Contemporary Geography in SC4

[jbillow 1]

Hello all,

Since I will be majoring in Human Geography, I have noticed many similarities between sc4 and the world than you might think. Lately, I have been doing a little experiment in sc4. I have been trying to build an entire region that follows as closely as possible the Von Thunen model, as well as either the Concentric Zone Model, the Sector Model, or The Multiple Nuclei Model. Further, I have tryed to get the region to follow the Rank Size Rule. To try to accomplish this, the region consists of only three cities. But, more on that later. I want to know, how do you set up your regions? Do you try to make them as close to reality as possibe? Or do each of the city squares contain their own cities with everything that city need right there? Or mabey each square has a different type of zone, ie a city for residential, a city for commercial, and a city for industrial? Or even a mix of everything. I would love to hear any replys.

[Comrade Kc 7]

well i tend to make every city tile its own farm town at first, i try to keep them all under 2,000 people.

once i have that done i lay 6 separate rail lines and a highway through my region

i try to go for realism by not only look, but also time. because a city that is only a year old should not have 5,000 people. i mean maybe in sim mars but i dont think things grow that fast hear.

also if i play a city for to many years more the rest i hold of and grow the other city's over time before i go back

It depends on size but i try to only have 3 or 4 major citsys in my region, all far apart. 1 always an industry base and the major citys are always on med and large maps. Around the region however i like to make tons of small towns, and corner store neighborhoods.

i grow all my major citys where highway and rail intersect.

i try to build like Michigan is set up, around woodlands and lakes. and i try to snake random subs out away from everything else.

large citys always start out as a few little towns around a commercial base, then slowly grow together as i play to form a metropolis.

I really like the visual effect of really tall buildings next to med buildings next to small buildings next to shops. like a city pillar thing

o and hey whats the Von Thunen model?

[GMT 389]

I try to immitate south-western us styled cities. lots of grid and fused grid, street layout following a scratchboard logic unless demanded otherwise by terrain features. lots of suburban sprawl. self speaking that this needs entire regions. Main focus on the visual realism.

[Lucario Boricua 7,048]

As for me, I'm not so realistic when it comes to the evolution of the region--I prefer to speed things up, as I've figured what's needed to make the city districts prosper rather soon.

Regarding the structure of my regions, I like to have most of the city tiles as big, with the needed medium tiles to fill in spaces. This is because I want to be realistic in terms of dimensions: if a large city district measures 4 km per side, it's more suitable to use those to represent city wards or districts. Using the Puerto Rican (inherited from Spain) municipal structure, each municipality is divided in 'barrios' (wards/municipal districts). At least on the small municipalities (land area) of Puerto Rico, a typical ward would be similar in size to a large city district of SimCity 4 (in countries with largr municipalities than those of Puerto Rico, a ward would be like the smaller municipalities of Puerto Rico).

I also like to structure my cities accordingly to what I want the region (metropolitan area) to reflect. For instance, if I develop a city meant to be 'old', I will dedicate at least one large tile to a 'historic district', which would have an urban plan of a more traditional kind, and would have less freeways. I also like to separate some tiles for a main central business district, as well as some tourism-oriented areas. I also like to work on the terrain setting, with my metro areas being on key important places: river mouths, large river confluences, bays and valleys surrounded by mountains (haven't experimented with more complicated geography, as I'm impatient to start my regions).

I also tend to use 'master plans' for my regions: in the case of key citiy districts (usually CBDs and/or historic districts), I provide a much larger initial budget, as I want the importat parts of the city districts to be pre-fabricated as I want them (say, having the CBD with its grid pre-placed and with the inner freeway ring; or a historic district with all of its major monuments). I also always custom create the district array (what corresponds to the config.bmp) and have the paper in which it was planned available, so I decide from the get-go what fate each district gets.

As for some details of my usual city plans, I follow the Puerto Rican model as well: town starts with a town square, city hall and temple on the core (also inherited from Spain), then use some of the dowtown grid for a while, to then transition to suburban subdivisions (inherited from the USA). Still, I make them with the consideration of mass transit being possible later on.

I'd also say that my city planning goals is to have the metro area to have medium development as soon as possible, to then develop it more naturally on its later stages.

  Edited March 9, 2011 by Dragonxander  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

As regions go, I generally start with a map that I have generated myself with a specific goal in mind. My current big region (I have others I use for breaks and testing) is about a third water with a big coast line. I generally start with a sea port with a medium density industrial area surrounding it in each tile as I go along the coast. Here is an image of my current project.

This is a modification of a map I put on the STEX last year. The pop just went over 1,000,000

[jbillow 1]

Well, it seams like everyone follows a different general pattern when building their cities and regions. I was just Curious. And @ Comrade Kc, the Von Thunen model is a model explaining the agricultural regions surrounding a city. Here is an example:

This is the hardest model to follow in sc4. In fact it really is imposible with only one zoning option for agriculture, so I try to make the density/building size resemble what would be these zones. Within the "City" dot is the entire metropolitan area and most suburbs. For anyone else wondering, here are the city models I was talking about:

Sector Model:

Concentric Zone Model:

Multiple Nuclei Model:

[hijodecordoba 74]

that were some nice explanations...

i guess a lot the members (including me) build their city aiming for a CBD, so that the sector or the multiple nuclei model may come out as the result. i think the ring model of chicago school is a bit outdated, because there are social tendencies breaking through this pattern and splitt the ring. i mean that the lifestlye of the people changes and suddenly they want to life near the CBD. the politics try themselve to upgrade the quarters next to the CBD, so they can provide improved housing. in reference to sim city i thing it's hard to build the ring model as well, because there are developing some needs to make the city work and that influences the way to play. as long as it concerns me.

well the sector model or the multiple nuclei model are my favourites, especially when i build a city of more then one tile i'm almost forced to have multiple corse to provide the sims with the basics.

as for the von thunen model i think it's way to old. it procedes form a time, where transportation and irrigation weren't that developed so there is no need, do build a rural area like that, although it would be a nice pattern anyway

[Unassigned 23]

A Nonny Moose's map in post #5 looks like some Godzilla-thing about to gobble up the island on the western edge.

  Edited March 14, 2011 by Unassigned  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A Nonny Moose's map in post #5 looks like some Godzilla-thing about to gobble up the island on the western edge.

Not designed that way. Did most of it with Landscape Designer, and you have a very active imagination. Watch many old Japanese monster flicks, eh?

  Edited March 14, 2011 by A Nonny Moose