Ideas for realistic city layout development by "house rules"

[infamousjbe 593]

 

Any lots with the parking behind the building usually don't stay, unless there is a way to make it visually look like the PkLt is accessible from the road, or it's just looks dumb to me.

 

Commercial services, parking in front. Commercial offices parking in rear.

 

 

Came across these ( ) just now and thought of our convo about pklts. Might help "make it work" with these Maxis default fillers.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Odd, mine get covered with snow.  Do you have the extra cheats dll?

[whiteboybob 43]

 

An example of making the SAM parking work properly. IMO. The only thing I was worried about was the amount of customers registering correctly. I queried both sides of the street and they were both High. I assume it meant amount of customers not the state of customers. ( I am in my "entertainment" district.

[Priyon 16]

Odd, mine get covered with snow.  Do you have the extra cheats dll?

 

Of course I do. But then I also use custom Japanese lots, so that may be making a difference...

 

I will try out the vanilla Maxis lots with snow immediately.

[Mr Baseball 0]

Some great ideas here. I'm not one for hard "rules" either but some of the things suggested are quite handy. I don't have any  myself as of yet, I'm still trying to figure things out.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Ask, and you'll probably receive.

[infamousjbe 593]

Some great ideas here. I'm not one for hard "rules" either but some of the things suggested are quite handy. I don't have any  myself as of yet, I'm still trying to figure things out.

 

"Hard Rules" tend to be for the players that have a specific theme style based on real world design. Or to us, it's things that "just makes sense"

 

Finding a new "rule" to the way I build my industrial zones. Instead of just creating a "block" and letting grow in, I'll pick a location, zone out an area just a bit larger than the size of the largest building I would get for stage/demand. Then when whatever grows (depending on if it's the work type I want), I'll then use fillers to build the parking lot and/or enclosing walls, plus some surrounding trees (form & function). This is helping to break up the "grid" look a little bit. Also, with the added "space" between each building cuts down on the intensity of pollution

 

 

[IljaS 54]

I too have few "rules" for my regions. They are actually more of ideas how to plan and built regions to feel more alive.

1. Regions history dates further than the beginning of the game. I try to keep this in mind when planning names, old traderoads, historical sites and shapes of different settlements.

 

2. Style of the time matters. I might plan oldest parts of the town as Empire style with big squares, parks and plazas. They look cool even - or especially - in grid cities.

 

3. Church was (at least very near) the center of any settlement. If town was created by merging different villages together then church and squares should express that.

 

4. The location of towns economical core might have changed several times. It propably still keeps changing. Same applies to main industrial traderoute.

 

5. Economical and social classes. Working class propably lived at the different side of the town than rich folk. This might not be the case anymore, but general shape and density of the city should reflect that situation. Same applies to rural areas, where landowners built their mansions away from worries of common folk. Few currently urban districts are named after these mansions and some of those buildings might still stand.

 

6. No highway just "appears" in the middle of nothing. There are older and more curvy roads in the area, as well as older settlement.

 

7. World does not end to region border. Highways and railroads should reflect this idea.

 

8. In time, any large airport will develop a considerable amount of commercial and related industrial around it. It might even act as a secondary economical core for the region.

 

9. Regional railwaystations also create and uphold higher level commercial and residential around them. At least any other suburban railwaystation should have some amount of medium size C and R around them. Oh, and there should be any kind of visually notable parkingstructure as well.

 

10. Regional trains and long-distance trains have different demands. Regional train just "saws" around the same track, from begenning to end and back again. It allways uses double tracks. Long-distance trains use single tracks, but they also have to be able to give way to other trains.

 

11. Everything gets broken. Everything needs to get fixed. Region needs more storagespace, railyards and scrapyards than we are giving.

 

And as a final rule:

12. Wastemanagement is a form of art. There is no need just to stick the smallest cheatlot you can make or find at the corner of your city, just to avoid the challenge. Working with garbage is visible, messy and smelly. Let it be visible. Let it feel messy and smelly.

[infamousjbe 593]

1. Regions history dates further than the beginning of the game. I try to keep this in mind when planning names, old traderoads, historical sites and shapes of different settlements.

 

3. Church was (at least very near) the center of any settlement. If town was created by merging different villages together then church and squares should express that.

 

4. The location of towns economical core might have changed several times. It propably still keeps changing. Same applies to main industrial traderoute.

 

5. Economical and social classes. Working class propably lived at the different side of the town than rich folk. This might not be the case anymore, but general shape and density of the city should reflect that situation. Same applies to rural areas, where landowners built their mansions away from worries of common folk. Few currently urban districts are named after these mansions and some of those buildings might still stand.

 

6. No highway just "appears" in the middle of nothing. There are older and more curvy roads in the area, as well as older settlement.

 

7. World does not end to region border. Highways and railroads should reflect this idea.

 

8. In time, any large airport will develop a considerable amount of commercial and related industrial around it. It might even act as a secondary economical core for the region.

 

9. Regional railwaystations also create and uphold higher level commercial and residential around them. At least any other suburban railwaystation should have some amount of medium size C and R around them. Oh, and there should be any kind of visually notable parkingstructure as well.

 

10. Regional trains and long-distance trains have different demands. Regional train just "saws" around the same track, from begenning to end and back again. It allways uses double tracks. Long-distance trains use single tracks, but they also have to be able to give way to other trains.

 

11. Everything gets broken. Everything needs to get fixed. Region needs more storagespace, railyards and scrapyards than we are giving.

 

And as a final rule:

12. Wastemanagement is a form of art. There is no need just to stick the smallest cheatlot you can make or find at the corner of your city, just to avoid the challenge. Working with garbage is visible, messy and smelly. Let it be visible. Let it feel messy and smelly.

 

1. Sure sounds like you prefer organic growth like myself

 

3. Never thought about this one, but when the church is available it certainly finds it's way near the bulk of my R areas. For some reason I always put my House of Worships in remote areas.

 

4. SC4 sim goes through those by nature, starting off with I-A > I-D > I-M > CS > CO > HT.    That's unless you radically change things to alter the natural progression of the sim. Or use cities to specialize in "types of work"

 

5. This is still true today, but what I find opposite in SC4 as apposed to RL, usually lower income areas (aka ghettos) will slowly creeps towards high $$ areas. Plus as the older folks die off, gives way for lower wealth to move into those areas. I only this because this is exactly what's happening to the neighborhood my mother lives in. Just isn't the same now as it was 20yrs ago. Low wealth is slowly creeping all sides of the hill towards our house.

 

6. Again, back to the organic style. But there are plenty of mayors that prefer creating a highway in the region first and then branch from there. I like the challenge of figuring out how to build a highway over, under, through, or around developed areas.

 

7. Definitely with adjacent cities, but not so much with "Simnation", thought branching the imagination beyond the borders is always fun to do too.

 

8. Though I haven't used them yet, I can't wait till my region matures enough to start using the modular airport that can grow as the region grows. Not a fan of the in-game airports, they're just boring.

 

9. Great way to move Sims across city tiles

 

"Oh, and there should be any kind of visually notable parkingstructure as well."  <- Should be it's own rule. As you can see how important parking lots have been in this thread. 

 

11. Plenty of those things around the STEX, PLEX, LEX now a days.

 

12. Waste management is definitely a personal aspect of this game. The vanilla version can really make you hate dealing with trash, but with all the alternatives available now, you can actually have fun building waste management areas. It's so easy to get rid of trash without negative effects even without cheatlots. Everyone has a "dirty" city, why not have that city handle enough trash to clean up the whole region, or a good portion of it. That's what I'm doing at the moment. If the city is going to be dirty, lets make it DIRTY!!

 

Good list. thanks for adding.

[whiteboybob 43]

 

3. Church was (at least very near) the center of any settlement. If town was created by merging different villages together then church and squares should express that.

 

 

10. Regional trains and long-distance trains have different demands. Regional train just "saws" around the same track, from begenning to end and back again. It allways uses double tracks. Long-distance trains use single tracks, but they also have to be able to give way to other trains.

 

11. Everything gets broken. Everything needs to get fixed. Region needs more storagespace, railyards and scrapyards than we are giving.

 

Thanks for your list.

3. I think this might apply more to Europe but still a good idea. Would definitely need to get some decent churches from the stex to do this approach.

10. good point. im gonna have to retro fit some track.

11. agreed. a good start is the huge railyards pack on the stex. up to 48 tiles long.

[Superbacon 380]

I'm building Japanese cities so I throw my roads off in random directions. But my avenues, rail and highway are organized and go to the right places.

[SparkleMagic91 23]

I have 3 house rules.

 

1. Build highways first that way you don't have to spend time and money bulldozing neighborhoods. Sometimes I also use Google Maps to look at cities in RL to see how their highway system is laid out. 

 

2. Zone one large commercial zone with smaller, low density satellite zones around the city. I usually build medium density housing around these zones sometimes. I can say that doing this has actually helped reduce the chance of having those "No-Job" zots pop up. 

 

3. Zone higher densities toward the city center and steadily zone lower densities as you go further out.

[Lost Realist 762]

I don't think I have that many "house rules", but there are some things that I try to keep in mind. I agree with Reform in that the region history dates further back than the beginning of the game, that the cities developed and that the main roadways either reflect this development or caused it. Large highways often used to be important trade routes which became solid roads, those roads then became larger networks to accomodate to the increase in population and traffic and so on.

Having been to some places however, I'd say there's nothing that can't be. I don't use house rules because the real world surely did not use them either.

[infamousjbe 593]

Large highways often used to be important trade routes which became solid roads, those roads then became larger networks to accomodate to the increase in population and traffic and so on.

 

This is how I usually start building any region. A more organic progression.

 

House Rules mean to me what feels natural based on my surroundings. Though it doesn't have to pertain to RL circumstances, it can mean anything you tend to stick too cause it makes sense.

 

Then people like SparkleMagic start building in the "present" time form of design. I've noticed this with RL CO & I-HT buildings and their placements near old or already established city centers.

 

Here's a pic of my home town's downtown Rhode Island in the 1800s. 

 

Who needs pavement. Already a downtown using dirt roads.

[AkemiAzula 280]

This is one reason why I think eventually the successor to 4 will have to have a progression from village to city logically based on resources.

 

It is hard to get a realistic growth pattern when the first residents have motor cars, tvs and jobs in burger joints...

[Bdub01 201]

This is one reason why I think eventually the successor to 4 will have to have a progression from village to city logically based on resources.

It is hard to get a realistic growth pattern when the first residents have motor cars, tvs and jobs in burger joints...

I know the feeling. It's hard to progress like that. If they made a SC and Civ hybrid type game, it would be easier to make progressions.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, this game is called SimCity.  If you want SimHistory you should try and get a new project going.

[infamousjbe 593]

Well, this game is called SimCity.  If you want SimHistory you should try and get a new project going.

 

Well, this game is called SimCity. 

 

That's the first thing I think of too when I hear comments like those. 

 

BUT!! with all the content available now, you can most certainly have a slower play style. ie: natural organic progression.  You just have to adjust how you play the game. You can't really be too worried about instantly satisfying your R demand. The R$ demand is pinned in all my cities, but not so much the C & I (other than I-A unless I've taxed it to death). Now I keep getting an advisor warning message that tells me that I have full employment and business is going to move somewhere else......that's fine with me, cause it's all in my jurisdiction. ;D

 

EDIT: ^is based on my organic rural progression. Sure it's not the same for the likes of SimMars and such.

[whiteboybob 43]

Thought this was fitting.  You dont get interesting intersections intersecting like this when you build the interstate first. Yea for our rules!

 

 

[baller23 2]

pictures or it doesnt happen.   :kitty:

[Lost Realist 762]

Thought this was fitting.  You dont get interesting intersections intersecting like this when you build the interstate first. Yea for our rules!

 

I'm honestly not exactly sure what you mean, but I disagree on the building order. I often build larger roadways first to give myself a bit of a skeleton in a new area and when other networks come in I intersect them logically by priority and by what the topographical surroundings would suggest. I.e. if your road is 5 meters above the highway 8 tiles away from it, it makes sense to build an overpass. As I keep building, the situation changes: other neighbourhood arteries have developed and need to gain access to the overpassing road very closely to the overpass or get across the highway individually and then join on the other side. In a rural area, the second option might be favourable if it's less costly. In a city that's pressed for space, I spend hours trying to put it all together with minimum footprint.

So it's not the order that you build your networks in, it's the way you work with the situation you created as it develops.

[whiteboybob 43]

 

Thought this was fitting.  You dont get interesting intersections intersecting like this when you build the interstate first. Yea for our rules!

 

I'm honestly not exactly sure what you mean,

 

 

Had I not followed the "rules" laid out earlier, the intersection would've looked a lot different. Prolly more like a standard t intersection on flat ground. (boring)

[Simbabe54 15]

I only have a few rules with my cities.....mostly because I am a history nerd and I have a thing for colleges and libraries.

1. Every city block must have at least one library. This may be overkill, but when I design a city, I want it to be the sort of place I would enjoy living in, plus it helps the EQ to have plenty of libraries. I wouldn't want to live anywhere that did not have tons of libraries. Free books? yes please.

2. More elementary schools than high schools, mostly because I think that is more realistic. I'll have one central high school, and several feeder elementary schools. I like to have a private school nearby as well. I usually put those near my country club, because I like the way it looks.

3. Parks and plazas everywhere I can stuff them. I love Peg's seasonal trees, and use them liberally everywhere. They look fantastic and the more trees, the better.

4. SAM streets in the middle of my blocks. Since learning how to use it (thanks to everyone who helped me here), I always like to have some parking lots and brick streets, just for some realism and because I think they look good.

5. A central park system, usually comprised of a variety of plazas and parks, and a community pool. I like the idea of having a central recreational area, and I usually have commercial development on one side, and residential on the other. It depends on the city. The smaller ones I like to have all residential surrounding the central park area.

 

Parks and recreation are important to me, and I think they make my cities look better.

 

I usually have a plan for every city I build and I build slowly, changing things when necessary or when I don't like the way something is growing.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Roads and highways first is OK I suppose, but you miss all the fun of razing block after block to put in your new expressway as happens in real life.  If you want something authentic, try starting with a few small towns on one big tile then let them grow together and collide.  Then fix the transportation net, utilities, etc.  Most cities happen this way.
 


The real effort here is keeping the budget in the black.  Note that the west end towns have joined, but the eastern towns have not yet been expropriated into the fold.

[infamousjbe 593]

1. Every city block must have at least one library.

 

That's crazy!! lol  Hope you found yourself some small 1x1 library bats to accommodate for the lost real estate.

 

2. More elementary schools than high schools, mostly because I think that is more realistic. I'll have one central high school, and several feeder elementary schools.

 

This has always been a RL rule that finds it's way into my cities. It's interesting that we don't get middle/jr schools. Not too many High Schools accommodate for 6th-12th grades around here.

 

3. Parks and plazas everywhere I can stuff them. I love Peg's seasonal trees, and use them liberally everywhere. They look fantastic and the more trees, the better.

 

I've been junking out on the SFBT Diagonal Fillers tree lots. They're not seasonal, but have such a varied mixture that replicates my geographical set of trees, except for that damn occasional palm that pops up!?!?! DAMN YOU PALM! 

 

4. SAM streets in the middle of my blocks. Since learning how to use it (thanks to everyone who helped me here), I always like to have some parking lots and brick streets, just for some realism and because I think they look good.

 

Adds a nice variation to the road networks. Now if we can just have more Rural Pieces to accompany the SAM pieces.

 

5. A central park system, usually comprised of a variety of plazas and parks, and a community pool. I like the idea of having a central recreational area, and I usually have commercial development on one side, and residential on the other. It depends on the city. The smaller ones I like to have all residential surrounding the central park area.

 

You wouldn't know it here in my urban area, but parks are actually EVERYWHERE. Didn't really know that about my area till SC4 got me into Google Earth again, and interested in my cities zoning.

 

Parks and recreation are important to me, and I think they make my cities look better.

 

If you like to keep a bit of realism to your cities, you might want to check out these lots    That is, if you have large poor neighborhoods. The default parks just look too clean for certain situations.

 

[Simbabe54 15]

I use the default Maxis library a lot, it isn't all that big, and thanks for the tip about Google Earth, I will use it for that!

[Priyon 16]

Google Earth can be a great help. I looked up pictures of Tokyo to see how it was laid out, and used it to design my own mixed-suburb cities.

[Bdub01 201]

^ I love to use the map app on my iPhone to check out how streets are laid and how interstate highways run through downtowns of larger cities. Also after visiting Houston last month I was able to drive downtown and see where the courthouse, police station, libraries, and museums are integrated into the downtown setting.

[Simbabe54 15]

Great ideas, guys, thanks!

[whiteboybob 43]

Here is another one. After you zone a low density res. maybe a 9x6 or something. Then later when you are ready to go to high density, Only let one HD tower be buildt, dezone the rest and use the land in that zone for parking or parks.