For my concept map, I used three colors to organize my thoughts. I have the three factors of city health and vitality—urban design, transportation, and the environment—highlighted in yellow. Highlighted in green are the relationships between the three factors. Finally, highlighted in blue, I have the effects of these relationships on city health and vitality. I had to pare down the rough draft of my map and keep only what I thought were the most salient connections, on account that the map would have been so convoluted. As illustrated through this assignment, urban design, transportation, and the environment are complexly intertwined aspects of planning. Two of the effects on health and vitality of the city that I listed are economic externalities and social justice. Initially, it may be difficult to see how urban design can either contribute to or mitigate structural racism, but when planners consider dismantling or conserving a car-centric city (which serves the privileged), the connection between social justice and design/transportation is clear. Similarly, I made the point of connecting urban design to positive economic externalities. An aesthetically pleasing city (which was created to improve citizen happiness) may also have the unintended effect of revenue from tourism.
Cities: Skylines captures some of the interconnectedness of urban planning. Particularly, in the simulation, the planner can see how zoning (urban design) has effects on both transportation and the environment. In my city, the worst traffic is caused by congestion from reaching the industrial zoned area. Most of my residents are employed in that area, so it also has the highest traffic. Also, citizens in the simulation will complain about living too closely to industrial areas, since it is not only sensibly unpleasant, but it can cause negative effects on their health. Generally, Cities: Skylines illustrates most of the connections between areas of planning.