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Blog Post 1

Introduction

My city, Rockfield, has become a small area offering many services and leisure activities. It allows the existing population to not become overwhelmed with the natural or built environments they reside in. There are two districts, named Valley and Lake Square. The Valley district is consisted of residential and commercial development closer to the water. Lake Square on the other hand is located right off of the highway with industrial development.

Background

Rockfield began as a very close nit grid pattern and expanded into a more spaced out organization. From the north east to south west of the residential and commercial areas this change is visible. The residential and commercial zones sit closely together, yet are still separated. The residential takes up the majority of the mix of these 2 zones. This aids in the housing demand and accessibility to essential buildings for education, fire and crime safety, and medical resources. The industrial area continues to expand away from the city in a single strip without getting closer to the residences due to its pollution. This is where you will see industrial jobs, the landfill site, and numerous electrical production complexes.

Population 

The population of Rockfield is just under 2000 residents at 1953 people exactly.  There are 995 employed residents of the population with 1284 jobs available in the city, through both commercial or industrial avenues. Rockfield’s age demographics include:

  • Adults- 30%
  • Seniors- 27%
  • Young adults- 23%
  • Teens- 13%
  • Children- 7%.

The city grows slowly and steadily at approximately 3-10 additional and lost residents per week. It is starting to get closer to 2000 as land value, roads, and residences grow. There has been a small loss of population when homes are uprooted for essential buildings and parks.

Built Environment

Goal- Stretch the growth of the population towards the water to allow the industrial zone to grow in the same direction also without damaging natural resources found in the area and disrupting the residential areas.

Strength- The pollution of the industrial zone does not come in contact with a single residence or business in Rockfield.

Weakness- The pollution of those industrial zones have been damaging to the environment and further planning is needed for its need in future development.

Opportunity- As land value increases, due to sustainability and access to essential resources, buildings are becoming more developed.

Threat- It makes it a more difficult decision when removing homes for new development such as schools.

Further Actions:

  • As I develop the city I can locate places nestled in the city with optimal access for services.

Housing

Goal- Increase land value for residences

Strength- The majority of the residents are satisfied in their conditions of their neighborhood.

Weakness- Residents are quick to leave once an issue arrives whether that’s high tax rates or not receiving a connection to a utility.

Opportunity- The more housing the more Rockfield’s population grows. This then leads to newer development throughout the city to support existing and future populations.

Threat- A lot of the homes are in close proximity to each other and may cause future issues for traffic flow.

Actions:

  • Try to create a less rigid, rectangular design to the streets.

Economic Development

Goal- Maintain a positive profit above $1000.

Strength- There’s greater than 10,000 saved in the bank for economic safety measures. The majority of the budgets are set at an effective 50% also.

Weakness- The budget is already making electricity, district policies, and the fire department have large sums of expenses for the city.

Opportunity- I have a financial safety net to fall back on if the profit of Rockfield becomes negative.

Threat- Expansion threatens the electricity consumption which increases those costs.

Actions:

  • Find optimal and cheaper ways to provide enough electricity to the city
  • Pay attention more to the demand of energy before building a structure.

Transportation

Goal- Maintain an optimal traffic flow from highway to streets and throughout the different zones.

Strength- The only forms of transportation are walking and driving a car.

Weakness- No public transportation is implemented yet.

Opportunity- The majority of the city has easily accessible sites that doesn’t require long travel times.

Threat- Rockfield is not set up for that implementation and may have issues in the future affecting traffic flow.

Actions:

  • Create less intersections without disturbing other services.
  • Consider additional routes for that service.

Community Services and Utilities

Goal- Create a better plan to allow services to have accessibility to the majority of residents, workplaces, and businesses.

Strength- The current placing of services and utilities has produced increased land values for the starting points of Rockfield.

Weakness- There are “dark zones”, or areas without access to services, near the expanded areas of the city.

Opportunity- The increase in land value encourages citizens to stay as they expect more development to provide the best livelihood for their families.

Threat- Parts of my city will have an increase in crime rates, fires and sickness. These areas may also remain uneducated and without adequate water and electricity.

Actions:

  • Space the current services to make it more accessible
  • Invest in more service structures to ensure that accessibility

Parks and Recreation

Goal- Create more parks and recreation for the city without removing a lot of residences in place

Strength- The parks are placed near the center of neighborhoods to allow for access.

Weakness- Not many residents visit the park or basketball court in the city meant for entertainment and leisure.

Opportunity- The addition of parks and recreation will beautify the city to newcomers and tourists.

Threat- The expense of these places may be greater than the use of them.

Actions:

  • Experiment with the community’s reaction to different types of parks.

Natural Environment

Goal- Prevent the spread of pollution to the residential neighborhood

Strength-The pollution to Rockfield is being controlled through zoning and roads.

Weakness- The Lake Square district has a lot of pollution and damage to the environment.

Opportunity- As I expand there’s plenty of opportunity to use the natural resources to Rockfield’s benefit.

Threat-Industrial zones may stop this chance to get the most out of the natural resources within the environment.

Actions:

  • Explore what the natural environment has to offer

Future Land Use Plan

Goal- Map out the route future development should take.

Strength- Rockfield has a lot of land to be developed before additional land needs to be purchased.

Weakness- My city is expanding in one horizontal direction parallel to the highway exits.

Opportunity- Having a plan will prevent further mistakes and changes of the city’s setup.

Threat- A lot more demands will create more issues as Rockfield expands.

Actions:

  • Implement the route for future development

Implementation Strategy

Many steps will be taken to make the plan a reality. I will go through each service one by one and place it in hypothetical spots to see the range it has indicated by the green highlight along the roads. Based on this I can map out the optimal placement for each of them. Every time I want to add a new structure I will evaluate whether it’ll be too great of a demand for electricity and water before I add it. As for the road patterns I will have to maintain the larger rectangular design to the blocks to ensure future traffic flow will not be affected greatly. In a separate saved city I will experiment with these strategies and also experiment with different additions of parks and recreation so I avoid negatively impacting the city I am building. I will also look at the natural resource tool to see which ones I have within the area and where.

Simulation Versus Reality

The simulation tackles all of the task of a comprehensive plan described by Levy except redistributive goals. Through my experience with the simulation the community barely gets a say in what happens to their city without politics and a distribution of wealth controlling development (Levy, 123). For example, expanding the city into the forest will prompt environmental supports to prevent it. The comprehensive plan as stated in lecture would also include public capital investment and subdivision regulations which the simulation doesn’t detail or allow to control what I create in Rockfield. What I detailed in my comprehensive plan though did involve land use inventory (Levy, 125). Seeing what exists for both of Rockfield’s occupied and unoccupied lands. As described in the acronym SITAR Cities: Skylines develops me into a synoptic planner with little to no interaction with the community or concern with them. My comprehensive plan will have to cycle through the research process, although I do have the ability to test it on a “dummy” city instead of Rockfield. Planners do not have this ability to erase the implemented plans they create and therefore the simulation takes you away from the majority of consequences associated with blindly planning.

Hello world!

My name is Kayla Johnson, I’m from the Cleveland area of Ohio. I’m a 2nd year student majoring in Architecture, minoring in City and Regional Planning (for now). I am very creative and eager for deeper understandings of things. In my free-time I love to draw and the majority of my knowledge comes from books, my favorite genre being autobiographies. Besides this course (CRP 2110) being required for the minor, I have an interest in learning about the field of planning and the many influences or factors that affect the profession and projects.

I eventually would like to work directly with what controls the outcome of housing and businesses in low-income neighborhoods. My end goal for my career would be reshaping and renovating a lot of disadvantaged neighborhoods for the better. The idea I have for achieving this would either be working in a position geared towards that or doing it myself (business). For added experience and pleasure I’d love to design modern styles of architecture in buildings. I strive to have the majority of my career be creating impactful changes and structures.

I can’t quite decide on one exact city that’s my favorite to visit, but I’ll choose Chicago, Illinois. When I can receive good feelings or am surrounded by positive or energetic atmospheres I thrive. Any city that has a beautiful view of nature, the water, or the sky is top on my radar also. Although having a view of a city at night, with all its lights and high buildings, is nice, it’s always more enjoyable to view the sky or a large body of water that has changing characteristics throughout the day. I have wanderlust and a curiosity for a lot of places rich in culture and visual aesthetic.