Building a walkable city

[Terring 6,476]

I made some experiments with the new dragable pedmalls which now come with RCI support (NAM team, you're the best! ), and I'd like to share my results to you. Is it possible to built a road-free and car-free city? Let's find it out. By the way, keep in mind that I didn't use only NAM but some extra mods as well, such as RCImulti. If you try to recreate the experimenter, results may vary a bit.

First, let's build a very basic town. It will only have a power plant, pedmalls, and room for houses, shops and factories. And that's all. Not a single road. Let's see how a city with only pedmalls will work.

And... we have a problem. It looks like because of game mechanism and limitations (it's a 2003 game, after all), all of our Sims complain about lack of road access. Remember that RCImulti adds residential jobs, which means they can just work at somebody else's house to simulate teleworking or jobs like baby sitters and gardeners. And yet, even this mod doesn't solve the problem. Our city is hitting a brick wall.

The only way to solve this problem is by connecting our pedmalls with a road. It doesn't have for the road to be something important or go somewhere. As long as our pedmalls are connected to even a single road tile, we'll be fine. Now our Sims can go to work wherever they want.

So it looks like we can't build a road-free city. But roads aren't just for cars, you know. So, can we still build a car-free city?
Yes, we can!

By building enough bus stops, we now have entire roads dedicated to buses. Why limited to bus lines, when you can have bus roads?

And it looks like we have another reason to build some roads. Industries needs them to ship their products. By having a main road next to them and connect it with the pedmalls, freight trucks can now hit the road and ship their goods anywhere they need.

So now we have a walk-able and bus-able city that doesn't require owing a car to go whereever you want. Not bad. But let's keep pushing the limits and take it to the extreme. How about subways? Yeah, let's go nuts! Sure, they're expensive, but if we build enough subway stations everywhere, our Sims could go anywhere they need faster than ever without car. Now, building ordinary subway stations at almost every corner would be a big waste of valuable space, especially if we need that space to build something big like apartment buildings or hospitals. But wait a minute! The dragable pedmalls are street-based, and there are subway stations that can be build on the top of them, such as in Road Top Mass Transit (RTMT) and Diagonal Intersection RoadTop SubwayBus Station. So I made a custom set of street-top subway stations specialized for the dragable pedmalls to see if it's possible to have functional subway stations on the pedmalls.

And guess what. It's possible! Our Sims can now take the subway to go anywhere they need. In fact, most of our Sims now prefer taking the subway than the bus. And I just noticed that because my subway stations work as bus stops too, there is some bus traffic in our pedmalls as well. That's interesting.

And now probably the most important and the coolest part of our experiment. We have now dragable pedmalls, but we also have the older plopaple pedmalls as well. Can they work with each other? Of course they can! All puzzle pieces will work with the dragable pedmalls without any problem. Why that's cool? Think of the possibilities

But do you know what's my favorite discovery? The dragable pedmalls are compatible with the specialized tram-pedmall pieces as well! Why need car when you can walk and take the tram?

That's my experiments for now. I have some other stuff I'd like to test and I'm going to do it soon. Now that we have a cool challenge on its way, I think it would be a good idea to share my experiments with you, giving you ideas and a topic to share your experiments and results as well.

See you in the challenge and I can't wait to see your creations

[hugues aroux 3,867]

This is very enlightening! Bravo for this demo ! Thanks

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

Hmm, so it seems that pedmalls still need to "outflow" into roads and streets. But yes - it seems logical that any Sims reaching those will simply use busses or continue to walk. I suppose they won't carry cars on their backs... 

I have to chuckle though seeing industrialists using pedmalls to get their products out of the city. Looks weird but interesting! Do they employ Sherpa people or what...?

[Terring 6,476]

10 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Do they employ Sherpa people or what...?

Or maybe freight drones or small trucks with ion engines to fly above the pedmalls

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

2 hours ago, Terring said:

Or maybe freight drones or small trucks with ion engines to fly above the pedmalls

If I were you, I'd then request making a PedMall that would consist solely of floating pylons, a'la "Back to the Future" sky road style, that would delineate an air corridor for such drones. I guess this will be doable once dev kit drops, unless it hasn't already. 

[Terring 6,476]

1 hour ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

If I were you, I'd then request making a PedMall that would consist solely of floating pylons, a'la "Back to the Future" sky road style, that would delineate an air corridor for such drones.

I actually had suggested a similar idea 9 years ago. The idea was about road-based dragable pedmalls with elevated traffic path for the cars (kind of like the NAM road viaducts but invisible), allowing them to fly above the pedestrians.

Obviously that would require a new set of automata to replace all Maxis wheeled vehicles (including the freight trucks) with flexible ioncrafts.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

9 hours ago, Terring said:

 

As a form of challenge I could try and model that in Blender, but someone else would have to translate it into an automata form.

[Propfam 2,301]

14 hours ago, Terring said:

Or maybe freight drones or small trucks with ion engines to fly above the pedmalls

Or underground train

[Terring 6,476]

45 minutes ago, elfrjz said:

Or underground train

Hmm, I need to give it a try.

[Terring 6,476]

I decided to make some extra tests and experiments on the drag-able pedmalls and I have some interesting founds to share. This post is going to be small but hopefully rich in tips and ideas for your walk-able paradise. Today, we'll be using this ugly city and its poor Sims as guinea pigs to check underground trains, emergency vehicles and garbage trucks, and how they work in a road-less city.

I tested @elfrjz's idea above about using the underground railroad that comes with NAM and I can confirm that's possible. There are puzzle pieces that allows you to build underground railroad under pedmalls to use freight train in your road-less city as an alternative to freight trucks. I can also confirm that the garbage trucks can use the pedmalls as well. I build a recycle center and a waste-to-energy incinerator, and they both work without any issue. Those buildings doesn't have to be connected with the rest of the city only by roads to function. I even took a picture with the PrintScreen button to prove it, but I accidentally lost it.

But what about the emergency vehicles? Can they still do their jobs? Yes, they can. I reduced the funds of the fire station a bit and started a fire to dispatch a fire truck and see what will happen with the firemen putting off the fire from their firetrucks. Fire, fire, fire . It was a bit messy because of the lack of funds, but they still managed to put off the fire. So emergency vehicles can still do their job. I haven't made any UDI mission to see what happens, but I'll do it soon. More experiments and ideas are coming up.
I think I'm having more fun with the pedmalls than with anything else

[Terring 6,476]

Ready for more experiments and ideas? I know I'll be looking like a bragger like the Great and Powerful Trixie, but this post is going to be big and epic because we'll be talking about pedmall hierarchy and how to make a walk-able city both more efficient and beautiful. Plus, some extra ideas as a bonus to spice up your cities

We now have the classic road hierarchy which categorizes roads according to their functions and capacities, from epic highways to humble streets. However we can do a similar thing thing with the pedmalls as well, building from something small to something busy. Many years ago, way before the development of the Network Widening Mod, the most common way to build a bigger avenue was by laying 2 one-ways separated by one-tile space, and fill that empty space with parks and plazas (and sometimes adding some bus stops and subway stations) to create a wide pedestrian divider. We can do the same thing with the pedmalls as well to make them more beautiful and give those big buildings some air to breath. All you need to to is to lay 2 pedmalls while leaving a gap in between of them, and then fill that gap with something nice. The most obvious weapon of choice could be small parks, plazas and trees.

But in that gap you can also add police kiosks, subway stations, mini power plants, anything else you wish. With the right items and some creativity, you can build awesome avenues for your pedestrians and cyclists.

But do you know what else we can build in those dividers? Mass transit rails for extra mobility, allowing our Sims to go anywhere they want without the need of cars. Previously we've made an extensive usage of subway stations, but NAM comes with 4 more options to choose: Viaduct heavy rail, underground heavy rail, El over pedmalls, and GLR. GLR is an interesting case because it has specific puzzle pieces that support pedestrian traffic, just as we have seen in the very first post of this topic above. Keep it in your mind if you choose to build GLR. Oh, and in case you wonder why some of my GLR pieces (which, by the way, doesn't support pedestrian traffic) have fences, it's because I'm using Fenced GLR Puzzle Pieces and Railway Fence Props by @cogeo. I choose the hedge to add some extra greenery in my pedestrian avenues, but this prop appears only in straight form and not in diagonal. Maybe I'll fix it soon.

So to provide faster means of transportation to your Sims, all you have to do is building some rails in between of the pedmalls and enough stations in walkable distances to jump in and out.

You can use more than one of those options and even mix and match them, since most of them comes with crossings. GLR is the only that can be crossed with the rest of the rail-based mass transit. Maybe there are other crossing but I couldn't find them.

Now you may want to go nuts and build rail-based mass transit everywhere in your roadless city, but hold your ponies for a while. As you can see in the below picture, there are not enough pieces with pedestrian support to build whatever you want wherever you want and still expect your Sims to simply walk on them. Both GLR and El rails have only straight pieces with ped support, while the viaduct heavy rail comes with diagonal as well. The underground heavy rail is the most ped-friendly choice because it also has curves and turnouts that support pedestrian traffic. I hope the NAM team will make some extra puzzle pieces that support pedestrian traffic too.

So now we have two options for the dividers of our pedestrian avenues, parks and rails. But why not both? By having any rail system in between of parks or trees or whatever you prefer, you could have a super pedestrian avenue or even a pedestrian highway. And if those highways comes with subway stations as well, who needs cars?

By playing with all those above ideas, including those from the previous posts, we could build superblocks like those in Barcelona, crossed only by pedmalls and rail-based mass transits. Here is one that I've been experimenting with.

My superblock is surrounded by roads dedicated to buses and provide fast and easy access to all type of mass transit available, including subway. The central blocks could be filled with parks and civic services facilities like schools, enclosed by any kind of RCI structures. With the right mix of the right buildings, we could build a 15-minute city made by superblocks like this.

Those superblocks could be work as complete communities, where everything you need is right next to you, and can be constructed in a way that can be flexible enough to cover many needs with the right modifications. The results could be something like this:

And now, let's finish this post by dropping 2 little ideas just to spice up your walkable cities. The first is about diagonal pedmalls. As they are they look plain. But if you throw some diagonal parks and fillers to the mix, you could get some very tasty results

And if you like building more 3D cities with terraces etc, mixing the dragable pedmalls with the plopable Ped OnSlope could lead to some very interesting and fun infrastructures. By raising the ground in some areas and adding some walls, you could even recreate retro-futuristic visions like the City of the Future designed by Francisco Mujica.

OK, I think we can call it a day. I hope you liked it and got some inspirations and ideas for your cities

[hugues aroux 3,867]

Huum ... veeeeery aesthetic demonstration! Thanks Terring

[TogaMasterJohn 711]

Wow - I am quite impressed! Nice work, Terring!  

I never tinkered with PedMalls at all before, but after seeing what is now capable with the latest version of NAM and after what I have seen here, I will definitely give them a go in some of my newer cities!

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

This looks very elegant and aesthetic, but I have one concern regarding these setups.

It has been proven that the more concrete and asphalt there is in the city, the hotter and less habitable they get on warm days.

So there are no cars but you also get high temperatures. 

Yeah, I know - it's just a matter of exchanging the texture for a grassy / ground path one but I think it's an important detail for all eco-friendly towns!

[Terring 6,476]

@TheMurderousCricket: You're talking about heat islands, urban areas significantly warmer than their surroundings. This is something that can be solved by planting trees and building green infrastructure, including green roofs, walls and pedmalls. There are green versions for the drag-able pedmalls and the GLR, as well as the plop-able mountain trails that doesn't support RCI development. I hope we'll eventually get drag-able mountain trails. They would be really useful for our eco-friendly cities.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

42 minutes ago, Terring said:

There are green versions for the drag-able pedmalls and the GLR, as well as the plop-able mountain trails that doesn't support RCI development.

Ahhh, okay. I didn't yet upgrade, so I did not know that trail & grass pedmalls are not yet implemented.

What I would do, would be to create an additional strip of garden-like plops or flower beds that would mitigate the potential effects of a heated pavement nearby. Mist dispensers might be a fun addition too.  Recently I also found a very handsome set of seven 1x1 flower gardens in the Agricultural downloads section, but I can't find it at the moment.

[Terring 6,476]

16 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Ahhh, okay. I didn't yet upgrade, so I did not know that trail & grass pedmalls are not yet implemented.

The grass pedmall has been implemented. It's the mountain trail that hasn't been implemented yet.

17 minutes ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

What I would do, would be to create an additional strip of garden-like plops or flower beds that would mitigate the potential effects of a heated pavement nearby.

Don't forget to plant some trees. I recommend deciduous trees because they provide more shade in the summer and they don't block warmth in winter

[Ulisse Wolf 4,453]

6 hours ago, Terring said:

The grass pedmall has been implemented. It's the mountain trail that hasn't been implemented yet.

The Grass pedmal was implemented because its counterpart Puzzle Piece exists. As for the Mountain Trail we can not confirm if they will be part of the Pedmall Classes or will be replaced with a next gen version that does not fall within the Classic Pedmall.

[750883 3]

You are brilliant

[Propfam 2,301]

1 hour ago, 750883 said:

You are brilliant

Indeed

[Terring 6,476]

Astergea is an awesome futuristic series of videos made by Yuttho, in which he shows and applies in his city in Cities: Skylines various concepts of science, urban planning and human principles, showing us an alternative way to think about cities and the future of mankind. In this episode, he speaks with city planner and urban designer Jeff Speck about walkable cities and uses some of his advises to build a beautiful neighborhood. I think that this video could give you some ideas and inspirations for your walkable cities

 

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,837]

so many new ideas spring from this one thread, you are a PROFESSOR of SimCity 4 @Terring 

[Terring 6,476]

Stop whatever you're doing, everypony! I was working on my participation for The Walkable City Challenge and I made an incredible discovery. Remember when I said that you need to connect your pedmalls with a road to activate them? Feel free to forget it, because I found a way to build 100% road-less cities! Here is how.

As we have seen before, you need to activate the drag-able pedmalls by connecting them to some roads. If your goal is a walk-able city, that's fine. Those roads can be used for buses, freight trucks, tram, and emergency and supply vehicles instead of personal cars. But if you want to build a 100% road-less town, that's a mayor deal breaker. You'll still have to build some roads and connect your pedmalls to them, or else your city will be stalled.

I was working on a neighborhood which had no connection to any main road, and by doing that would ruin the results I was hopping to get. What I tried to do is building a road to activate the pedmalls while finding a way to hide it somehow. This actually reminded me a tutorial made by @TheMurderousCricket about how to build large residential blocks along non-orthogonal networks by using FLUPs.

Which are road-based.

And they also have road-under-pedmall puzzle pieces!

(Picture by here)

So, what if we replace a tile of the drag-able pedmalls with a "Straight underground route under pedmall" puzzle piece?

We get a city without any visible road that goes to nowhere and exist only to activate the drag-able pedmalls. And as you can see, our Sims can still use this puzzle piece without any problem.
Finally, no more roads. A 100% road-less city! 

Well, technically speaking, there is only a single road tile that exist just to active our pedmalls. It's only hidden and became part of them. Like a ninja

[hugues aroux 3,867]

.. OK OK .. I stopped everything .. and ... Oh yes, excellent! I see that you have a lot of fun with pedestrian ways and for our great pleasure and edification! Thanks so much Terring !

[Ulisse Wolf 4,453]

An interesting solution. In fact you made me come up with more interesting ideas to make FLUPS FLEX

[TheMurderousCricket 5,096]

4 hours ago, Terring said:

I was working on a neighborhood which had no connection to any main road, and by doing that would ruin the results I was hopping to get. What I tried to do is building a road to activate the pedmalls while finding a way to hide it somehow. This actually reminded me a tutorial made by @TheMurderousCricket about how to build large residential blocks along non-orthogonal networks by using FLUPs.

I am delighted to hear that you found my FLUP research useful in pursuing your goal of a roadless city.

When draggable malls were announced, I determined that my solution has just become obsolete... But then you appear and provide a very useful and pleasant derivative of the initial idea - well done! 

[Propfam 2,301]

On 30/4/2023 at 10:40 PM, Terring said:

Stop whatever you're doing, everypony! I was working on my participation for The Walkable City Challenge and I made an incredible discovery. Remember when I said that you need to connect your pedmalls with a road to activate them? Feel free to forget it, because I found a way to build 100% road-less cities! Here is how.

As we have seen before, you need to activate the drag-able pedmalls by connecting them to some roads. If your goal is a walk-able city, that's fine. Those roads can be used for buses, freight trucks, tram, and emergency and supply vehicles instead of personal cars. But if you want to build a 100% road-less town, that's a mayor deal breaker. You'll still have to build some roads and connect your pedmalls to them, or else your city will be stalled.

I was working on a neighborhood which had no connection to any main road, and by doing that would ruin the results I was hopping to get. What I tried to do is building a road to activate the pedmalls while finding a way to hide it somehow. This actually reminded me a tutorial made by @TheMurderousCricket about how to build large residential blocks along non-orthogonal networks by using FLUPs.

Which are road-based.

And they also have road-under-pedmall puzzle pieces!

(Picture by here)

So, what if we replace a tile of the drag-able pedmalls with a "Straight underground route under pedmall" puzzle piece?

We get a city without any visible road that goes to nowhere and exist only to activate the drag-able pedmalls. And as you can see, our Sims can still use this puzzle piece without any problem.
Finally, no more roads. A 100% road-less city! 

Well, technically speaking, there is only a single road tile that exist just to active our pedmalls. It's only hidden and became part of them. Like a ninja

Not to a pessimist, but I'd be lost to you lol. You have like a dozen of custom contents while I have just enhanced vanilla. Good luck!

[Terring 6,476]

@elfrjz: While custom contents will let you unleash your creativity and build masterpieces behind your imagination, it's still possible to build epic wonders with vanilla, especially if you add some NAM and vital bug fixes to the mix. Cities are like cakes. It doesn't matter if it's small and simple or big and detailed. A cake is a cake, and everybody loves cakes