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Blog Post #1

I named my city Bellaflora. I think it’s special in a couple ways. First, I purchased the plot of land adjacent to the one I started with, and have begun to develop it. It is on the other side of the river, and I am attempting to make it more urban, as much of the original plot of land is suburban. Second, my city is currently in the process of becoming younger, meaning young professionals are moving in. 

When I first began building my city, I began primarily with small 2-lane roads, and a small amount of industrial, low density residence, and low density commercial zones. As my city grew, more features in the game were unlocked, and I now have schools, healthcare facilities, fire departments, police departments, and a public transportation system. I also purchased two more plots of land, and hope to begin to populate them and connect them to the remainder of my city. 

Currently, my city is inhabited by around 22,000 people; 28% are seniors, 30% are adults, 21% are young adults, 14% are teens, and 7% are children. When residents first began moving in, it was primarily adults, and over time, the population has diversified in age. Slowly, more young adults are moving in, perhaps due to the availability of jobs, as I’ve tried to zone a sufficient amount of office space. 

My goal for the built environment is to make sure residential, commercial, industrial, and office level buildings are kept proportionate to their demand. I think I have sufficiently met housing needs, to ensure a steady stream of residents moving in, but have ran into issues when it comes to providing them with jobs. As my population gets younger, I should take advantage of the excess of people and zone more commercial and office areas. That way, residents of different educational levels can prosper. One threat arises due to pollution. Due to industrial zones, as well as water pollution, some areas cannot be built to not risk getting residents sick, which would create bigger problems in the long run. To make sure residential, commercial, industrial, and office level buildings are kept proportionate to their demand, I will follow the trackers at the bottom of the screen. When I first started playing, I did not realize they depicted demand, and zoned my city without much thought. Currently, because I just expanded my city, I have low demand for residential, commercial, industry, and office zones. As people continue to flood in, however, I am certain that will quickly change.

Currently, I have low demand for housing, and I think I have effectively met the needs of my city, in terms of sufficient residential zoning. That said, I can do a much better job at varying the type of residential zones. Currently, I have many low density zones, and I’d like to slowly increase the amount of high density housing as my city grows. This will make better use of space, and would allow me to increase the amount of green space and parks. To address this, I will increasingly zone high density housing, which will accommodate more people all while using less space. 

Currently, I have a good amount of money saved, and hope to effectively invest that money into my city. Right now I have $586,081, and by investing that money well, it will return ten-fold and can be used to create an even more effective city. This ties into my unemployment rate, which is a strength of my city, as it is currently only 3%. A weakness, however, is my profit from certain ventures. For example, I have consistently lost quite a bit of money due to my public transportation system (bus), and I think it might be due to ineffective routes, which would lead to residents not using it. By changing the routes, I’ll lose less money. A strength however is my city’s profit from taxes. Taxes contribute to the majority of my city’s profit, and allow me to carry out things like improving infrastructure. In the future, I think I will place more emphasis on creating more tourism, because as of right now, only 0.47% of my income comes from tourism. A threat to my cities economic security is electricity, as I’ve had trouble meeting the needs of all my residents. Currently, much of my spending is on electricity, as I’ve set the budget to the maximum of 150%. To improve my economy, I will invest in more unique buildings and I will fix my routes for public transportation, which will bring more tourists into my city, and create more income. 

I have 2 bus depots, and a total of 35 buses in use. Per week, the bus system is used by 415 residents and 9 tourists. There are 3 bus lines, and line 1 is the most used. I think I effectively placed that line’s route, and that is why my residents actually use it. Lines 2 and 3 are a weakness overall. They are barely used, and in the grand scheme of things, are draining money. To fix this, I will adjust the bus lines to travel through more populated areas, and track the improvement. In the future, I’d also like to add a metro or train station. This will increase my cities tourism, as tourists would now be able to travel to and from my city. The reason I have yet to do so is because I’m worried I will have to replace much of my city’s housing, as a lot of my original streets are narrow. In the long run though, demolishing some buildings will benefit residents as a whole and help with economic pursuits. 

When I first started my city, I automatically enacted city policies, not realizing how much money they require. After realizing I couldn’t afford them, I ended all of them, because I was on the brink of bankruptcy. Now, since my city is financially stable, I will re-enact a selection of them. By recycling for example, my city will produce less waste, which will help with the garbage accumulation issue I am facing. I am also having trouble keeping up with the demand for electricity. Enacting a power usage policy would cost money, but it would also allow me to decrease my budget for power production facilities in my economy panel. 

Currently, I have 6 unique buildings, 15 parks/plazas, and 3 public libraries. A weakness of my city is the distribution of these places. Some residents are surrounded by various different forms of recreation, and others have much lower access to them. A strength is that they attract tourists, and by adding more, I can increase my cities tourism. I can improve my libraries. In my city of almost 22,000 people, only 45 people use the library, although capacity is 348. The users are diverse, and come from different educational backgrounds, so I’m not sure of the reason for their lack of use. To improve my distribution of parks and recreational facilities, I will utilize the leisure info view tool prior to placing new buildings and green spaces. That way, I can ensure that all my residents can access these areas, which will increase my citizen happiness. 

Unfortunately, my city appears to be having issues with pollution. A strength of my city is that the average drinking water and ground pollution is low (2% and 5% respectively), but waterways are polluted and brown. I’m not sure why that is though because I believe I put my water pumps and drains in the correct location. To counteract this issue; I have after several water treatment plants, but they haven’t done much overall. When my city gets larger, more water treatment tools will be unlocked, and I will be better equipped to solve the issue. 

While I have gotten the hang of zoning, I have yet to effectively set up districts. Setting up districts will help me increase my income, so I can fund other things within my city. To achieve this, I will use the natural resources info view tab and assign districts based on the availability of things like oil, ore, forest, and fertile land. 

To achieve my goals listed above, I will better utilize the info views. This assignment forced me to get more accustomed to the different sub categories, and it made me aware of some issues I didn’t even realize existed. For example, My city is producing trash in excess, and cannot process it effectively. Had I not checked the info views, I would not have known this, and it would have created problems down the road. I think I will also pause the game more often. A lot of times I will place it on the fastest setting, and very quickly am overwhelmed because issues arise and I cannot keep up. By placing my city on pause, I can focus my energy on one issue at a time.

Comprehensive planning is an all-encompassing approach to planning that aims to address the future growth of a community. As discussed in the first chapter of Neighborhood Planning and Community-based Development: The Potential and Limits of Grassroots Action, Peterman outlines the importance of neighborhoods and grassroots community-based efforts in planning. Peterman details that he believes that solutions to issues lie within the community, I think Cities: Skylines biggest setback is lack of community feedback. While the bird in the top center of the screen sometimes offers clues into how residents feel, it usually is quite broad and repetitive. The citizen happiness tool is sometimes helpful, but in the real world, the connection between residents and planners is much stronger. In the next coming weeks for class, we will attend a zoning board/area commission meeting. Even amidst a pandemic, planners know it is necessary for them to converse with the residents that ultimately carry out their lives in the areas they are planning, even if it is over Zoom. Policies on things like transportation, recreation, and housing need the perspective of residents to be effective, otherwise, they are not catering to the needs of the population. 

About Me

My name is Nora Elkady and I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio! I’m majoring in international studies and Arabic. My international studies major requires a minor and while originally I was planning on minoring in business or international business, after a couple of classes I decided it didn’t align well with my interests! I decided to take this course to see how I feel about CRP as a whole because over quarantine I developed a sudden interest in urban planning through a social justice lens after reading couple journals on racism in urban planning, and how historically urban planning has been at times used as a tool of white supremacy. 

My favorite city in the United States would be New York City. Beyond it just holding childhood memories from the several years my family lived there, I also like NYC because of how varied the city is. Not only are each of the five boroughs distinct in their own way, but neighborhoods/areas within the boroughs are distinct as well. Take Manhattan as an example; the vibe in Midtown is very different from the vibe in Harlem, and the vibe in Harlem is very different in comparison to that of the East Village. Outside of the United States, the list of cities I have yet to visit is quite extensive, but I have visited Marrakesh, Morocco, and it will forever hold a place in my heart. There’s something very charming about having old and new in such close proximity to each other. When I lived in Marrakech during the Summer of 2019, my house was located in the old medina, while my school was located in Gueliz, an area of Marrakech built during French occupation starting in 1912. Most cities I’ve been to don’t have such a visible development from old to new, which is what makes Marrakech and other cities across North Africa so special.

Gueliz, an area of Marrakech

The old souk located in the Medina of Marrakech