• The overall food environment has a very good layout and accommodates the residents very well. There are plenty of sidewalks and there is sufficient lighting throughout the city. The transportation and safety are also a major important of the neighborhood and Grandview Heights seems to have a very good system in place.
• There is a clear disconnect between the major residential area and the commercial area. In the commercial area there is a market for families to buy food, there are also several restaurants in the surrounding area. This main commercial area is able to provide residents with just enough healthy food
• The residents in Grandview Heights could be considered food secure because there is a large market within close access to almost all of the residents. This market can provide the whole neighborhood that they need, with an addition of many restaurants in the area.
• Grandview Heights could be considered a “food swamp” because even though there is a very large supermarket to provide the area with healthy food there is an immense amount of fast food restaurants. Almost every major fast food chain has an option in this neighborhood.
• There can be many things to do to improve the food-ways in the neighborhood. With there being a separation between the commercial and residential are there can be more of combinations between the two, since this is already an established neighborhood this could be difficult but it can definitely be done. Another way that the food-way can be improved is establishing another major grocery store in the area since there is only one main source. If another grocery store is able to be built in another part in the neighborhood in relation to the supermarket already established it could prevent some residents from having to resort to fast food. Overall Grandview Heights provides its residents with many food options but there can be improvements made to help the quality of the food.

This concept map is broken down into three key categories, transportation, urban design ,and environment. Each of these concept were able to be broken down into more areas while also connecting them to each other. One of the main things that can be connected throughout the entire concept map is water, a vital resource for almost everything. In transportation there can obviously be boats used to cross the water, and into urban design and environment it is used for everything from infrastructure to conservation. The arrows indicate what can be connected through all of the concepts that have been broken down. Each of these concepts can be broken down infinitely but I believe these are the most important to the main key idea.

Cities Skylines is able to capture these interactions very well in most places, but also lacks in some concepts. One of the places that it is able to capture this is in the transportation. The games provides many types of roads and train services. It is also able to account for air and water travel even though it is at a very minimal level. The health of the citizens is also a very important factor with having to build many healthcare facilities and also having  to account for noise pollution in the high density areas. One of the areas where City Skylines lacks is the kind of green space that can be implemented into the city, in the game everything has to be built off of a road which prevents something like a very large park or green area. Overall City Skylines is able to capture the idea of planning but can improve.

I’m doing my field assignment in Jackson Township located in Massillon, Ohio. It is a wealthier area so there is a good amount of revenue going back into the township.

The first topic I want to focus on is the sidewalks. Throughout the main area of the township there are sidewalks all along there roads. They’re in great shape except for the parts that are currently under construction. There are no sidewalks missing and they are very well maintained.

The next area I want to focus on is the green space. There is a park right off of one of the two major roads. Compared to the buildings, there is plenty of green space. Jackson is more of a residential neighborhood so there are many paths and open space available for running/walking and more activities. The park has many amenities including a pond, basketball courts, soccer fields, baseball fields ,and tennis courts.

Building use is one of the bright spots for Jackson Township. Off of the main intersection there are restaurants, gas stations ,and anything you could want. Then off of the road in front of the park there is a brand new library and amphitheater. Directly right across the street from the park is the high school, which is relatively new.

The traffic flow of the area is relatively mild throughout most of the day, being the most busy before and after work for most part. In the main area of the township there are four lane roads. The further you get from the area it turns into two lane roads. For the most part, the traffic speeds are safe for the area, but the main intersection sees many accidents. A roundabout would be very beneficial because it has less conflict points.

The final topic I will be focusing on is the setbacks. Many of the buildings have a pretty large setback from the roads. The building that has the furthest set back is the high school. This is a beneficial safety measure for the students. Many of the restaurants are close to the road so that they have easy access. This effects the character of the neighborhood because it can show some of the green space that the township has.

The name of my constantly growing city is Bridgeport because the plan is to have both ports for ships and bridges connecting it to the outside world. The city is special because it is growing rapidly and the residents love to to live in Bridgeport.

The city started off very quaint and just included small residential, industrial and commercial areas. Over time all the areas have grown larger and the city limits have expanded exponentially. Now there are multiple areas for each of the aforementioned specific zones. There are both low density residential areas and high density areas. There are multiple industrial zones for all kinds of industry and extracting material. Also, there are high and low density commercial zones.  

The population of the city is rapidly growing over time. Currently, it is at 32,000 residents. The city is home to mostly adults and about half of the city is employed. The city is obviously growing so the birth to death ratio is a little over 2/1. The unemployment rate is about 5% and there are still many jobs open and hiring. My city is on the way to becoming very large and has almost unlimited potential.

One goal for the built environment of the city is to keep growing and to be able to use the land area of the city as much to my advantage as possible. One strength of Bridgeport’s built environment is the ability to build high rise commercial and residential buildings and use that small amount of land for many uses. One weakness of the city’s built environment is some of the different areas can be separated far from each other. One opportunity that is presented is the ability to expand because of the amount of land that is available. One threat of the built environment is the pollution that the industrial areas give off. Two actions that can be taken to address this is to use cleaner energy sources and have the residential areas far from the industrial areas.

One goal for the housing in Bridgeport is to have safe and affordable housing for everyone. One strength of the housing in this city is the multiple options that citizens have, they can either live in a high density residential zone or a low density zone. One weakness of the housing in the city is the lower amount of high density housing buildings. One opportunity that presents itself is the amount of taxes that can be collected from all of the residents moving into the city. One threat that housing poses to the city is the amount of garbage that can pile up in the higher density areas. One action that can be taken to grow the city is zoning out more areas for housing so more residents can move into the city.

One goal for the economic development of the city is to be able to sustain itself without the need for a big number of imports. The strength of the economic development is the amount of money that is being brought into the city. The weakness of Bridgeport is the lack of current exports. There is little to no extraction of material at the moment. This presents the opportunity to start industrial zones that pull these materials. One threat that this can pose to economic development is if there is not enough material to sustain the city. The action that can be taken to solve this problem is to create oil and mineral districts to start pumping these materials back into the economy.

The main goal for transportation within the city is to build a subway system for better travel throughout the city. The roads in the city are the main strength of the current transportation system. The major weakness is the lack of public transportation. The only current way of public transit is a very small bus line. This can be used as an opportunity to create a well throughout and extensive bus line. The lack of the ways to travel can pose a threat because it creates less opportunity for some people to go farther for work and leisure. The major action that can obviously be taken is to mainly focus on extending the bus lines to all major parts of Bridgeport.

The main goal for the use of utilities in Bridgeport is to provide all citizens with as much as they need. The current strength is the amount of clean energy that is being used all throughout the city. There are many wind turbines to fully take advantage of the high winds by the bodies of water. But the downside to this is if the winds ever are non-existent the whole city could experience low power. The expansion of the city can create an opportunity for more uses for clean energy such as hydro power plants. The threat of not having water treatment plants can cause the citizens to become sick from the pollution. One action that can be taken to make sure this doesn’t happen is to look at the direction of the water and put the sewage output down stream.

The current goal for growing the parks and recreation is to build a stadium to house a sports team. Currently there is only one strength of this category, Throughout the city there are some parks for all to visit. But there are some major weaknesses of this. Since the city is so built up there is little space for new and improved areas for these. This can be used as an opportunity to make the citizens more happy and build places for them to relax. If there is not a way to expand on the amount of parks, some citizens could become unhappy and vacate the city. The major action that is going to be taken to solve these problems is clearing out more space for parks in the future.

Currently the goal for the natural environment is to preserve as much as possible while expanding the city at the same time. One strength of the natural environment in Bridgeport is preservation of coastlines and not changing them for commercial use yet. But one weakness is the lack of trees and areas in the main parts of the city. One opportunity this can produce is as the city is expanding, to keep the most important parts of the environment intact. The threat of expanding the city can hurt the land use of the forest industry. One action that can be taken to solve these issues is to set aside certain areas for national parks and preserves.

For the use of new land in the future the main goal is to have the precious minerals and oil extracted. Currently the main strength is that there is a very large amount of land that can be used. But this can also be a weakness because of the previous goal of also preserving some of the natural environment. This can be taken as an opportunity to create a plan to balance the practical and natural uses of the land. But if this is not maintained property it can pose a threat to the city by running the new land dry of materials. One action that can be taken is to look to see where the materials that are going to be extracted are the most plentiful.

As you can tell my city is already very well developed. However, the main focus for obtaining all of these goals is to manage the amount of money that is coming in very well. The process to obtain these goals will be very slow, but they are very doable. There might be a need to up the amount of taxes that the citizens pay but that is the expense that they have to pay if they want the city to prosper.

When comparing City: Skylines to the real life process of comprehensive planning there are ways where it both comes close and completely leaves things out. One example where it comes up short is it takes most municipalities decades to follow through with their plans while in City: Skylines these plans can be put in place almost immediately. Another way it comes up short is the input from the citizens. While it does provide some input from the population it is not enough to use as a major factor. One way in which it does come close to the real life process of a comprehensive plan is the way the plan can be put into action. There are multiple ways that you can know what you want to do and execute it in the city. Another way it comes close is the many different focuses of improving the city. Overall City: Skylines is a good representative of the real life comprehensive plan.

Hey everyone my name is Jaret Cole and I’m from Massillon, Ohio which is about one hour south of Cleveland. I’m a sophomore transfer from Kent State where I was originally majoring in Architecture but have now switched over to City and Regional Planning since getting to Ohio State. I’m taking this class because it is required in my major. My favorite city I’ve ever been to is Chicago because of how clean it is, compared to other cities the cleanliness is a major step up. I also like it because of the Architecture and how centralized it is.