Could comprehensive simulation help rural planning and development? The PoliRural project thinks so and is testing the use of System Dynamics Modeling (SDM) as one of the building blocks in the project. This approach and its tools will be presented on the PoliRural Digital Innovation Hub website (https://hub.polirural.eu). The strength of the SDM approach is that it allows decision-makers to consider the rural area as a system and to see the consequences of specific actions or policies both on the whole and on specific indicators. However, the use of SDM does not have only one-sided advantages, because with all new technologies also come new challenges. To mention a few: a dynamic model needs a fairly complex structure, but at the same time it needs to be understandable to the user, so that it doesn't feel like a black box. Furthermore, it also needs to have a user-friendly interface.