The Comprehensive Plan: Simulation versus Reality

The name of my city is Springdale. Springdale is a unique city as it is constantly growing and improving everyday. It is a city that was built from the ground-up and the pioneer citizens are the backbone of the city. This is also a city that has taken multiple attempts to build. I was not very successful initially when planning the city and I have had quit and rebuild the city often as I was getting used to the simulation. When first building, the city was essentially a set of roads accompanied by residential zones adjacent to the roads. Initially there were no public services, such as schools, health departments, policing systems, and other public services. Those were constructed in the city as the city grew in size and population. Initially, the population consisted of adults and small children who the parents were forced to home school for any form of education. Today, the city consists of all age ranges, mostly working adults. The second largest age group is made up of teenagers in school and children are also a big age group in the city. There are growing numbers of young adults and this will only increase in the future of the city. The elderly makes up a small demographic in the city as they only account for less than four percent of the city, though it is important to keep in mind that the city is still in its initial stages and on the rise.

The Built Environment is coming together in Springdale. A goal for the built environment is just to continue growing and be able to provide for the population of the city so that the city does not have to be threatened with bankruptcy.  A strength of the built environment is that there are constructed areas that contain different zones. There are areas of the city that contain mostly residential zones and other areas that consist of industrial or commercial areas. The city is also located near a body of water and this allows for freshwater to be provided to the area through the pumps and drainage systems. One weakness is that it is still a very small city and greater attention is needed in order to further advance the area and keep the citizens happy. One opportunity is that there are many improvements and adjustments that can be made to the city because it is still in the early stages of the city. This allows for much future work to be added to make the city attractable to civilians. One threat to the area is my personal inexperience with the simulation, therefore everything functions on a trial and error basis so it is often difficult to maintain the city. One specific action that I will take with the city is more attention and time put into creating the city. I was not able to really start working on the city until recently due to everything that I had going on with school and midterms coming up for many of my classes around similar time periods. Now that I am past the heavy load of midterm in most of my classes, I can now devote more of my time to making the city of Springdale into a bigger and better city.

A goal for housing in Springfield is to be able to provide enough places to live so that greater populations can be able to live in the city.  In the city a strength of housing is that there are areas that consist mainly of residential zones and they are located close to one another and therefore there is a great community sense in the city. A weakness of housing in the city is that as soon as you arrive in the city, there are residential zones right away. This does not allow some of the citizens to have a sense of privacy and also the residents may be at greater risk of higher noise pollution levels.  An opportunity is that residential zones are very easy to construct in the city and this allows for greater city growth in areas throughout the city. One major threat in the housing department is keeping the citizens proper resourced with health care and policing. This is a challenge that I am currently faced with as a lot of my residents are experiencing sicknesses and I am struggling to find a way to provide the necessary services for them. Within the housing department, further actions that I will take include contenting to create residential zones for new citizens to move into Springdale. I will also pay close attention to the health of my citizens and provide them with better health services throughout the city.

Economic development is an area that is plenty in Springdale. A goal dealing with economic development is to continue to create these areas throughout the city and manage the taxing and budgeting situations as the city progresses. A strength in economic development is that there are many commercial zones throughout the city and this allows the citizens to generate and spend their money. A weakness of the economic development is that it is difficult to find the right amount to invest in certain functions of the city and I am constantly adjusting the budget in attempt to find the best solution. The same issue surrounds taxing in the city as citizens and businesses will grow unhappy is you tax too much. There are many opportunities in the economic development of the town as you are able to adjust the levels of taxation and I can create more commercial zones for the citizens at times when needed. An overarching threat in the city is the lurking threat of bankruptcy, something that you would never want in a city. In the future I will continue to manage the budget and taxation in a way that I believe is best. I will also watch my weekly income closely and do what I can to avoid bankruptcy.

A goal for transportation is to create roads and highways in a way that is accessible for the citizens and avoid traffic build-ups in the city. A strength is that since the city is still very small in comparison to others, I have not experienced and real issues in transportation so far. A weakness so far is that there are no highways or major roads in the city. This is due to the fact that the need for highways is not there yet in the city, but this does mean that there is not an easy way to get around the city at the moment. An opportunity is that we are able to choose from various types of roads and highways within the simulation. I also found that roundabouts are a very effective way to manage the flow of traffic in the city. A challenge that I will be faced with is implementing the highways in the city in a strategic way when I get to that point in my city. Action that I can take at the moment, while I do not currently have highways, is closely watching the flow of cars throughout the city and note any patterns that do become apparent and use this to correctly implement the highways in the city.

A goal for the community services and utilities in Springdale is for them to be places in areas where they are able to correctly function and provide for the city. A strength is that I already have fire and police systems, garbage systems, and multiple health service systems throughout the city and they appear to be providing for the city. A weakness is that these services are only able to cover a certain amount of the city so it is often necessary to implement multiple of these functions throughout the city so that everyone can be correctly taken care of. An opportunity that we have in the simulation is that we are able to adjust the budget for these services and we can allocate greater money to different services so that they can be better providers for the city. More money going towards these services leads to better function of the services to the area. A challenge that I am faced with is choosing the correct location for each service to go in the city. You must place close attention when choosing areas of the city to place different services because they can only stretch so far for their services. Action that I will take is to notice what issues citizens are having in households, whether that be many sick citizens, high crime, or lack of educational opportunities, and doing what I can to place community services so that their calls for help can be answered.

A goal for city parks and recreation in Springdale is to find the areas where these parks fit best and place them throughout the cities for the benefit of the citizens. A strength of the parks system is that you are able to place these parks anywhere in the city, as long as it is next to a road system. A weakness of the parks system is that you have to choose the right area to place these parks in order to make the most people happy. One opportunity of the parks is that creating these parks creates a greater citizen approval of the city and you are able to make many happy as you do place these parks in the city. A threat to these parks is that you can not place these wherever and you must take many factors into account when placing these parks throughout the city. Action that I can take, as the planner of this city, is to do what I can to continue to keep the citizens of Springdale satisfied. The parks and recreation systems are just one way to increase citizen involvement in the city.

A goal for the natural environment is to create a clean and pollution free environment. A strength in the city is that there are not high levels of pollution in Springdale as it is now due to the fact that it is still a smaller city and there is not much general pollution throughout the city. A weakness is that as the city expands, pollution will become a greater issue. One opportunity that I have now is that I have control over the city and I can implement laws, such as no smoking and other laws, in the city so that overall health can be maintained at a higher level in the citizens of Springdale. Action that I can take include implementing the different types of city regulations, like the no smoking and others, in order to create a safe environment. I can also work to decrease the levels of destruction of the natural environment by watching what I place in the city and ensure that it is not degrading to the area.

One goal for the future land use in Springdale is to continue to use the land in an efficient and sustainable way. I also hope to not waste land in the city by placing subject in the wrong area of the city. A strength that we have with the simulation is that we have the ability to bulldoze and rebuild structures throughout the city and we are able to also get money back by  bulldozing structures. A weakness is that this is my personal first time using this simulation so I am still learning aspects of this game as I go so it is more difficult for me to predict that will come in the future for the city. I do however, have the opportunity to learn from my mistakes with this simulation and I am able to further build my abilities with this simulation. A threat is the constant drive to want to make the city greater and more successful without facing bankruptcy. Action that I can take is to just continue on with the simulation and further my knowledge and skills with the simulation. I will devote more of my time to the game hopefully this leads to success in the future with my city.

Cities: Skylines does a great job at getting us experience in what it takes to become a professional planner in the real world. What we are doing in this simulation closely relates to reality as we see this in the comprehensive plan for Jonestown, Ohio. Relating to Jonestown, we are tasked with providing resources to the citizens of the town. We must be able to provide the basic life resources in a city in order to attract citizens to the area. In the case of Jonestown, we are able to see more of a breakdown in population by the categories of race. It is also nice to be able to see the breakdowns of everything from the types of developments, types of housing, and the age breakdowns. We are not able to really see the specific breakdowns in the simulation so it is nice to see the real data from the city of Jonestown.

Pictures from Springdale (Photos are out of order, but represent aspects of my city) :