and redesign its infrastructure based on the smart city principles proposed by NEOM's ongoing urban design project, "The Line," in Saudi Arabia. The goal is to achieve a biophilic balance between technology and urban living.
Full Animation-- If City
At this perplexed and fluctuating XR market era, “If XR” is an urban simulator aiming to find the harmony point of the balance between human, nature, and technology.
In this era of perplexity and fluctuation within the extended reality (XR) market, 'If XR' emerges as an urban simulator dedicated to find the harmonious balance among humanity, nature, and technology through simulating an XR ecosystem for the speculation of avatar citizens' day-to-day behavior within the evolving market landscape.
If XR is an urban simulator, users are able to manipulate the city components, such as the population, building density, service types, and more to try to find the balance between nature, humanity, and technology. As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
Trailer Video -- If XR
What remains after the relentless evolution of humanity, nature, and technology?
"I see field but no beings. I hear wind but no conversations. I live in ruins but nothing works, until I found this place...”
This animation depicts the core concept "If City" project. The story follows a solitary bionic wanders through the desolate remnants of humanity, the ruins stretching endlessly beneath a hollow sky. With no trace of life left on Earth, it continues its journey, driven by an unseen force—until, at last, it arrives at a place known only as If…
Capstone Presentation 2024
Reflecting on the history of XR products reveals a fundamental issue contributing to the struggles of the XR market: the mismatching of XR products' functionalities and market demand. “Why 3D?” becomes one of the most urgent questions. This finding has raised questions about the optimal content for 3D, and its real purpose. Is it true that 3D offers a more intuitive mode of communication, considering our existence in a three-dimensional material world? Examining the traditional way of communicating information in 2D was in fact more efficient than in 3D which was the common approach of most reality technology. This issue is more about design than technological advancement because we haven't discovered a truly important and engaging user experience that makes VR preferable to real-life activities. That's why this project aims to use design research on this technology to answer questions about the consumer patterns found in the XR market.
Research Paper
More detailed explanation of this project. This paper explores the mismatch between XR technology and real-world market needs by imagining a future where XR is fully integrated into urban life. While tech giants have heavily invested in XR, many products have failed due to unclear utility and user misalignment. In response, this project asks: If XR were truly adopted at scale, how would cities, markets, and human behavior evolve?
To address this, the study constructs a live, self-sustaining digital simulation of an XR-driven city. Through three experimental layers—urban infrastructure, XR consumer behavior, and a speculative HCI monitoring device—the paper investigates:
How urban structures might adapt to XR integration.
How XR consumer behaviors could evolve.
How XR activity could be monitored and visualized at scale.
The simulation reimagines New York City using principles from NEOM’s “The Line,” simulates avatar-driven market behaviors influenced by psychological models, and introduces Little Place, a physical-digital device to visualize the hybrid reality. The result is an immersive, speculative ecosystem that enables observers to experience and question the role of XR in shaping future urban life.
[ About Project ]
This project builds a live simulation of a future XR city, imagining how extended reality will reshape urban life over the next 50 years. Through six interconnected parts—Why XR?, Simulation Design, Urban Design, XR Market, Technology, and Little Place—the project explores the convergence of digital systems and physical environments, offering a speculative lens into the evolution of urban structure, user behavior, and human-computer interaction in an XR-driven world.
The simulation addresses three central questions: How would cities adapt if XR were fully integrated into their infrastructure? What consumption patterns would emerge in a fully XR-enabled economy? And what tools or devices could effectively capture and visualize the intensity of XR activity within an urban network?These ideas unfold across three layers of production. Urban Design reimagines New York City as an XR-native smart city, inspired by NEOM’s "The Line," with biophilic systems embedded into a technological framework. XR Market simulates behavioral patterns of cognitive AI avatars using psychological models like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Finally, Little Place, a shape-shifting speculative device, visualizes XR activity as spatial data—representing the layered entanglement between digital presence and physical reality.
Why XR?
XR Market
Simulation Design
Technology
Urban Design
Little Place
[ If City Places ]
This XR urbanism simulator brings to life a speculative city of the future—one shaped entirely by the wide adoption of extended reality (XR) technologies. Composed of nine interconnected zones—Why XR?, Playground, Community Center, If Square, Marketplace, XR Tower, Stores, Subway, and Tram Bike—the simulator allows users to explore how XR reshapes not only urban infrastructure but also the way people live, move, interact, and consume. Each zone represents a core function of urban life reimagined through the lens of XR integration. From transit systems like the Subway and Tram Bike to social and commercial hubs like the Marketplace, Community Center, and XR Tower, every space is designed to simulate the coexistence of physical infrastructure and digital augmentation. Avatars—cognitive AI entities—navigate this world autonomously, reflecting evolving user behavior based on psychological and market models like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Together, these nine spaces form a living, breathing ecosystem—a speculative tool to question how urban design, social interaction, and consumption might evolve as XR becomes embedded in our cities.
Why XR?
If Square
Stores
Playground
Marketplace
Subway
Community Center
XR Tower
Tram Bike
Why XR?
In recent years, the popularity of integrating digital content into the real world has surged, yet many XR products struggle to survive in the market. This mismatch between XR products' functions and market demand has caused financial losses for companies like Google, Meta, and HTC investing in Reality Technology (VR, AR, and XR). The efficiency of traditional 2D communication has raised doubts about the optimal content and purpose of 3D, prompting XR companies to question "Why 3D?" as one of their most urgent questions.
Given the recent market failure of XR products as a result of 3D technology has not found its best suitable form as a tool, this project dissects the scenario into three primary aspects for examination: the XR consumption market, urban structures with XR technology, and the monitoring strategy for XR user experiences. Each aspect is accompanied by a key question and a designed experiment to address them. The questions are as follows:
1- If XR technology is common and widely adopted, how would our current urban structure interact with it?
2- What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
3- What strategies can be developed to speculate massive XR activities within an urban network, effectively encapsulating the interactions between the physicality of reality and the digital communications?
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Systems For Finding The Human, Nature, and Technology Balance
1.2 XR Market Solution
Taking the year of 2024 to account, major events like the enduring impact of Covid-19, the ongoing conflicts like Israel–Hamas war, and the exponential rise of artificial intelligence (AI), have shaped our society, craving for a new balance. Covid-19 forced the world to migrate physical events to the digital world - redefined the notion of distance and the need for physical travel. Wars spurred conflicts between people and grew community hatred (race, gender, ethnicity, etc.) to a new level. What humanity is has been questioned again. Last but not least, the rise of AI has shaken the existing idea of professions, developing untrust and cynical attitudes in people toward technology advancement and what our future as humans will be. These events lead to people asking if the harmony between nature, human, and technology like the utopian portrayals of Disney movies exist? Yet, amidst the uncertainty and upheaval, the quest for equilibrium persists, underscoring the inherent resilience and adaptability of the human spirit in the face of unprecedented challenges.
02 Simulation Design
This project begins by reframing a central industry dilemma—from asking “Why XR?” to proposing “What if XR is already true?” In doing so, it constructs a live, generative simulation of a future XR-driven city, designed to explore how urban infrastructure, human behavior, and digital interaction might evolve under that premise. The simulation unfolds through three interrelated systems: a redesigned urban fabric inspired by NEOM’s The Line to support XR-native living; a behavioral market model driven by AI avatars with psychological profiles; and an HCI speculation device called Little Place that visualizes XR engagement in physical form. Together, these components form a speculative ecosystem—inviting users to observe, question, and participate in a city shaped by the convergence of extended reality, social need, and environmental design.
Systems For Human, Nature, and Technology Balance
2.1 Simulation Layers
This project reverse-engineered the question "why XR" into "if XR is true" to construct a live digital simulation city depicting the future under the premise of XR technology. It seeks to establish an evolving and self-running ecosystem of XR urbanism. The three designed experiments as follows:
Urban Planning for XR Services Relationship with Human & Nature
2.2 Map Design
This section reimagines urban design in a future where XR is not just an overlay, but the foundation. While traditional methods use XR to enhance cities, this project flips the perspective—asking how cities themselves can be restructured to support XR as the primary mode of interaction. It explores how spatial logic and service systems can evolve to serve XR-driven living through generative simulations that blur digital and physical presence.
It explores how spatial logic and service systems can evolve to serve XR-driven living through generative simulations, aiming to find a new balance between human life, nature, and technology.
03 XR Urban Design
This section explores how architectural and spatial systems can be reimagined to support XR as a native layer of daily life. Rather than simply applying XR onto existing urban frameworks, it investigates how buildings, streets, and services might be designed from the ground up to accommodate extended reality interactions. It covers the development of programmable building units, flexible service zones, and modular infrastructures that respond to XR usage patterns. Special attention is given to the design of interface spaces—where physical and digital layers meet—and how XR visibility is managed through public and private view logic, including concave and convex projection surfaces. These spatial experiments aim to uncover how form, movement, and perception might shift in a city where digital and physical coexist by design.
If XR is true, does that mean our only interaction with the outside world is through computers and robots? This raises apprehensions about the potential degeneration of human interaction. How do we enhance people's interaction with the physical world?
Regulating XR Views in Urban Setting From Individuals & Community Segments
3.2 XR Public & Private View
Expressive Culture?
If XR is true, does simplicit modern design (universal taste) erase our culture?
With the recent surge in consumption of unified media formats such as short videos and reels, it's evident that visual storytelling accompanied by narration over time has emerged as the most effective means of communication in contemporary society.
Regulating XR Views in Urban Setting From Individuals & Community Segments
3.3 Sustainable Transportation
Within the city, transportation is segmented into three distinct modes: walking, biking, and train travel. For short distances, typically spanning from east to west, walking serves as the most practical and efficient means of mobility. Medium distances, extending from north to south, are ideally traversed by bike, offering a balance between speed and accessibility. For longer journeys covering extensive distances, the hyperloop train emerges as the premier mode of transportation, seamlessly connecting distant points within the urban landscape. This hierarchical arrangement of transportation modes optimizes efficiency and convenience while catering to the diverse needs of city dwellers.
04 XR Market
As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
AI Entities' Consumer Behavior in XR Market Evolution Simulation
4.1 Avatar Movement Tracking
As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
AI Entities XR Market Evolution Simulation
4.3 Market Algorithm
As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
AI Entities XR Market Evolution Simulation
4.2 XR Services & Places
As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
05 Technology
The technological foundation of this XR urban simulation blends real-time optimization techniques with expressive rendering strategies to support both scale and aesthetic intention. Built in Unreal Engine, the simulation leverages virtualized geometry, allowing vast cityscapes to load dynamically—rendering in high resolution only when needed, and preserving performance without compromising spatial complexity. To echo the conceptual softness of memory and speculative urban dreaming, a custom paint-effect shader was developed. This shader transforms the city’s surfaces into textured, brushstroke-like forms, drawing inspiration from the layered, living stillness of Iblard Jikan and the spatial abstraction in Julie Mehretu’s work. Together, these systems balance precision and perception—creating a city that feels simultaneously computable and imaginary, engineered and emotional.
Unreal Engine Real-time Simulation Tech Computation Setup
5.1 Simulation Render
To make the XR city simulation technically feasible in Unreal Engine, this project implements virtualized geometry, a method that ensures high-resolution rendering only when the user zooms in. This allows the vast and densely populated world to remain lightweight and responsive in real time. The top panels dissect the simulation into technical layers—wireframe, triangle density, primitive instances—providing a breakdown of how the scene is structured and optimized at scale. Users can also observe the routes of AI avatars, tracking their movements through the city to understand behavior and flow.
Unreal Engine Shader Setup: Stylized Distortion Brush Effects
5.2 Paint Effect
I designed a custom paint effect render shader to give the entire city a soft, brushstroke-like visual quality. This shader flattens details and overlays stylized strokes and textures onto the 3D environment, creating a painterly effect that departs from hyper-realism. This aesthetic choice is inspired by Iblard Jikan, a Studio Ghibli OVA directed by Naohisa Inoue, where fantastical painted environments are brought subtly to life through movement and light. Similarly, the XR city balances between abstraction and immersion—rendering a future that feels dreamlike and speculative rather than fully resolved, echoing the spirit of Inoue’s imagined landscapes where magic and everyday life coexist seamlessly.
