"How do you get inspired and creative?" This is a question that I've gotten quite a few times now throughout my (almost) one year's worth of making Cities: Skylines projects for YouTube. While i want to preface this post by saying that I in no way feel I am among the most creative creators within this niche, i think this question mainly derives from my pace of creating cityscapes. The first place to go for me is usually google maps. If i have settled on a specific region (Southern California, Central European, British etc) i spend my time looking at cities within that given theme. I don't spend a lot of time in street-view, but instead just pan the camera around in an attempt to pick up general trends; - What type of road layout is most frequent in this region? Is it a grid, or a very curvy, organic looking layout? A combination of both? You can check out multiple cities within the same region to spot for differences. Perhaps one city is mostly organic (Aarhus, Denmark) while another is built with a grid (Esbjerg, Denmark), despite being very close geographically. Now if you are a history buff like me, you'll want to investigate why two close cities like these look so different network wise, and potentially use that background story as an inspiration to the narrative surrounding your city. I'll try to write more about narratives some other time. - What type of density is most frequent in this region? While many European cities have something in common by being somewhat dominated by older mid-rise apartment buildings, many countries have distinct differences in density. Think about the US for example. Despite (wannabe?) urban planning aficionados having a tendency to treat american cities as a big homogeneous group, individual differences are staggering. One should simply just compare the two biggest metros of the US; New York and Los Angeles - and the differences in building density (among other aspects) become very clear. But we don't have to use cookie-cutter polar opposite examples to showcase this - we can use a plethora of cities for comparison. Look at Philly and Washington, DC. Look at Atlanta and Savannah. How quickly does the core areas of the cities transition into detached single-family homes? Does the city have expansive districts of monotone row-homes? Large scale public housing projects? etc. As an example from my thought-process behind creating Crescent, i wanted to refrain from employing a Manhattan/Chicago type look, dominated by older buildings and an overall high density and 'efficient' use of valuable space. Instead i took inspiration from Atlanta, a city close to Crescent geographically. Atlanta turns out to have a weird mix of densities and usage of space in it's Downtown and Midtown areas; Looking southwest into Downtown Atlanta. A mix of (mainly) office skyscrapers, older buildings, both small and big, parking lots, mid-rise apartment complexes, empty lots and flora. I tried to capture some of that mix in Crescent; Looking southeast into Downtown Crescent. Recent apartment complexes intertwined with empty overgrown lots, parking lots, scattered old buildings of different sizes, and low-rise establishments like the Baptist church in top-left, and arguably the Crescent General Hospital in center-right - clearly no need for properly maximizing space usage when either of these buildings where constructed. Back to Atlanta; If you look further towards Midtown Atlanta, you'll find that the city's tallest building (Bank of America Plaza) is neighbored by a block that is fully occupied by a parking lot. Literally the highest possible density next to perhaps the lowest one. Although a parking lot of course doesn't really count. Looking northwest into Downtown Crescent's easternmost area. Office skyscrapers neighbored by parking lots and low-rise buildings such as the bland number 7 shaped office building in the lower-center of the picture. - What type of infrastructure is most frequent in this region? How are highways positioned? Do they run straight through city cores as in too many American cities - or are they seemingly forced out as loops running mostly through suburban areas as in many European cities? What about public transportation and freight? Some cities follow region/country-wide themes of expansive and efficient public transit options, such as many Japanese and European cities. Other cities.. Not so much. Is freight and goods transported by train common (USA, well, somewhat) or negligible (Japan)? Getting answers to some of these questions will of course require a few quick google searches - but i feel that is also a valuable way to add to the overall authenticity of your project, if you actually care about that, of course. It can assist you in constructing your highways, how expansive you think the public transportation options should be, and how big and how many freight rail-yards you deem necessary. - What type of architecture is most frequent in this region? And this can be almost exclusive to certain cities - just think of Haussmann'ian Paris, or on a less exclusive scale, the french quarter of New Orleans. Again, if you care for history, you'll often encounter interesting stories of why a particular architectural style became dominant. I wouldn't say that i spent a lot of time thinking about architecture for Downtown Crescent, although i knew i wanted to some distinct skyscrapers dominate the skyline, creating this sort of symbolism (and reality) of the beautiful old buildings being physically pushed out of the scenery they dominated for so many years. I also wanted to capture a very real annoyance for me within many American cities; disgustingly unfriendly street-level facades. Comprised of either glass or just a blank concrete or steel facade and a few entrances to the lobby of the building (Usually office skyscrapers). No street-level commercial, shops, restaurants or anything that would make the building accessible to anybody else than the people that commute to work there. Looking southwest into Downtown Crescent. While not really visible here, none of the skyscrapers that dominate the skyline have anything to offer at street level, besides multiple lobby-entrances and some bullshit logo for whatever multinational corporation is housed there.
My first post, so still learning - but i hope some of you gained something from reading this! Infrastructurist
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AuthorI write stuff. About the game Cities: Skylines, infrastructure, urban planning and perhaps more. Categories
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