How to make a medieval town

[WeBuiltThisCityOnSimCity 40]

I want to make a medieval style town and eventually grow it into a medium sized modern city, while preserving he old style.

[Apankou 6]

If you're talking about central European medieval towns, my suggestions were:

1) Look for a ideal place to start a settlement. That might be a river bend, a nice hill with some steep features to it, a peninsula, a nice little bay with a natural harbour and so on. Water, defense and natural resources were crucial to medieval settlements. You can also imagine a trade or pilgrim route crossing your region, maybe along a river or something like that

2) Start with one or two roads, a crossing is usually a very common starting point for a settlement. Concerning the town's layout, there are, as far as I know, 2 possibilities:

a) an irregular circular pattern. Most medieval towns were erected with irregular streets, radiating from one or more focal points, which would be a church, the town hall, a castle, a harbour, a market or something like that. Those cities loke like ugly, irregular circles from above, with some restrictions: a river or a hill might prevent the town from growing in one direction, or a certain, often used road is a preferred location for new dwelling and so on. The basic layout is that of some little "hot spots", most often small plazas as said above and main traffic routes radiating from them in any possible direction, with chaos in between. Depends on how your region is constructed. Those towns are of course very hard to build in SC4. Examples from Germany would be Rothenburg ob der Tauber or Weil der Stadt, or the center of Cologne around the gothic Cathedral.

b) some cities, e.g. those founded by the House of Hohenstaufen in the Holy Roman Empire, were planned. The usual pattern is that of a rope ladder, with one main road and lots of little street branching off in the right angle. Might sound strange, but take a look at the old town of Heidelberg, Germany, which is one of the most famous examples of this style of building.

3) Grow it slowly! Most medieval towns would stay within their once erected city walls for centuries, with mostly farmland around and some scattered farms, taverns or dwellings around. For most part of Europe, the urban development can be seen as: 11th-13th c.: massive growth, foundation of most of the modern cities, deforestation, agriculture

14th century: disease, famines, decrease of population, no growth at all

15th-16th century: growth, but very little and slow, usually combined with a new fortification of the whole town

17th century: wars and diseases, the poulation decreases by 1/3 in some regions

18th century: little growth, construction of new and bigger castles, manors and the like. Many parts of the old medieval infrastructure are renewed

With the beginning of the industrial revolution by the end of the century, population and towns would start growing everywhere, which would even accelerate after the second world war. In the last decades, there has been a lot of urban sprawl, suburbs, extraurban settlements and so on

4) to sum up: although most medieval cities have suffered a lot from war, disease, fire and the like, some of them are still intact today and have town centers looking like 1320 AD. Usually, however, the majority of the buildings in a european city center is baroque, classicist and from the 18th - early 20th century. Especially after WW II, a lot of ugly, brutalist buildings have been crammed into nice historic neighborhoods, filling up holes left by the bombings.

Next to the old, medieval town, which would remain in its boundaries till the 17th century in the majority of cases, there would be some kind of a grid pattern with 19th-century-architecture. Paris is almost entirely made up of this. To return to the example of Heidelberg, the historic city center is located in the eastern part of the modern city, around University Square, where the river valley is narrowing, covering an important strategic point. To the west and south, there is the so-called "Weststadt" and "Südstadt" next to the Old Town: 19th-century-neighborhoods, erected to cope with the increasing population during the industrial and agricultural revolution of the 19th century, which are then followed by row-homes, post-war architecture and so on. Development only took place in this direction because it was the obvious way to go - the Neckar Valley is way to narrow to allow any building except a state road and a railroad track.

The CBD is usually located next to the Old Town, because those historic quarters are a nightmare in terms of traffic and infrastrucutre.

That's my two cents, hope I could help

  Edited November 4, 2011 by Apankou  

[WeBuiltThisCityOnSimCity 40]

I'm doing it on an island in a winding river.

Thanks anyways!

[WeBuiltThisCityOnSimCity 40]

Also, can you recommend me a prop for a medieval hospital, fire station, waste and police

[dazza262 133]

Also, can you recommend me a prop for a medieval hospital, fire station, waste and police

As for the medieval hospital there's one available on the stex called "TSC - Hospices of Beaune". Not sure about the others though

[glazert 89]

Also, can you recommend me a prop for a medieval hospital, fire station, waste and police

As for the medieval hospital there's one available on the stex called "TSC - Hospices of Beaune". Not sure about the others though

For Police see https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/files/file/2629-defence-walls/

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Some considerations for your town.

There were no hospitals, only apothecaries, and the occasional convent infirmary. Only the lord could afford a physician who was likely to be an alchemist.

Police were the agents of the lord of the realm, and didn't operate out of stations, only the castle. They tended to be very high-handed and rape was not an unusual occurence.

Fire stations were non-existent. Everyone formed a bucket brigade when there was a fire. Towns often burned down.

Waste wound up on the streets. There was no waste management in those times after the Romans. Remember that no one picked up the dung from horses and cattle from the streets and it was customary to throw the slop bucket on to the street as well.

If there was still a functioning Roman aqueduct, there might be a municipal fountain, but no piped water, no flush toilets, no sewers unless you were in a Roman town that still had a cloaca.

This game cannot make a medieval town unless you turn off all the municipal services, because there were none.

Life was short, dark and ugly. If you made it to thirty, you were really old.

The barber was the local chirugeon and venipuncturist. The "cure" for most things was to bleed the patient.

There was no "mayor" or chief magistrate. Only tax collectors and lord's guards.

Be sure to make all residential lots except for palaces 1 x 1. And even that is far too large. No buildings should be more than two or three stories, so no high-density lots at all, and you may have to control the medium ones carefully. About the only tall buildings you can have are the castle and keep, and the cathedral if you have one.

Frankly, this is more than I would care to attempt. Good luck.

  Edited November 20, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[WeBuiltThisCityOnSimCity 40]

Thanks, but is there a way to control the architecture for Low density?

[617squad 52]

i'm pretty sure that if you followed moose's suggestions here, best results is something that will grow on the residential and commercial lots as demand directly influences density.

Some considerations for your town.

There were no hospitals, only apothecaries, and the occasional convent infirmary. Only the lord could afford a physician who was likely to be an alchemist.

hospitals, clinics, medical care in general provided usually results in a raise in desirability thus a higher possibility of a higher density.

Police were the agents of the lord of the realm, and didn't operate out of stations, only the castle. They tended to be very high-handed and rape was not an unusual occurence.

Fire stations were non-existent. Everyone formed a bucket brigade when there was a fire. Towns often burned down.

again, no civil services, no desirability increase, no increase in density

Waste wound up on the streets. There was no waste management in those times after the Romans. Remember that no one picked up the dung from horses and cattle from the streets and it was customary to throw the slop bucket on to the street as well.

If there was still a functioning Roman aqueduct, there might be a municipal fountain, but no piped water, no flush toilets, no sewers unless you were in a Roman town that still had a cloaca.

essentially, water is vital to increases in density. so just don't build anything resembling a water system; water = massive explosion in desirability = building density boom.

This game cannot make a medieval town unless you turn off all the municipal services, because there were none.

Life was short, dark and ugly. If you made it to thirty, you were really old.

The barber was the local chirugeon and venipuncturist. The "cure" for most things was to bleed the patient.

There was no "mayor" or chief magistrate. Only tax collectors and lord's guards.

Be sure to make all residential lots except for palaces 1 x 1. And even that is far too large. No buildings should be more than two or three stories, so no high-density lots at all, and you may have to control the medium ones carefully. About the only tall buildings you can have are the castle and keep, and the cathedral if you have one.

Frankly, this is more than I would care to attempt. Good luck.

Essientally, just put in roads, zone, add power, and done!

(Side note: yes, you WILL NEED POWER for even an INKLING of development)

  Edited November 21, 2011 by 617squad  

[emperordaniel 1,281]

(Side note: yes, you WILL NEED POWER for even an INKLING of development)

There are, fortunately, some power plants on the STEX that don't look like power plants (one looks like a 1x1 pile of dirt, nothing more)

[WeBuiltThisCityOnSimCity 40]

Are there any downloadable bridges that look similar to a medieval bridge (Maxis water)?

  Edited November 24, 2011 by randomuser2349  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Are there any downloadable bridges that look similar to a medieval bridge (Maxis water)?

Pick up the additional bridges for the NAM. There are several and some of them resemble Roman aqueducts.

[emperordaniel 1,281]

There are also Glenni's Ploppable Bridges, some of which are functional, and some are not (not all of them are medieval though)