SAM is a Virtual Urban Stock Exchange. It's a concept of an online trading game that could generate useful data for urban planners and architects. SAM is currently under development, a (dutch-only) beta version of SAM can be played here

How does it work ?
A city is divided into recognizable areas (neighbourhoods) . The value of these neighourhoods is based on a set of demographic and spatial factors. Everybody that lives, works or otherwise relates to the city can get registered. After registration everybody receives a virtual budget that can be spend on urban shares. These shares can be exchanged at will. The value of the shares is based on (1) a number of urban indicators like the amount of houses for sale and recent crime figures (2) factors related to a short questionnaire to be filled in at registration and (3) daily transactions of shares at the stock exchange. The shares are a fictive value-indicator and the urban stock exchange is a dynamic display of the qualities, risks and experiences of specific neigborhoods and new developments.

Goals of SAM
The function of SAM is twofold. First SAM is a transaction system for urban shares. It is both a reward and rating system that commits people to the planning of their own town in the form of a game. Second SAM is a platform for retreiving relevant information on urban planning issues. The input provided by the players is valuable for determining the driving forces and key issues of urban planning as seen by the people themselves. By using the format of an online trading game , we're aiming to generate a Smart Mob effect.
Besides that SAM can function as a real currency to be used on specific issues related to urban renewal. By collaborating with third parties (both public and private) it is possible to use the value of the shares for crime prevention, waste disposal or traffic solutions.

Project Team
SAM is a joint venture of Suite 75 and the Maze Corporation. The current project team consist of the following people :

Dennis Kaspori
Tim Knip
Gert-Jan van der Wel
Jeroen Bekkers

We're also looking for other parties that are interested to participate in SAM. Contact us for more information

Open Source
SAM will be released as an Open Source project.