Starting the Simulation
When beginning the simulation, I did not have much of a plan. I actually had to restart the simulation five different times until I found a plan that works. The current attempt that I am on is the fifth. The game named my city Lakewood. I thought about changing this name, but I figured I would keep it due to the amount of water that surrounds the original limits of the city. Even though they are technically two rivers, there are also lots of trees and wooded areas to fit the latter part of the name. Other than these reasons, there is no specific special reason why the city is named Lakewood.
Overall Development
In the beginning, the city was only a single plot of land with a highway running through it. I had to begin building roads and zoning so that development could begin. Now, the city has multiple districts and is thriving due to the community that occupies it. Since I began building the city, it has grown to a little over 10,000 people and is currently making more than enough money to continue to expand and maintain itself.
The General Population
The general demographics of the city have changed enormously since it was started. Now, there is more industry as well as tall living communities within walking distance of workplaces. When the city first started, it was a very small community that relied on small commercial business and little industry. With more residents now, Lakewood requires more housing and industry to provide jobs for the community. The city is headed for a large development happening soon that requires more large apartment buildings as well as more office jobs that are held by the newly educated generation.
The Built Environment
The built environment is very simple in Lakewood right now, but is soon to become more complex. Roads and layouts of those roads at the moment are very simple and walkable for people of the city. With new growth on the way, I will have to rethink the different capacities of certain roads that lead to certain areas. A strength of this is that citizens feel the city has more of a small feel which in turn brings safety. One weakness of this is that there is more traffic around highly populated and visited areas such as directly off of the highway and near commercial zones. An opportunity for growth presents itself in the land available in the area surrounding the city. Soon, new bridges and highways will need to be created in order for the city to function more efficiently. One threat to the built environment is the number of uneducated people in the city. Many of these people work in the industrial sector of the city. One need that this sector has asked for is more educated workers. This is a threat to the city because industry makes up a large portion of the tax dollars that help the city maintain itself. One step I know I am able to take to help prevent this from occurring again in the future is allowing more tax dollars to go to education and ensuring that the capacities of the local schools meet the needs of the communities. This could even mean adjusting the budget to make it sustainable for the cause.
Housing in Lakewood
Housing in Lakewood is becoming more and more diverse every day. A goal for housing is that it continues to grow and maintain itself. Many people who first started out in the city have upgraded their homes to keep up with the rapid change taking place in the city. A strength of the housing in Lakewood is that it is fairly consistent throughout the entire city, and is positioned near small commercial structures and other houses. One weakness of the housing is that some of the structures are positioned next to office space and not the resources that they need. One opportunity for this sector is the opportunity for growth. Along one of the rivers, there is the capability for development, which has already taken place with a few low-scale high-density living structures as well as some houses. I look to expand this to create more diversity in the types of housing offered along the river. One threat to housing is the growing industry in the area. Constantly, there needs to be more room for industry to grow. When industry grows, this impedes on the space that is available for housing in the city. Sometimes it is very hard to keep the industrial portion of the city away from the residential. A way that I can manage this threat is to continue expanding the city and ensuring that the industrial portion has enough room away from the zoning of the residential area. I cannot eliminate the industry in the city because many people rely on it for employment.
Economic Development
Since starting Lakewood, I have taken out three loans to maintain the city. In the start, there were some major economic problems due to the constantly changing and unpredictable economy. Now, the city is very stable with due to the constant tax revenue that is brought in. One strength of the economics in the city is that they support the growing needs of the city. Budgets are able to be raised in different sectors when needed due to the stability of the local economy. One weakness of the local economy is that taxes are sometimes lowered or raised depending on the needs in the community. If they are too high, this can cause businesses and homeowners to be driven out of the city. An opportunity for growth in economics presents itself with the growing need for more housing. A threat to the local economy happens when it does not grow fast enough so some small business owners struggle to keep their doors open. To combat this issue, I need to make sure that there is enough room for growth as well as job opportunities for people who move there so the economy continues to thrive. These people who are new now have jobs and are able to support the local economy and local businesses. Ensuring this can mean that there is appropriate zoning as well as continuing expansion.
Transportation
In the city, there is one main form of transportation: cars. There is no community form of transportation yet such as a metro or train. At the moment, there is not much room in the budget to establish something of this scale yet. There are no real strengths or weaknesses when it comes to not having a central form of transportation. There is opportunity for growth in this part of the city that will most likely occur within the next week. One threat that does pose a problem is if the lack of public transportation continues, people will not be content in the city and possibly move. Because there is less high density housing in the city right now, it is not as big of a threat. With the hopes of increasing the number of high density housing areas, creates a larger need for public transportation. A way we can solve this is by slightly increasing taxes on properties and businesses and cutting the budget in certain areas to save for an investment of this scale.
Community Services and Utilities
At the moment, there are not many community services other than those that serve basic needs of the community such as hospitals, schools, police and fire departments, eldercare, and childcare services. The utilities in the city mainly are water and electric. All of these things are needs of the community and must be maintained in order for the community to continue to prosper and function. One goal for the community services is that they continue to become more widely available to all people who reside in Lakewood. A goal for the utilities is that they continuously be slowly converted to more sustainable energy sources. A strength of the current community services that we have is that they are constantly evolving and serving areas of the city that need them. There are enough community services spread across the city to meet the needs of the current population of the city. One weakness is that some of the services are not utilized as much as they should be. An opportunity for growth presents itself with newer forms of energy production. These forms include water and wind as the sources, but tend to be a bit more expensive to implement. A threat of having too many community services that aren’t utilized is that the budget will be unnecessarily used for a resource that doesn’t widely benefit the community it is in. A way that we can fix this is to watch and continuously adjust the budget as needed for these resources. Keeping an eye on the number of citizens who use it is a good way to ensure the budget is used wisely for this resource.
Parks and Recreation
Parks. and Recreation is an area that the city struggles with. One goal for this sector of the city is that it sees significant growth soon. There is only one park for the community in Lakewood. A strength of the park is its location. It is located in a residential area so that it can serve the community it resides in. The weakness of the park is also its location. This is not accessible for people who live all the way across the city in a high-density. residential zone. The opportunity that this area has is for major growth and expansion. Many people would use more parks if they became available all across the city. One threat that adding more parks entails is the amount of space that they take up. Other than this, many more parks are needed for the well-being of the community. I will be starting to implement more parks that are accessible to everyone in the community to combat this issue.
The Natural Environment
The natural environment in Lakewood does not have much diversity. There are two rivers and lots of flat land in the area. A goal for this land is to make it have more diverse terrain. One strength of the land being flat is that things are much more accessible to the community. Travel is much easier for the citizens and the layout is much easier to understand. One weakness to this environment is that it does not stand out when compared to other cities and the layout of the city is rather plain. There is lots of opportunity to change this with the purchase of new areas of land. The threat of environmental change occurs when the terrain is changed. If new wetlands arise, then there will be more wildlife. These things could be impacted by the types of industry in the area as well as the pollution that they produce. One way I could address this concern is to place the new addition far away from industry as well as up wind and upstream from the industrial zone.
Future Land Use/Expansion
A goal for the future land use it to keep expanding if the city needs to do so. At the moment, there have been two pieces of land that have been purchased and used to expand the city. I felt that this was necessary given how close the city zones were becoming to one another as well as the access to the highway being limited. A strength of the expansion has been being able to add more zones such as high-density residential and office zones. One weakness to this is having free space that sometimes takes longer to develop. Opportunities for expansion lie in the free land that I purchase for expansion. This also allows for different road types to be developed. One threat that may occur is that there may not be enough access to certain areas from other parts of the city. This could drive away people from the city. I could fix this issue by incorporating more road types to access the newer areas of the city. Other threats that arise are having enough resources to provide water/waste and electricity. I could add additional locations for these to reach the newly purchased areas.
The main strategy I need to implement in the city is addressing the direct concerns and problems of the cities. In doing so, new roads will be created, the land will be expanded, the terrain will be changed, and more resources will be added to improve life in the city. Some of these resources include different forms of transportation, more utilities, new zoning, parks, and other things of this nature to benefit the city. In doing this, I will need to pay off the loan that I have now and most likely take out a larger loan. Not all of this can be accomplished at once, either. These will have to take place in steps to prioritize the most prevalent concerns.
Reflection
Many of the concerns in the simulation are relevant to real life. I don’t think that we would be controlling the simulation if it were not representative of what real planning is like. However, there are a few aspects that do not appear on the simulation that do in real life. One of these aspects is the role that a planner has in the community. A planner can impact local politics and be a voice for the people. This is not prevalent in the simulation. Also, there are many other people involved in real life planning, not just the planner. Most times, in real life, the planner must take into consideration the budget to plan, but does not have direct control of the money or the percentage of tax citizens pay. Many large aspects of planning are not considered in the simulation. The planning of zoning is similar as well as the response from the citizens of the city. If a good structure such as a hospital or fire department is built in close proximity to homes, there is a positive reaction compared to a negative reaction when houses are built next to industrial areas. These are very similar to some of the reactions that would occur in real life planning.