When the Pico Union district of Los Angeles was badly damaged by the 1992 riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the City of Los Angeles turned to the Urban Simulation Team @ UCLA for assistance. Using an initial base model of about eighteen square blocks, Councilmember Mike Hernandez of the 1st Council District and city planners have been able to experiment with a range of redevelopment options including the demolition of a number of existing buildings and reclaiming street areas to bring park and green space to the neighborhood. Simple interactive features allow the introduction of various planting schemes that can be shown over time.

City planners are also exploring the possibilties of linking the virtual reality model to a GIS database for displaying information on parcel level characteristics such as building ownership, type and the willingness of the owner to work with the community in the redevelopment process. Accessing such data in real-time as part of the visual simulation will allow immediate identification of parcels which would be most suitable for change.