Master plans: A case study of the City of Acacia

[Libertyville 164]

In the circles of urban planning, "master plans" have been used to layout a city's overall strategy and future growth plans. I believe city building skills do not actually reside in "painting" pretty streets, but in actually demonstrating urban planning skills. A city is not a candy, but a place to live, work, and play in. My goal of my city, Acacia, is to make it a great place for its residents and visitors. 

I'm starting a thread of my city's master plans, but also starting a conversation about master plans, and hope that some of you may join me in showing your city's planning. 

Acacia has grown into a metropolis of 200,000 people, with 6,000 riders in the Metro system, several hundreds using trains (regional and MRT), 4000 riders of buses, and two airports.

The city sits between two bays, giving it premier access to water and sea trade. There are two major container ports on each coast. There are also two sets of cruise terminals on both coasts. Downtown sits on the west coast, whereas the later developed east coast has become a center for office and technology jobs. 

Gateways

There are four gateways: Northwest, North, East, and South.

Freeways

There is a consistent naming system for freeways. 

NSF: North South Freeway

NBF: North Bay Freeway

IUF: Inter-Urban Freeway

SWF: Southwest Freeway

SEF: Southeast Freeway

I preserved the general freeway framework of the generic map, but made significant changes. Notably, I build the IUF that runs through the downtown core. Much of it is a massive tunnel, or the Downtown Link. 

Transit Master Plan

This master plan describes Acacia's transit systems. The city's transit is layered by a variety of transit options. They vary by not only geographical location, but speed and frequency of stops. The idea is that the multi-layer system would give people multiple ways to get to places.

Transit encompasses buses, Metro (underground subway), MRT (mass rapid transit), external trains, cruise, and airports.

On the following master plan map, you'll see the colored Metro lines: Line 1 (Red), Line 2 (Green), Line 3 (Yellow), Line 4 (Blue), and Line 5 (Orange)

Line 5 is the "Circle Line" that is partially in operation. The line will take many years to complete, as the city develops. 

The master plan also features MRT lines, in double black lines. One runs from the Municipal Airport (northwest) to the Downtown Station. The other starts at the Downtown Station and heads toward the emerging Northeast suburbs, where there will be a significant number of satellite towns. MRT uses regular rail and it can be on the ground, underground, or elevated. 

The idea of the MRT has several aspects: One, it is to provide a fast rail link over longer distances to the suburbs and satellite towns. Two, it is to provide a faster-than-Metro option, as MRTs have fewer stops. This can be seen as an overlay on top of Metro. MRT tends to connect major centers without too many stops between them.  This layered-approach ensure that residents who live or work in the suburbs can commute between various city centers and suburbs efficiently. More MRTs are under planning. 

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I don't plan my cities from the outset, rather I grow them with the logic of a given decade in mind, starting late 19th century. Here's the result for Ashford :

Where the central town was built according to one simple grid with the yellow roads being planned as central links. As the years pass on, other grids appear from other villages, which the more we get into the hilly landscape the more irregular they become. Brownsville is a 21st century planned suburb, but follows 60s suburban design, with fairly contained neighbourhoods separated by freeways. As for the metro, it was tacked on as the city began to expand (with new development planned and built around the new stations).

As for the freeway naming, it must follow the Cathnoquey wide system of names, with interstate, A and B roads being drawn on a "master map" of Cathnoquey.

My point is, I use successive, revised master plans as the ages move on, rather than keep to one design idea I had at the very beginning and to which I keep. And sometimes due to lack of funds parts of the plans don't get done. No Green Line subway for South Ashford