Hello everyone, 

I am so glad that this post have found you. Time management is a difficult task to achieve. In which, one must have discipline and organization to do so. In my personal life, I do struggle with procrastination and the lack pf time management. This is why I have been taking this class to learn how to do better. In this week’s modules, I learned about using calendars especially outlook calendars more. I found out to like outlook more than google as it is easier for me to navigate. It also connects to my  OSU email which makes it even easier. 

Breaking things down including assignments is something that I have tried to do before. Unfortunately, it does not always work as I have found a deeper problem. With much personal reflection, I am starting to figure out what is the root of my problem that leads to procrastination. In which, I find it to be burn out. This then leads me to my next point. In my future endeavors, I would really like to take the time to give myself a break. A break without the guilt of resting. This will help  feel energized and allow me to eliminate my procrastination. I would also like to break my assignments and work load down to an hour increments to help me feel less overwhelmed. 

Dear students, my first advice would be to give yourself some grace. It is okay to procrastinate and be exhausted. Acknowledge those feelings and seek help, it is okay. Life is hard! Do the best you can and always remember to take time off. Furthermore, hold yourself accountable for your actions. Take everyday as a new opportunity to learn and better yourself. Also, use campus resources, they are really helpful. When procrastination, remember how better you will feel once you are done with your work. Goodluck!

Taking the walk around campus was very helpful in observing the environment of the campus. While taking the walk, there were many questions that I asked myself to better understand campus. These questions included roads, safety, parking, building use, traffic flow, green space, etc. The walk that I took was through the night however, many of the spots that I see, I visited before and were close to my residence hall on the south side of campus. Therefore, I compared some places to how the city is during the day and the night.

(This bench was located by the RPAC and it reminded me to “be kind” especially during the hard times the world is going through)

Buildings

The Ohio State University’s campus is full of building for good use. Since it is a college campus, there are residential halls, libraries, classroom building, food spaces, parks, restaurants, grocery shops, etc. Campus has been safe for me so far, however there are many incidents that occur which oppose safety especially at night. Taking my walk in the dark made me feel uncomfortable and more cautious.

Furthermore, the Ohio Union is a place that I have observed closely and believe that it is they are good usage for the students and the public who utilize campus resources.  I also have observed other buildings like my residence hall and other classroom areas. These areas were not surrounded by people as much as during the daytime which makes the areas less safe.

High Street

High street is a main street on campus that is not enclosed for pedestrians only , however there are many services to benefit the pedestrians such as sidewalks. There are bars and restaurants including Chipotle, BiBiBOP Asian Grill, as well as target and many other places. Across the street you could see the Ohio Union that also has a huge parking space. The parking spot is very beneficial because of its location. It is in located in a main street area as well as by the union. The union is used by many people to hold events, organizations, religious activities, as well as it has study spaces and food accessibility. High street was not safe at night as there were many people going to bars, not following covid rules as the high traffic flow during that time.

The Oval

The oval is a pedestrian only area with lots of green space. The oval has many sidewalks inside of it that are created in different widths and shapes. The oval includes a lot of trees, grass, places to sit, etc. The oval is usually used to find an easier route through campus as well as you may find many people having picnics or just enjoying their time. During the night, the oval does not have a great amount of light accessibility which can be very unsafe. Furthermore, walking in the middle of the oval is dangerous at night as the sidewalks are in depth and away from the main streets.

Ohio Stadium

The area of the Ohio stadium is significant. Next to the Ohio Stadium through campus was the RPAC as well as Lincoln Tower Park that includes basketball, soccer, and tennis courts. These recreational spaces are open to the students that they can utilize. The usage of the Ohio stadium is important because of the huge football team.

18^th Avenue Library/ Area

18^th avenue library is a very useful resource for students to study and utilize educational services such as books, computers, printers, etc. The location of the library can be both private and public as there are sidewalks, but some streets for car use as well.

In conclusion, The Ohio State campus is a well-developed campus that serves the campus faculty, students, and the public. The environment of the campus is completely different at the nighttime from the daytime. There are not as much electricity, light accessibility throughout the streets. However, there are many safety services provided including the safety app as you can call the security campus and be escorted to the dorms or a safe space. There are also safety stations around campus that you can utilize in case of danger. Something that I also noticed around campus was accessibility and I noticed many ramps at the entrance of many buildings including residence halls. The overall experience was fun and educational !

1. INTRODUCTION: What is the name of your city and why is it special?

The name of my city is “The Uprising City”. This name was chosen in beliefs of having a growing and developed city. I do have many hopes of having a well-developed city that will benefit the residents and the community. As this game is a simulation, I aspire that it will help me connect more to the reality of city planning and provide me with examples of challenges that I would be facing if it was in reality.

2. BACKGROUND: How has your city evolved since you first started building it?

The growth of my city has been inconsistent and challenging. For unfortunate events, It has been very hard for me to keep up with the game which resulted in difficulty with the evolvement of my city. My city went through bankruptcy and I had to restart the game. Although, I restarted the game, I still did not do well and had to start all over. Bankruptcy has occurred because of the lack of money as well as the residents’ reactions towards how uncoordinated my city was. I have had struggles of setting my tax rate up as I was concerned about how the residents would react which resulted in bankruptcy. I also had struggles with building the water and electricity to grow my city. However, I am putting extra time and effort towards my city and it is slowly growing and developing. There are more evolvement happening in my city as I learn from past mistakes of growing my city.

2. POPULATION:

What are the demographic characteristics of your city, and how has it changed over time? What direction is it heading?

As previously mentioned, I have had many struggles improving my city and re-building it up and that has affected the population of my city a lot. Currently, my city is small, however, it has gained some population. I went through bankruptcy and many challenges including personal ones that did not support the growth of my city. Currently, my population is at 371 as whole, including 77 children, 35 teens, 36 young, 215 adults, and 8 seniors. As we can see, most of the population are adults which is understandable of a beginner city. My population is growing slowly but surely. I have learned from my mistakes in past cities and mistakes and I am in hope that my city will grow nicely overtime and efforts.

3. BUILT ENVIRONMENT:

• An important goal for my built environment is to provide it with good access of electricity and water. Doing so, I would provide my residents with their basic needs and make them feel comfortable and happy. I would also like for my environment to be surrounded with parks, educational systems, banks, entertainment places, etc. Providing my built environment will make my residents happy and that is one of the main points in building.
• One strength in my city is that I have been following the bars at the bottom and following the needs of the city. For instance, I provide the city with more residentials spaces that are needed by the residents. A weakness that my city has been facing is the poor population that is a result of the lack of bult environment like residential places and other communities and environments. An opportunity that I would further like working on is my flow of traffic and transportation. I would like to provide my city with more roads and highways that will be accessible to my residents. One threat that my city is facing so far is electricity accessibility. As my city grows, there is more demand for electricity and the lines that connect electricity together can be far from some houses that makes hard to access to some house.
• Actions that I will take in order to address these issues is to watch YouTube videos about the game, practice playing the game more and learn from my mistakes. I am a good observer so I would pay more attention to the game and how some actions affect the outcome of my city and use better planning strategies in the future.

4. HOUSING:

• A goal for my built in housing is to provide my residents with all their needs of basic and physical needs up to societal needs. I hope to provide my residents with enough housing and building where they live and feel safe as well as not building their houses directly by roads. By doing so, I eliminate the noises and pollution that my residents might go through.
• Good housings are made to make the owners (residents) feel safe. One strength upon the residential housing are that they are growing and providing more safe spaces in the community. One weakness that can affect the housing of my city is not having enough residential spaces as shown in the game on the bars at the bottom which indicated the need of more housing. Not having enough houses can occur in losing residents and less income coming in which can cause bankruptcy in the long run. An opportunity that I can provide my city with is surround my city with more commercial and entertainment places around housing where residents have more access to a social life. Electricity and water are both threats to my cities as they can be challenging to reach to the residents.
• Watching more YouTube videos, building more houses, and better my electricity and water accessibility will help address these issues.

6. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

• My goal for the environment is to build more residential and commercial districts. When building more commercial districts, there will be more shops, restaurants, theaters, centers, etc. By doing so, economy will increase and there will be more money.
• One strength that I have received lately is the increase of money and income once I started having more residents and residential areas in my city. One weakness in my city is the lack of commercial areas in my city. An opportunity is that by having more residents and increasing the tax level to a reasonable one might be very beneficial in increasing the income to my city which help me provide my residents with better communities. A threat that might be faced is the increase of taxes, and if I do not observe it closely, it may lead to residents leaving as they cannot afford my city anymore.
• Some actions that I can take to develop the economy of my city is observe my income, my usage of money and stay under a budget.

• TRANSPORTATION:
• An important goal that I want to provide for transportation is building more roads. I would also like to build roundabouts and more highway access in order to make it easier for the residents to transport and lessen the amount of traffic.
• One strength of transportation is that I have provided my city with roads that lead to the main streets and are close to residential areas. A weakness is that my city needs more transportation access and roads. Building roundabouts and more roads can be a huge opportunity. A threat to my city that I need to be careful about is the pollution that can occur because of traffic that will affect the well-being of my residents.
• An action that I can take to help my city with transportation is building more roads, but observe how they are built. I would also build the roads in a way that will not affect the residential spaces negatively.

8. COMMUNITY SERVICES AND UTILITIES:

• A goal for utilities and community services is to build more and provide for my residents. I would like for these services not to go under fires or any other circumstances and be open and working.
• I do not have much services as I had to restart my city recently. However, a strength that I had before was the fixation of water and electricity being provided there. A weakness would be the mistakes made into creating a transportation system. An opportunity for my current game is to build more services and buildings. A threat would be a struggle of water and electricity that might cause trouble.
• To address such issues, I would build more community services and utilities and watch out for water, electricity and resident needs.

9. PARKS AND RECREATION:

• A goal for parks and recreation is to build more and make them closer to residential communities and places where kids, families, and young adults are.
• One strength would be the placement of these parks and recreation closely to schools and residential areas. A weakness would be the lack of these communities in my city and a threat would be the usage of these spaces depending on my residents and what if they were not willing to use such places.
• Actions I can take to address such issues are to build more parks and recreations and make sure they are close to residential areas.

( have not built, no picture available)

10. NATURAL ENVIRONMENT:

• I would love for my city to have a large natural environment as that would make my city looks attractive and healthier is terms of pollution.
• A strength that my city has is that it has some green areas in it. A weakness is that they are needs more natural environment growth. An opportunity would be growing a lot of green and natural spaces as it can be very beneficial. A threat to my city would be where the natural environment is built and how would it handle pollution.
• Actions that will be taken to address these issues are observing my city closely and taking the necessary actions for a better environment.

(where it will be built)

11. FUTURE LAND USE PLAN:

• I would like to build hospitals, educational systems, libraries, clinics, businesses, companies, etc.
• By building such communities, the residents will be pleased and have more opportunities. Looking at my resident charts, a lot of them are uneducated. Providing my residents with great opportunities will help them a lot through their education and job opportunities. Weakness might be the reaction of the residents to these new opportunities and how might they like them. In that sense, a threat is caused by losing so much money. On the other hand, people might use such utilities and that can be beneficial in the sense of growing economically.
• Actions that will be taken to address these issues are to grow my city more and try providing my residents with such opportunities but also listening to their needs.

• IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY:

In order for me to implement these strategies, I have to be an observant. I have to observe my city and be careful on what I am adding and removing from my city. I also have to look out for my economy and money and set a reasonable budget that will prevent me from going bankrupt.

SIMULATION VERSUS REALITY:

The purpose of city skylines being a simulation is to demonstrate to the student/ player on how city planning can feel like as a planner in reality. In the textbook and by the professor, planning is described differently than what the simulation is. They describe planning as the reality. For instance, they mention how cities are built depending on the residents needs but also on balance on what the planner thinks is best for the city. In that sense, the simulation can relate to reality however it can be different. To further explain that, in the simulation, there is no direct contact with the resident and the planner as there would be in real life where the planner would hear the issues of the residents more accurately. Furthermore, in the planning industry there is justice towards all people and helping them no matter what race or background they are, which that cannot be achieved in a game.

Blog One : Comprehensive Plan. Deif.2

Welcome to u.osu.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!