Anselic

Anselic is a fictional urban center frequently used in urban studies, speculative fiction, and comparative governance studies. Created as a flexible case to analyze how cities evolve under different policy choices, Anselic exists in multiple imagined geographies and timeframes, with no single canonical map or timeline.

Commonly described as a mid-sized city in a temperate climate, it is often imagined as bisected by a river that shapes district layouts, with a central business district, residential neighborhoods, and a university district. Transit typically includes buses and light rail, while districts display varying density to illustrate planning scenarios.

Governance in Anselic is usually depicted as a municipal system with a mayor and city council, supported by planning and public works departments. The economy commonly features public administration, education, healthcare, tech startups, and manufacturing, with funding models ranging from centralized budgets to participatory budgeting in some narratives.

Cultural life in Anselic emphasizes linguistic diversity, cultural institutions, public spaces, and festivals, and architectural styles vary across narratives to reflect different eras. The origin of the name is occasionally linked to an imagined founder in some works, but there is no single official etymology.

Scholars use Anselic to compare outcomes of zoning rules, transit investments, housing policy, and social programs. In published material, it functions as a neutral testbed for urban theory rather than a real location.