METRO-APEX is a computer based gaming simulation in which students study a large urban city and its surroundings by playing the roles of city and county politicians, industrialists, environmental control officials, city planners, land developers, and labor groups. METRO-APEX was played once a week for five weeks as part of one credit course in…

It is time that sociology made use of the increasingly popular teaching device of linking computer simulation and gaming. It is needed because in teaching courses in urban sociology, human ecology, and urban planning, we have found that: a) most class exercises present the community as a statis phenomenon; b) there is no quick and easy way to…

Reviews recent literature on urban politics and urban policy. Focuses on issues faced by cities of the 1990s: city planning, growth, politics, problems of housing, homelessness, cost of government, racial, and ethnic conflicts. Suggests that field trips and computer simulations can be used in college courses in urban studies. (CH)