Welcome to Blog 4

Welcome to Blog 3

Summary of Concept Map

In my concept, I used urban design, natural environment, and transportation to represent the three dimensions of planning. I used different colors and icons to represent each of the planning dimensions. Also, I used lines to connect each component to the dimensions. For the urban design, I used the color blue and building icon, for the natural environment I used the color green and tree/leaf icons, and for transportation, I used the color gray and train icon. These three dimensions represent the city’s health and vitality where they all are connected by a black line. In my concept map, urban design and natural environment are connected to each other through ‘zoning’ and ‘keep factories away from residential areas’. These two are connected because to keep the environment safe by keeping factories away from residential areas can be achieved through zoning. Transportation and the natural environment are connected through ‘traffic’ and ‘public transportation’. These two are connected because through public transportation the traffic can low and public transportation is good for the environment and transportations. Urban design and transportation are connected through ‘School, Library, Police and Fire stations’ and ‘Economic development’. These two are connected because having a good school system and public safety can with economic development which can be achieved through urban design and transportation. Finally, urban design, transportation, and the natural environment are connected through ‘Improve the quality of people’s lives’, ‘social needs’, and ‘keep factories away from the residential area’. These three are connected because one component needs another and without one it will be hard to achieve the other ones.

Cities: Skylines simulator

Skylines does a wonderful job capturing these interactions because in the game there are many tools that let the user know how their city it is doing. For example, the happiness tap where lets the user know if people are in his city are happy or not, and by clicking there it highlights all the people who are happy and who are not. This tab also tells is small businesses and industries are doing in the city.  There are other tools that help with capturing these interactions too. For example, adding bus stations/routes, schools, libraries, and parks increases happiness we know this because when we add these in the simulation, we get green happy faces. Whereas adding factories and fossil fuel industries takes happiness away and we know this because when we add these, we get red sad faces. So, overall Skylines does a good job showing these interactions, especially in the zoning. In my Skylines, I can see how zoning has affected traffics, pollution, and high population because I have built high-density buildings in a small area which causes all these problems. Even though Skylines gives us almost full control of the city, which is good for a game but in reality, it won’t fit. For example, in the game, we can destroy a whole part of the city where it is running smoothly, and we will be fine. The happiness might drop a little but we can still do it but in real life that is not possible and there are rules which will stop someone from doing it.

Public transportation

Keeping factories away from residential areas

Use of clean energy (natural environment)

Welcome to Blog Two 

Sidewalks

While walking around the campus I found that most of the sidewalks around the campus are a perfect size and they are in good condition. However, when I got into the residential side of the campus there were some sides walks that were too wide almost two cars can fit in that sidewalk. I feel like that is not well use of the space because they could use that space to put more green spaces or they could have made the houses bigger. But other than that, all sidewalks were good.

Street width

All streets are the appropriate size and the traffic flow was not bad at all. There were max two-line roads or one-way street. This was the perfect size for the roads and if they added wider it will not make a difference instead it will create more problems and traffic because people will keep changing lines to go ahead. But, it will not just create more traffic.

Street safety

The roads were very safe for pedestrians to walk around and every street has safe crossing. Most people were following the safety rules and use waiting for the walking sign to show then they cross the road. There is nothing that needs to change for street safety it good the way it is.

Traffic flow

There was a mix of one-way and two-way roads. In the main streets lines like North High is a two-way road and street in the residential area like ninth Ave were one way. This is was perfect street division because int tow ways the street is a high traffic area so not many people are parking on the side while in one-way streets people are parked on both sides because traffic is not bad in that area. Also, they are using the space most effectively.

Setbacks

The setbacks of properties seemed appropriate. In the new residential buildings, there was not much space between them and there were not many commercial areas and in the housing areas there was little space between the house compared to the buildings

Building use

Most buildings around the campus make sense and I did not find any building which was which did not sync with other buildings around them. Most buildings are appropriate for the locations but one thing could change is that changes the house to a big building where more people can stay and the rent can go down too for the students.

Parking

Around the campus, there are lots of parking spaces that are available to the public and its configuration is appropriate and functional. However, all parking garages are expensive for students to park. Most students want to save money, so they park far so most to garages not even half full. If they drop the price, then it will be efficient

Accessibility

While walking around I found that a person with disabilities will have a hard time going around. Even though some places have ramps, but most places don’t and the road crossing is not safe for a person with disabilities because there is no sign says watch out for walking people. People just have to follow the signs and if a person in a wheelchair and a driver doesn’t see it the situation can get very ugly. So, there are lots of improvements needs around to provide full safety to people with disabilities

Green Space

Around the campus, there are lots of green space to hang out as a group or an individual to seat and do their work. So, most of the areas around the campus look very green and environment friendly. But when moving toward off-campus there is very little space between buildings and there are not many green spaces. Not having green spaces in those areas make looks less friendly to live.

Introduction

Welcome to Sun City! I named this my city Sun City because I wanted to build something when someone looked at the city, they know that this is a warm-weather city. The special about this city is that it is living up to his name. Which means most of the electricity is generated through the sun or water. We want to take care of our city there are so many industrial areas which are spreading pollution, but we did not want to add more to that. On top of that, I have designed my city to look like a palm tree to attract more people.

Background

When I first started the city, I started building a new water edge so that I can produce electricity and supply water to my city easily at a low cost. Which helped me use more resources toward the city development. With that, the demand for residential, commercial, and industrial increased so I started building those. Increasing residents demanded the city to build parks, schools, and many other things to keep the city safe. Since I saved money in utilities, I used those to build the city’s demand. Later I took a loan and expanded the city and paid off the loan.

Population

Sun City started with a small population mid-August but since then the population has grown 101,906+ counting. In the city, I have 7375 children (7%), 14832 teens (14%), and 20231 young adults (19%). Even though these three groups the future of the city they only make up 40% of the population other 60% are made of 32111 adults (34%) and 27357 seniors (26%). Based on this population the city will have lots of deaths when I am already seeing it grow all over the city. But after that, the city will rise again.

Built Environment

When I was building the city, my main goal was to keep industries away from the residents. I achieved in my planning because I do not have any industries next to residential areas, so this is my strength. One weakness is I have built most of the industries next to a water source that the city uses daily. Since these industries are next to the water, they are pouring all the wasted into the same water which makes water bad. However, this is very low, but it could get worse. The opportunity I see that I can shut those industries down and open some commercial areas to attract more people near the water source. The threat I see is that is lots of people have drank the polluted water my city will face downfall for a little while till everyone gets better.

Housing

As I was planning the houses my goal was to have at least one part per neighborhood which I have achieved so far, and people are loving it. There are many strengths in my housing plans because I have a small commercial building near a neighborhood so people can walk and buy all the things they need. Second, I have residential buildings around the neighborhood so if people cannot afford a house they can live in an apartment. Finally, I build offices near the buildings so people can save time and walk to work. One weakness is that in those areas I’m mixing the corporate world to regular works which might lead to some problems, so I need to move those two apart. One opportunity I see is that I can take out the commercial or office building and put a park so that residents can enjoy it.

Economic Development

When we look at Sun City’s economy they are in a good start because they have diverse their import around the city, and they all are paying good taxes which is helping the city to invest more money in development. The city generates $332,445 in revenue from the tax on residents, commercials, industries, offices, and transportation. The city has expenses of $321,215 which covers utilities and protections. One weakness is the city is losing money in transportation, but it still has it to keep the public happy. But overall, the city saves $11,230 to bring new buildings.

Transportation

Sun City wants the inner city to have easy access to the transportations so that they can go places inside easily. Most of my inner cities have bus systems for free but not many people are using it. Only 182 people are riding per week out of 101,906 people. So, stopped putting more resources in bus stops to expand. However, the traffic flow in my city is average. Most of the traffic is industrials areas and the highways which let people in and out of the city. But other than that, most traffic areas are green. To bring the traffic down I will need to expand the bus and train systems around the city which will lower the traffic.

Community Service and Utilities

In Sun city unique buildings are all over the city. You will find a unique building and entertainment placer close but not too close to residential areas. With top of entertainment, it has education buildings, fire departments, police departments, healthcare facilities, and parks are all over the city. Residents can access to these very easily. The one problem I faced was I had enough graves and garbage collection space but I didn’t have those around the city so there was a time where most of my residents had dead bodies and garbage stock at their place for a long time which leads many people to leave the city.

Parks and Recreation

My goal is to have parks available to everyone around the city. Right now I only have parks available to new communities and very old communities but people who moved in the middle they don’t have access to parks in their area because I forgot to build parks when planning. However, people still moved into that area because of the neighborhood design which are shapes like a palm tree.

Natural Environment

The city’s goal is to use all the natural resources that are available to us before importing. However, sun city is blessed with fertile land, oil, and a good forest. So, the city uses those for development. The city exports more than 75% of agriculture supplies. At first, I did not plan correctly so I lost lots of forests in the old city. But as I am expanding the city I’m trying to keep the forest around the neighborhood and decreasing oil production to protect the environment.

Future Land use Plan

Sun City’s goal is to have different types of neighborhoods around the city. For example, keeping the sun in mind I want to build more palm trees and coconut trees shape communities around the city. So that I am not overloading the city with people but I’m keeping more open space for that city can plant more trees to keep the green and health. This will also help people in the city to stay healthy because there will be less pollution around the city. If there is pollution (CO2) it will be observed by the trees.

Implementation Strategy

To improve Sun City with my action item first I will search through the city and read what people have to say based on that come of up with a plan to bring changes to the city. for example, one of my action items is to bring more transportation to the city and make it available to everyone and make a profit out of it because as of now the city is not many any money from transportations. My other main thing to bring is more parks around the city even though there is no open area in the middle of the city for a park. So, I will have to come up with a plan to make that happen without hurting the residents. My other main action item is to buy lands around the downtown so that I can have palm trees around it or else they will be just in a straight line that will not look meet the city goal.

Simulation vs. Reality

There is a big difference between simulation and reality. In the simulation, we have full control of city planning. We can decide where to put a park, school, or special buildings. When we plan those things in the simulation, we can actually make it happen without any problem or anyone stopping us. But in reality, there are many steps until the Implementation takes place. Also, in the simulation, if something goes wrongs we are hurting the digital people but if something goes wrong in reality many people can get hurt.

Hi welcome to my blog

My name is Madhaba Naidu and I’m from India. I moved to the United States in 2011 and now I live in Columbus Ohio. I’m majoring in City and Regional planning that’s why I’m taking this class because this is the foundation of City and Regional planning and it’s required. My favorite city is New York City and there many reasons why I like this city the best. This city is most diverse compared to others and this city never sleeps which means you can find something to do at any time of the day or night. The lifestyle in this area is so unique that it’s hard to find anywhere else in the world. When I first visited this city I fell in love with the tall buildings,  all kinds of stores, restaurants, and the lifestyle.