City Design Concept -

[simulcra 0]

*Land-Use*
- I know alot of you guys might already do this, but mix up your zoning!
In medium/heavy dense areas, don't go for the massive swaths of residential
seperated from commercial. Intersperse them amongst your small blocks:
this increases chances of walkability and in the long run makes mass transit
more viable. In low dense areas, you don't have the necessary population to
support such high quantity of commercial zoning, even if low, so you have to
gradually transition to mixed up uses. If you feel daring, mix up zoning in
a single block (which is extra special considering you have such little zoning
room in the first place).

I say in the long run for mass transit, since early on, when you are still
sparsely dense, mass transit works better when there is a clear direction for
where the jobs are, ie you have R on the west, C on teh east, and all your
bus stops/rails are connecting them. In the long run, when you start getting
stage 6 and up for both R and C, instead of having terrible one-way commutes
in the morning (in the previous example, going eastwards in the morning,
westwards in the evening), you disperse traffic all throughout your city.
In addition, bus transit and subway becomes highly effective at this point
since people are trying to get everywhere and you're not just focusing them
in on a single traffic corridor. El rail, Monorail, and light (passenger) rail
are great backbone infrastructure (light rail better, but i'll get into that later)
but in the end, the puny stops and incredible flexibility of both buses and
subways will make them reign supreme.

- Go for transit-oriented developments in your more suburban areas.

Definition: Transit oriented developments are generally mixed-use
developments around a significant, non-asphalt transportation corridor. They are
one of the major design principles behind new urbanism and are built on the premise that
a) it gives suburban dwellers a pseudo-urban alternative (that is, urbanity
with some of the benefits of suburbanity while lacking some of the urban
excitement) b) the mixed-use in such a small area will promote walkability
(people walking to stores or even work) c) the proximity to a major transportation
corridor will improve the chance that people will take public transit to their work
instead of driving.

So how does this work in SimCity land? Well, its most effective when they center
around a light rail or monorail stop, as they stretch out from your center city
into more lightly dense areas. El rails don't work as well because a) light rail
allows for park-and-drive, which is more conducive to the surrounding, lighter dense
areas b) monorails, while they require walking, can compensate with a parking garage,
and can compensate the taxable land lost to a parking garage with enormous speeds
c) el rails have neither speed nor built-in-parking.

How about designing a ToD? A very good example of ToD in action is Orenco Station
in Portland, Ore. Look it up on google if you want. Basically, have roads oriented
towards the stop in question, make sure blocks are small, have neighborhood or
pocket parks, and mix up medium dense zones near the transit stop and have really
small block low dense zones further out (rowhomes also count for the further out
areas, although this requires zoning micromanagement, ie checkerboarding medium
and high R zoning so that lots are restricted to 1 by X, where X is less than or equal
to 3).

- Park Blocks! Portland, Ore. dedicates several contiguous blocks to park use in their
city. Amidst your soon-to-be high skyscraper corridor, you want urban oases. Not only
does this create a lovely urban valley effect in SimCity's rendering, but for your Sims,
nature does good for them. (Scientific study has shown that the sight of nature helps
stimulate the mind and promote coordination.) Plus, it gives you a great chance
to cultivate Street Walls. This isn't exactly a tenet of smart growth, but in older, built
up cities, street walls are basically tall buildings built right next to each other near
some sort of open space so its literally a wall of buildings for that street. New York
has a great one around Central Park. Chicago has an amazing one near Grant Park (on
Michigan Ave).

More coming soon...

[simulcra 0]

*Miscellany*

This is where we hit some gray area.

- Affordable housing: allow a few low income developments to occur
in your city (like Impeccable Tenements, but probably nothing as extreme
as Project Bootstrap). There's unfortunately no simulation for
mixed-income developments. Affordable housing basically is aimed at
making comfortable urban lifestyle happen for those who are slightly
below MSA (forgot the exact acronym, but basically is the average wage
for a household for the area). In addition, your city will probably
peter out if you constantly gentrify the poorer areas. A lower-income
workforce is almost always within your grasp, and a highly educated one
is highly productive.

- Infill development: the best way this can be simulated is to try and
let existing areas build out before you zone out more land. Infill
development is basically when existing land/buildings in the existing city
are reused or redevelopped. This is more significant in real life than in
Sim world, since there are many financial/bureacratic barriers to allowing
that to happen in reality, although places like Baltimore, Chicago, Portland
are doing their best to further reinvestment in existing areas.

- Urban growth boundary: this is also hard to simulate in Sim world, but
its a bit higher version of infill development. Don't zone until you absolute
max out on development (this is more relevant early on when you still need
to hit stage limits to allow more development, later in the game, it just
basically means you wait until you get high zone corridors).

[papa_san 8]

this is pretty good stuff. i lived in Portland for 20 years so i am very familiar with alot of what you refer to. it is a very nice place to live. what would be cool is if you would provide some screenshots from SimCity illustrating how you do these things.

[simulcra 0]

Advanced Concepts

*Smart Growthing the Suburbs*

I personally don't understand why suburban developpers develop
they way they do (so much wasted potentially profitable lot space on
the cul-de-sacs). True, it allows for lower traffic noise since you have
collectors and arteries focusing traffic. Nevertheless, in real life,
a planner saying all subdivisions must develop like this: and
listing small blocks, etc. on their criteria is borderline socialist,
at least what some ardent land-rights people believe. I personally
think good things can come about with some freedom (like Orenco
Station, or the ill-fated Cascade Station) in design. Still,
in some cities, planners have given the subdivision planners continuing
freedom while trying to inforce some basic elements of smart
growth/new urbanism.

Read some of the other threads on awesome suburban development.
Then read these modifications. (Many of these are inspired by Beaverton
and Hillsboro regulations of subdivision development in the Portland, Ore
region).

- Maintain a close distance between roads (streets) and arterial roads
(roads). Make sure there's some commerical on that so that people
will have closer access.

- Break up the long curvy streets with other streets, making the blocks
small, but still curvy and suburban. Make sure these are all still
close to arterial roads and then to significant (asphalt) transportation
corridor.

- Make sure segments ending in a cul-de-sac are no more than a few tiles
long. Otherwise you have massive dead-end streets that destroy walkability
and create future traffic nightmares.

- Minimize the size of your superblocks that define how subdivions grow.
I've found that roughly 20x20 grid is good. Make sure that your main superblock
streets are either avenues or easily upgradable to avenues, since you'll
be focusing so much traffic on them, despite minimal smart growth principles.

- Unlike some other theories, in built-out suburbs, highways have plenty of
exits. In North Dallas suburbs, exits can be every quarter mile, which is
about every 16 tiles. Sure, they're not like almost every block like in
dense cities, but they're still close. Try and bury your highways (there
are threads that will guide you to this) that help minimize the moat effect
of your highways.

- Light rail (passenger) is a highly effective way of connecting your suburbs
to your central city. It's relatively cheap, still fast, and allows for driving.
It also lets you integrate ToD into your suburbs. Monorail is also effective,
but quite expensive, and almost requires Park and Ride garages.

More coming...

[simulcra 0]

In case you want more information on a ToD... (this isn't my best example,
but i was in a hurry and just opened up a random area of my city)

This is University City. This was originally planned to be a ToD (around light rail),
with the station being where the plaza and parks are now. (Hence the bus support
leading towards the center). However, at a future point (when the light rail was being
built), traffic needs pushed the light rail in a different direction. Instead,
the east-west roads were expanded to an avenue, bus connections made stronger, and linked
to a nearby highway. In the end, it ended up being an urban node in the midst of
suburbia (which is also a part of smart growth and i'll go into that later). Some
of those lower-income developments were marked as historic so that they could be
perserved as affordable housing.




I'll even include a map of Orenco Station (copyright Orenco Station):

The Town Center is where medium dense lofts, condos, and retail/office are clustered.
The single family homes are NOT like typical McMansion homes in newer suburbs but are
frequently in the form of attached housing (rowhomes and the like). As you can see,
all streets have a purpose (no needless cul-de-sacs), and lead to destinations (the
town center, parks, rec center, and light rail).

[+Guest]

'tis very helpful. BTW: What's ToD?

[pcsurgeon 2]

Since walking is a mean of transportation, it would be great if Maxis could make parks trancit enabled so they can function as a walkthrough. Ally's between properties would also be great, so that those sims don't need to walk just on the roads to reach a destination.... that's more realistic I believe, and will allow for better roadwork construction. 

 

Problem with the block system is pathfinding. Sims tend to take shortcut's, right through the neigbourhood. This clogs up intersections, and cause abandonment because of the air pollution / traffic noise, and eventual increased travel times.

 

 

 

[darren 7]

if u mainly use 4x4 grids u will not get alot of the buildings. a few of the bat ones are 5 squares across some even 6

[mcwesty2000 0]

I like all the new ideas in modern town and city design.

 

It should be easier for people to walk to places and get easy access by walking to parks, shops, offices, schools etc.

 

One way to do it ive found is to make it longer to drive to certain places than to walk.

 

This is the type of layout I try to lay my cities out like.

 

 

 

It shows housing linked to the shopping centre via good road and good footpath connections.

 

Its open planned with easy access to the town park and laid out in a fashion where safe living, playing and working environments are created.

 

Like this public footpath in a housing estate.

 

 

I like the idea of creating public art in areas creating an identity for an area as well in safe places where kids can play- like this.

 

[villagemayor 0]

Since doing some research on Smart Growth for work recently, you will find that Smart Growth mostly focuses on residential and commercial, and VERY few on industrial growth. The likely reason for this is that industrial growth is very land intensive, and due to noise and pollution nuisance, industry still is encouraged to be segregated from other uses. Large setbacks are encouraged to provide landscaping and allow for large surface parking and turning lanes for trucks and vans. In addition, industrial buildings, apart from office uses, are one storey, warehouse type structures that can take up large amounts of land.

One thing that has been missed out in detail, is brownfield redevelopment. Underused, dilapidated, obsolete buildings are reused for other uses such as studios, lofts, office and retail. Speaking of brownfield, most importantly in this discussion, is that new urbanism can be a form of smart growth, BUT, smart growth is not a form of new urbanism.

New urbanism occurs in greenfield sites and very large brownfield sites (such as a racetrack. In Toronto, the former Greenwood Racetrack was torn down to make way for a new urbanistic neighbourhood). New urbanism is a concept where communities are planned to resemble neighbourhoods of years gone by, where pedestrianism takes precendence, convenience stores are minutes away from home, and the magical golden rule, the community is as large as a 5 minute walk to school. Whether this works or is just merely a cosmetic makeover of recent and future of the urban fabric, remains to be seen.

Smart growth is a concept, a process where communities are created that encourages the reuse of existing land use and urban infrastructure. It encourages high density uses near transit, reduce surface parking to encourage transit use and reduce the heat island effect, and overall reductions in automobile dependencies. Smart growth is a concept, and new urbanism, growth management (i.e. Oregon), brownfield remediation, greyfield redevelopment (redevelop old shopping malls) are the means to the end.

[Equinox 1,209]

Mcwesty2000: ironically (if you consider that B&W pic to be an example of a modern building style of development, at least), that picture - or one that looks EXACTLY alike - is in my history book for the beginnings of the suburbs.

Seeing those kind of pics really makes you want true road networks that run at any angle and curve and slope ... that would be great for rural areas, but the existing SC4 networks are great as is for organized rural and realistic downtowns.

I think by the time SimCity 5 is released things like true rural zoning will be possible. I can't wait ...

[Former User 225 1]

Sence you mention Portland, there some Anti-Smart Grouth group there protesting Portland's way of zoning and such.

Follow this link http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=bd2b673dc9bb0919f4f87171dd66955d&threadid=39167

[tri 3]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 4:17:02 AM[/quoteDATE]

ATPjohn[/quoteAUTHOR]

'tis very helpful. BTW: What's ToD?[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

ToD = Transit-oriented developments.

[mcwesty2000 0]

Date: 4/23/2004 9:37:15 AM

Author: Equinox

Mcwesty2000: ironically (if you consider that B&W pic to be an example of a modern building style of development, at least), that picture - or one that looks EXACTLY alike - is in my history book for the beginnings of the suburbs. Seeing those kind of pics really makes you want true road networks that run at any angle and curve and slope ... that would be great for rural areas, but the existing SC4 networks are great as is for organized rural and realistic downtowns. I think by the time SimCity 5 is released things like true rural zoning will be possible. I can't wait ... <:nod:>

Ye the pic was taken in the 1970s, it's of a New Town.

Its a shame all roads in Simcity 4 only go at 45,90 degree angles, I like the smooth running curves of the streets and roads.

The idealisms from when that pic was taken havent changed much, other than higher densities and mixies of uses are being encouraged more, as well as architectural styles.

I mean heres a more modern example, you can see things actually havent changed much.

and this is the same towns town centre (Downtown) area. Its actually similar to the american layout but is having traffic problems with a grid lock pattern.

 

[superjaberwocky 1]

Simulcra, Have you considered posting this as an article on the Omnibus? I think it would fit well there.

[mcsquishy 3]

That's a great idea to post an article on Omnibus. What other books have you gotten your info from besides Jane Jacob's Rise and Death of American cities?

[simulcra 0]

I've also pulled information from Harvard's Project on the City 1 and 2 (they're
more about development/demographic trends rather than actual planning). There are
also two books, whose titles I can't pull off the top of my head, but one of them
(i think something like the New American Community) analyses 10-15 new developments
(like Seaside), and the other is basically an inside-look at how a planning firm
works.

In addition, i'm a loyal visitor to cyburbia.org, which is an excellent database/
nexus for all things planning.

[mayormommy 8]

Do you think any transportation mods are needed to get a realistic TOD community?

[simulcra 0]

Well, I don't use any transportation mods, and I'd say my Marquam Hill
TOD is fairly realistic, and effective (the anchoring monorail station has
about 1700 ridership... not bad for a low-medium dense area).

[Postal_Employee_Newman 0]

simulcra- Here are a few other books that might interest you or anyine else, you've probably seen them or read them but I'm sure they will be new to many. The Mixed Use Development Handbook from The Urban Land Institue, The New Urbanism by Peter Katz, and The Urban Design Handbook from the Urban Design Associates. I've actually just started a planning job for the fastest growing city (building permit wise, not by percentage) here in Iowa and I've learned so much already; I study Community and Regional Planning at Iowa State University. So this thread you started is right up my alley. I too find myself heading over to cyburbia an awful lot, although I am just a lurker in the forums.

[simulcra 0]

Advanced Concepts (con't)

*Urban Centers*

This is an extension of infill development as well as the urban growth
boundary. It's one thing to zone everything medium-high dense and just
build out to the max, but this doesn't really consider the opinions
and dreams and ambitions of all your sims. Believe it or not, not all
of them want to live in an Manhattan-ized area. Maybe some like medium
dense areas, like Chicago's north side or Portland's Pearl District. Maybe
some want smart suburbs, like Mockingbird Station/Cityplace in Dallas,
or Arlington, VA. And some just want really low-dense life with the
conveniences of a city nearby.

This is an expansion upon new urbanist theory and inspired from Metro's
2040 Growth Concept (Metro is one of few regional planning systems with
power, in charge of coordinating growth in the Portland metropolitan
region). Firstly, we don't want to just zone everyhing medium/high dense
necessarily, because, as i've just discussed, this ignores housing stock
choice. Second, this isn't exactly smart growth. While a city can
support amazing levels of density, densifying at the rate of say the Pearl
River Delta in China is almost as bad on quality of life as sprawling out
into the countryside.

So, to help accomodate growth, to give your city variety, to promote infill
development, to make transportation more efficient, etc. whatever your
reasons, try using the concept of Urban Centers.

NOTE: Whoops! I just realized I have to leave for Indianapolis in 45 minutes,
so I gotta run. I'll finish this off when I get back (late saturday).

[whateverwhatever24 0]

hey.. we have metro in Washington too! (northern virginia). Arlington is pretty nice. The planning in all of Northern Virginia is horrible tho. It takes like 1hr for people to commute 5 miles on bad days. All the houses are cookie cutter as well(they are 2 designs). The same design is all the way from here to Philly! but on a better note, back in Canberra, Australia, their capital, the planning was so good. There were roundabouts, and everything looked good.

[EchoOfGecko 0]

Great article! I moved to the Aloha area about 20 years ago, and it's amazing the changes this area has seen in the last couple decades.

I have mixed feelings about new urbanism and the restrictive urban growth boundary. On one hand, I'm a big proponent of the traffic and environmental benefits it has, but as someone looking to be a first time home owner, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find affordable housing that meets my needs. It would sure be a shame to be forced out of my long time neighborhood because of the nearly overwhelming influx of growth.

[Jonas_Bane 0]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 2:19:04 PM[/quoteDATE]

mayormommy[/quoteAUTHOR]

Do you think any transportation mods are needed to get a realistic TOD community?

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

You'd need to use a transit speed mod to increase the walking speed for pedestrian Sims.  At their stock rate, Sims will consistently drive to go small distances when walking should be just as feasable.  One of the goals behind New Urbanism is to encourage alternative means of transportation and get people out of their cars.  This can be done in Simcity, you just need to make walking just as competitive as driving.

Speaking of which, has anyone come up with a mod that allows Sims to walk through plazas and parks?  This would be incredibly useful as you can encourage pedestrian transportation without having to draw streets all over the place.

[A Killer Ewok 2]

Great article. this will help. thanks!

[+Guest]

To simulcra:
Wow, man, you've done really great work with all that info.. Thanks!

[Norwegian Neko 12]

This makes me want to take out my digi camera and take some pics of Portland for you guys.

 

[simulcra 0]

*Urban Centers Con't*

OK, so establishing Urban Centers is something that should be done later in the development
of your city, as it requires an established, used transportation infrastructure
beyond small-mid city level asphalt gridwork.

Urban Centers should be established at significant transportation hubs. These include
significant highway intersections (that is, areas around cloverleafs that enjoy
moderate traffic, and not just the intersection of two highways in a godforsaken area),
significant transit intersections (like two independent light rail lines intersecting,
or the junction of several subway lines into a single stop, or perhaps a light rail stop
that has a monorail transfer into a different directions), or places of significant
intercity junctions (this is more simulation than actual application) like Airports,
Seaports.

Urban Centers are basically mini downtowns. Are you familiar with Arlington, VA?
I'll find some pictures. It's a suburb that redesigned an urban center around a Washington,
DC Metro stop (it's the regional subway/commuter rail). It's a very surprising dense
downtown, complete with high rise condo developments and a nexus of transportation.
Whereas you want developments like vanProojen Trading or Pedriana Pharmaceuticals in your
main downtown, your Urban Centers will be home to Barthelet Corporation at the maximum.
You want them to be established centers/alternative locations, and you want to promote
walkability (employ Basic Concepts mentioned before).

However, while you want medium dense residential and a touch of heavy, the main priority
is to be able to also ensure smooth connections between your Urban Centers and your
Downtown, ie you want to make your existing transportation hub for your Urban Center used
to its fullest extent. That's the point of Smart Growth. No matter what, population growth
will result in increased traffic, you just want to make sure the populatoin growth happens
in a place that can handle it. So, you want to give low-dense areas a place to transit
to closer than downtown, while hoping that the medium-dense can either walk or take smooth
commutes to downtown.

More coming...

[Briman 5]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 4:19:28 AM[/quoteDATE]

pcsurgeon[/quoteAUTHOR]

Since walking is a mean of transportation, it would be great if Maxis could make parks trancit enabled so they can function as a 'walkthrough'. Ally's between properties would also be great, so that those sims don't need to walk just on the roads to reach a destination.... that's more realistic I believe, and will allow for better roadwork construction.

Problem with the block system is pathfinding. Sims tend to take shortcut's, right through the neigbourhood. This clogs up intersections, and cause abandonment because of the air pollution / traffic noise, and eventual increased travel times.

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

But you can build your roads in a way where your Sims will not be going through the neighborhoods. But each Sim has his or her own preference for the route they take just as in real life. I think thats what he is trying to say. Build roads with a purpose not just because it will look nice or what ever.

I do knowwhen starting a city it is difficult to figure where the demand for traffic will come from or go to. Constant redevelopment I find helps. Just like you would tak a stree from a road to an avenue.....on to highways. I have no scientific premise but I try to build logically. Not looking for the huge skyscraper canyons. Just a practical city I would like to live in. If demand gets to the bigger buildings  cool but if not thats fine by me. Seems that alot of the shots of cities are impractical in the real world. It is hard to provide services adequetly in some of the scraper filled cities I have seen. Or you can go back to SC3K where you could just line up schools and hospitials to meet demand. Using the coverage area method is harder to accomplish (which is what does lead to urban decay in real life). So thats why I personally feel that although the screen shots are impressive they arent practical. Would like to see some of the stats in relation to quality of life with some of the massive cities.

[simulcra 0]

Some examples of Urban Centers and more examples of ToD in real life.



From Dallas, TX: Mockingbird Station.
At first, you may just consider this as transit-oriented development,
but really, it has become so much more. It draws its name from the
DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) station located nearby, but it's also
located right on US Highway 75, an important transit corridor for
North Dallas. This place is a real cool place to go for some evening
fun, due to its draw of hip crowds, thanks to an independent movie theater
(the Angelika), a massive Virgin Megastore, independent and hip restaurants,
hip franchise clothing stores (Gap and Urban Outfitters come to mind), in
addition to being near many stylish and architecturaly bold lofts, condos,
and corporate headquarters. By sheer scale alone, Mockingbird Station
has exceeded ToD level and become a true Urban Center.




From Dallas, TX: High Five Interchange
OK, so I can't find an actual picture of it in reality (it's awe-inspiring,
I may take a picture when I get back for summer break), but this is a massive
Urban Center in Dallas. This is the interchange of I-635 and US highway 75,
and it is a mini-financial district in North Dallas. Moreover, when I said
significant highway intersection, this is a primo example. The name comes
from the fact that this will be the only five-level interchange in Texas
when completed, and believe me, it's awe-inspiring to see construction unfold,
with massive onramps soaring into the air amidst skyscrapers. Needless to say,
this is one of the more significant transportation hubs in Dallas.




From Plano, TX: Downtown Plano
Well, I couldn't find a decent picture of Arlington, VA, so I decided to
pull something from my home *shudder* suburb of Plano. Downtown Plano for quite
some time was a neglected center as the city exploded in subdivision-land, so
while the city becamse the second-fastest growing city in the census of 2000 (behind
Las Vegas), more than doubling in population from 120,000 to 270,000 or so,
the downtown started to decay. However, with the development of DART's first
light rail, Plano rebuilt its downtown as a downtown Plano station was planned,
resulting in a moderately successful, mixed-use downtown. It isn't a terribly
active place, since most residents would rather go to Deep Ellum or Mockingbird
Station (both in Dallas) than to go to downtown Plano, but it still is a nice place
to be, for suburbanites seeking a bit more out of their life than bland McMansions.