The Death and Life

of

Great Civ Cities

by

Quanton Biscuit

This book is an attack on current Civ city planning and rebuilding. It is also, and mostly, an attempt to introduce new principles of city planning and rebuilding, different and even opposite from those now taught in everything from Reddit to the putrid CivMC discord #general chat. My attack is not based on quibbles about rebuilding methods or hairsplitting about fashions in design. It is an attack, rather, on the principles and aims that have shaped modern, orthodox city planning and rebuilding.

In setting forth different principles, I shall mainly be writing about common, ordinary things: for instance what kinds of city streets work in the context of Civ and what kinds don’t; why some city blocks are vibrant and some are abandoned gray zones; why some cities are able to bounce back after a population slump and others collapse. In short, I shall be writing about how cities work in Civ and strategies to enliven them and ensure that they maintain a hearty resilience.

The ideas and strategies captured in this book are not a be-all-end-all prescription nor encompass every possible urban planning option. There are many ideas that I have not had the opportunity to try, some that could certainly use more research, and some that might not be the best fit for your city’s specific situation. The goal of this book is to provide a starting point for new mayors and to try to prevent some of the more common urban planning pitfalls from occurring. This book is aimed at people who want to create real, living cities, not cities composed entirely of vanity builds or ones that are entirely designed by two builders in creative mode, then copied over to live.

There are four core principles that I believe are critical to a healthy city. Cities must:

1. Be constrained in size

2. Avoid districting and the concentration of same-use buildings

3. Have a mix of old and new buildings coupled with strong dereliction policy and culture

4. Utilize a principle of small city blocks and small roads

City Size

The first and possibly most important topic to discuss is city size and more specifically, limiting the physical size of a city. This is probably one of the more controversial topics and is one that I have had relentless pushback on in the past. It is a problem that is unlikely to be solved unless a city acknowledges the issue and takes decisive action to address it.

Unlike cities in real life, cities on Civ have a soft population limit, they cannot expand indefinitely. There is no city on Civ that can monopolize the server population so much that the entire playerbase is actively playing in that one city. Civ is a political game and just about everyone wants to be in charge of something or be the best at that one thing. If a city fills up, the political offices will likewise fill up. People will leave in search of new leadership opportunities or places where they’re “the top dog” at whatever skill they value or enjoy.

Civ cities have a volatile population and will expand and contract rapidly; there will be an influx of newfriends one month, and then two months later 3/4ths of them will go inactive. Your population of old guard players will return for three months, then take a break and only return the following year. There will be periods where the population of the city is 30 active players and a time where there are barely 3 people logging in. A good city needs to be able to both support times where there are 30 people playing and times where there are three. No matter what, your city needs to feel alive, vibrant, and ever changing.

A Tale of Two Cities

So how can this be accomplished? The city needs to be limited in geographic size. Ask yourself, what feels more alive:

A) A compact city with 3 people on your combat radar; one player is rapidly building a new shop, one is refining the rail system, and the other is buying merchandise. All of the buildings in the city are maintained and the shops are well stocked. It is clear that work is happening in the city and there are few abandoned buildings. Construction sites only remain construction sites for about two weeks before either being finished or removed. You can easily find someone in the city because it takes you 60 seconds to run to the other side.

B) A megalopolis that spans a continent with 3 people living in it… except they all live in different corners of the city. You rarely encounter other players but trust me, they’re there somewhere! There are many buildings that are owned by players who haven’t logged in in the past year, many of which aren’t finished and have clear signs of break-ins. Construction sites sometimes remain construction sites indefinitely. About half the shops are empty, defunct, or broken into. There are numerous open plots, almost all of which are claimed by some player who hasn’t logged in for the past 6 months but will _definitely_ get back to building their skyscraper once they muster the energy to log back in. Finding an actual player in the city is nigh impossible, each person is in their own suburb of the city, siloed away from everyone and everything that might make the city seem like an actual population center. You may as well be playing a single player build world for how much player interaction you're getting.

Both of these examples are from my personal experience of visiting two cities for the first time. City “A” was NYC (New Yoahtl City) on CivClassics and city “B” was Mount Augusta (MTA), also from CivClassics. Both cities are prime examples of how a difference in city planning dramatically impacted both the quality of each of the cities and their longevity. There were numerous times where NYC dropped to <3 active players but it ALWAYS bounced back. NYC remained as one of the core commerce cities and population centers on CivClassics up to the server shutting down. MTA on the other hand never bounced back from the Infinity War; while the population of the city returned to Civ in the form of the new city state, Mount September, the original city was never reinhabited. To quote Enforcer15, notable 1.0 player “MTA liked their city so much they moved 1,000 blocks away and built a new one.”

MTA was crushed under the weight of itself, the city was so large it was impossible to restore in any meaningful way. Once there was a major population slump, terminal urban decay occurred. Vast, largely incomplete mega builds populated each neighborhood of the city, unable to be torn down due to the sheer size of each one. Any time a resident returned to activity and tried to play in the city, they found themselves isolated in neighborhoods far away from any other resident, unable to effectively coordinate on projects due to great distances separating each other. Instead of having three people playing in close proximity, able to jointly restore core parts of the city, every citizen was cordoned off, separated by hundreds of blocks of boulevards that led to nowhere.

The city was also proven to be completely indefensible; too large to trench (unless the residents chose to abandon massive chunks of the city), nearly impossible to adequately trap, challenging to build sufficient bunkers; all around a nightmare to defend. This of course was a massive problem given the proximity of the NATO vault, Pinkerton (a vault not 200 blocks from the river that separated MTA and NATO territory) and the Hjaltland bunker complex known as Hjaltplot that was located INSIDE the city. Players suspected of being NATO, Mir, or Hjaltland aligned were often pearled and then spirited away by whatever NATO / Hjaltland / Mirian fighter happened to pick them up. It would probably be safer to walk the streets of Mogadishu than it would be to travel through MTA.

Conversely, NYC was a city that was able to bounce back. The city was small and robust; if you visited the city, you could see everyone playing in the city on your combat radar, finding another player was trivial. When there was a major population decline (most notably during the Infinity War when the server wide population declined to <10 active players per day), it was extremely easy to revitalize the city. One simply needed to get one or two friends to log in and suddenly the city was bustling. Due to the limited space, land was a commodity and there was a serious incentive to derelict (tear down or revitalize) abandoned or incomplete structures. Furthermore, there was a distinct lack of mega-builds; the few examples are the government headquarters and the rail station, both of which were necessary to the functioning of the city. There were no monolithic, empty skyscrapers blotting out the sky, no vast (but incomplete) palaces taking up four city blocks, no complexes splitting the city in half. The buildings were appropriately sized, reasonable to remove when necessary, and most importantly full of life.

Defending the city was an achievable task. In NYC’s case, Yoahtl was able to trench the entire city and build a bunker complex below it. This worked extremely well for the Yoahtl as NYC was one of the few real cities on the map that didn’t have raider crews or NATO attack / obby bomb the city. Trenching the city worked for Yoahtl, however there are other viable options: Icenia City on CivMC adopted a vast network of vault bastions, traps and bunkers and was able to repel numerous attacks from nations like Butternut and Gang Shi.

While both of these examples are extremes on each side of the city size spectrum, it can’t be understated that NYC as a concept worked whereas MTA completely failed. I am not suggesting that every city on Civ should be a carbon copy of NYC, however there are many lessons to be learned from its example and policies to emulate. The main take-away is that a

city roughly the size of one’s radar distance is a good size (a bit bigger than NYC). Going a little larger is fine although you will very quickly begin to run into the issues described above (albeit at a smaller scale than MTA). Smaller is also fine however there is certainly a size that is “too small.” Fortunately, having a too small city is usually a very easy problem to fix unlike the problem of having a vastly bloated city. When expanding, do so slowly and extremely cautiously. Be deliberate.

_NYC vs MTA size comparison_

City Limits Legal and Otherwise

So we want to limit the size of our city but how do we accomplish that? Just enact laws? Should we all live on an island? The answer is yes, and kind of. Laws are a great way to give the government and citizens a mechanism to tear down unwanted builds that appear outside of city limits, however they will do little to stop the hordes of newfriends (who won’t read your laws) from constructing their oak and cobble shit shack well outside of the city boundaries. You need to create physical barriers to prevent builds outside of the city.

Living on an island is a great way to do this, it worked for NYC and New Brunswick on CivMC however, not everyone wants to live on an island. If you are building a city in the middle of a plains biome or a desert what do you do? Below are a few suggestions:

● Create a wall, canal, or trench that separates the city from the outside world and provides a clear demarcation of what the city limits are ● Create fields of crops or flowers (reinforced) outside the city to prevent builds from appearing ● Plant reinforced trees to create a forest outside of the city that is dense enough to prevent builds (ForgedTK had a conniption over this) ● Build the city on top of a mountain, plateau, or hill

Some combination of the above suggestions plus a clear, legal, city boundary will do wonders to curtail this problem.

Dereliction

In all living cities, there is a balance that must be struck between the necessary change in a cityscape and the steadfastness of its core population and foundational buildings; the yin and yang of city development.

There are two players: Johnny Newfriend and Curmudgeon G. Bloodlust, notable oldfriend. Johnny Newfriend has recently joined the city and is currently living in an apartment. They are interested in opening a shop that sells artisanal quantities of tuft, coarse dirt, and cobble. Curmudgeon G. Bloodlust has been playing Civ since 1.0, has been a member of the national government countless times, and has fought Nox more times than Gang Shi has lost a war. Mr. Bloodlust maintains an apartment building and a few shops along with some other landmark buildings such as the history museum. Each of these players represents a critical demographic, both of which are essential to the functioning and longevity of a city. A healthy city MUST have both a thriving newfriend population and a stable oldguard community, newfriends bring about change and improvement to a city while the old guards provide stability, experience, and direction.

Both of these demographics have specific needs. Johnny Newfriend needs turnover in land and property so that he can build and gain a foothold in the city. Mr. Bloodlust needs protection against having his past work erased, particularly when he goes inactive for periods of time as old friends are prone to do. To facilitate this, a comprehensive dereliction policy must be created and a culture of land and property turnover must be normalized.

Cities must create strong dereliction policy and culture that:

1. Allow for fast ownership transfer or demolition of buildings (shops especially)

2. Protects the primary residences of oldfriends (particularly apartments)

3. Avoids building / land ownership consolidation under one person or group

4. Protects a limited number of old, well used and well designed buildings

An oldfriend wishing to maintain ownership of their apartment and personal wealth through a prolonged period of inactivity (6+ months) is fine and healthy. That same person wishing to maintain ownership of their broken down and unstocked shop that is adjacent to the factory building and train station is unacceptable. That shop is located at what should be the heart of commercial activity in the city and yet is vacant. In real life shops cannot do this, shops that don’t sell anything quickly go out of business.

There is a tendency of oldfriends to go and collect large swaths of property in a city, then do little with it. This can be particularly challenging when they go and “fix up” the once abandoned building that they’ve recently taken over. There’s a particular trend happening in Icenia that resembles this: an oldfriend goes and takes over an abandoned building (or builds their own in its place), then after they fix it up or finish construction, they add in shitty little apartments that they try to rent out for 50 diamonds a pop. This isn’t a problem if it’s only done on a small scale; it is important to have some readily available apartments for newfriends (although charging rent is disastrous and rarely results in anyone using the building). This only becomes a problem when one or two oldfriends go and take over most of the readily available buildings in the city. Suddenly there’s no building turnover because those one or two players are holding onto all of the available properties. Once this happens, the city stagnates and all new development is pushed outside the city limits due to there being no available property within the city center.

The area that the newfriends are pushed into quickly becomes the “newfriend district.” This area will experience a brief boom but will then go inactive and fall into disuse once the current wave of newfriends goes inactive. The city will be left with yet another desolate district that is hideous and devoid of all life. A few months later, Curmudgeon G. Bloodlust will have to go out to the newfriend district with a few friends and rip out the cobble shit shacks and oak skyscrapers that have blighted the landscape.

This is all a balance. Property turnover is incredibly important, however it’s just as important to have old buildings scattered throughout the city (as long as they’re used and maintained); they provide a sense of stability, culture, and history. Older buildings, for example the Enron Tower in Icenia City on CivMC (one of my personal favorite buildings) can act as anchors for city neighborhoods and can be viewed as guides for both building standards and a demonstration as to how buildings should be used.

Enron Tower is perhaps the most important building in Icenia because it is the golden standard as to how a building should be used. On the ground floor, it hosts the national EXP exchange and on the upper floors, several apartments. Unlike most of the other skyscrapers in the city, it is home to one of the most active shops and makes use of its upper floors. Buildings like Enron are how most buildings in a living city should be: a shop on the ground with residences above. It is living proof that concentrated living is not only possible, but ideal.

Diversity and Mixed Use Spaces

A Case Against Districts

If you travel into the north of Icenia City you will undoubtedly encounter one of the most pronounced gray areas in the city: the Sirboss Judiciary District. This region is a collection of role-play legal buildings constructed a few years ago by Mr. S. Boss and have since sat, almost entirely unused.

The buildings aren't ugly but like most districts, create an almost inescapable dead zone in the city. There are no shops in any of the buildings, no one lives there, and aside from the buildings, there is nothing particularly interesting to see. Revitalizing the district is not likely to happen as it is far enough from the factory room and city center to dissuade any would-be land prospector. Furthermore, all of the buildings are built in such a way that turning them into shops or apartments would prove challenging. The district has unfortunately lasted long enough to be considered “historical” so any attempts to tear it down are met with resistance.

Each city has a set of primary and secondary uses to its citizens. Primary uses include:

1. Residency

2. Factory Use

3. Construction

4. Travel

5. Necessary trade (buying pickaxes)

And secondary uses including:

1. Superfluous trade (buying map art)

2. Role play

3. Visiting museums

4. Sports games (hockey)

5. Tourism

The creation of themed districts almost always leads to results similar to those of the Sirboss Judicial District. Forcing all of the same buildings with the same “uses” to be jammed into close proximity (in this case it was all of the role-play legal buildings) results in a slum that is dead and unused. People do not spend serious amounts of time in a district dedicated to art or law or literature. They will travel to the art museum (located in the art district), then head home five minutes later. 99% of the time no one will be in the district. This is bad for the district and bad for the city at large.

Buildings like art museums, role-play legal buildings, and libraries can be huge assets to a city… if they’re deployed correctly. A library scattered in between a few other shops, apartments, and other attractions can and will draw people to the city. It acts as a supplement to the primary attractions of a city (shops, factory, rail station, residence) however if it’s cordoned off in the Art District at the edge of town, it’s useless. A city needs to be a hodge-podge of buildings with varying uses; there cannot be a sterile district for each potential use.

Mixed-Use Buildings

Buildings require similar diversity. Most buildings should have at least two uses such as shop space, apartments, factories, role-play, or some kind of display like a museum. This is particularly important if a city is imposing strict city limits; there will be limited space, therefore

that space needs to be well used. The most common use case are mixed use apartment buildings: the ground floor should allow for a shop space (either used by the owner or by another citizen). This maximizes the amount of available “turnover” in a city. If a newfriend takes over the shop space but goes inactive a few months later, the shop space can be derelicted and then used by a different newfriend. This dereliction use cycle can continue indefinitely.

Diversity in both building type and building use is what drives vibrancy in a city. The lack of this diversity is what results in gray zones.

_The Sirboss Judicial District_

Small Roads Small Blocks

Roads

Roads are a topic that unfortunately, need to be covered. I think it’s pretty common for them to be an afterthought; “We’re going to put the rail station here, the factories here, oh and I guess we should probably put a road in…” Generally, this is a good attitude to have with them, they rarely should be the center of attention. Unfortunately, not everyone builds this way.

Very commonly, cities erect HUGE boulevards that are something like 10+ blocks wide. No doubt the builders of these monstrosities are thinking far ahead for when Civ players finally invent the automobile; their cities will be well equipped to handle rush hour in Houston, Texas. A few of the notable roadway sinners were MTA (seemingly on every iteration), Bloom on CivClassics (although they later fixed this), SpeedyJustice’s horse roads in Icenia (later removed thank God), and the apogee of all highway builds: New Sol on CivClassics.

I hate to rag on New Sol because I’m pretty sure it was just a newfriend who wanted to build a city but unfortunately, it is the prime example of what not to do with road construction. The roads were 11 blocks wide (if you include the shoulder / sidewalk which I do), were composed primarily of black cement, and even had nice little yellow lines down the middle like a real life highway. It was probably the closest example to a real life highway you can get on minecraft.

The roads completely dominated and divided the city. By and large they led from nowhere to nowhere, ruining the natural beauty wherever they went (oddly enough New Sol is probably the most realistic example of the impact of cars / highways on real cities). Getting between buildings was obnoxious because you basically had to cross a Walmart parking lot every time you wanted to see your neighbor.

Another example of what not to do is a little nearer and dearer to my heart: the disastrous “Horse Roads” designed and built by Mr. SpeedyJustice throughout mainland Icenia on CivMC. These were a little more clever than the New Sol roads as they were actually designed for horses (which in some ways are the Civ equivalent of a car), however they were perfectly flawed both in their design and implementation. The roads were not quite as wide as those in New Sol (maybe four or five blocks wide) and were built out of a much cheaper material: dirt and fences. This part isn’t particularly bad; the real problem was that most of these “roads” were built floating 40 blocks in the air. Everywhere in the countryside you went, you would see a thin brown line blotting out the horizon; like a streak of poop across your computer monitor, these “roads” made many an Icenian gag.

Aesthetics aside, these roads had some serious practical issues. Much like the roads in New Sol, these highways often led from nowhere to nowhere. In one instance I followed a road that started in the wilderness and dumped the traveler right on the Bloom State border (Bloom,

an Icenian State, had wisely halted the construction of the Horse Roads within their borders). Another major problem was that these roads were a) 40 blocks in the air and b) had fences on them; imagine a situation where you want to get off the road before it terminates, how do you do that? What happens if you then want to get back on the road, do you need to make a cobble staircase back up? Due to the challenging political situation in Icenia, these roads survived for a few months before finally being demolished.

Not much needs to be said about “good roads.” Just keep them small and inconspicuous; remember, you're building them for low traffic (probably one or two people) so they probably don’t need to be more than five blocks wide. Make sure they actually go somewhere and don’t just sprawl off into the distance, and finally, if they need to be elevated for some legitimate reason (like a bridge), actually build in supports.

_The New Sol Highway_

City Block Size

The mega-block is something that all too often makes its way into Civ cities, often evading notice. The problem with the mega block is largely that it coerces people to travel down the

same, long streets to get to their destination and by doing so, creates pockets of isolation for any street or neighborhood that is not directly on this path.

Icenia City has one of these mega blocks, it sits just north of the rail station and has the factory building lodged into the side of it. This mega block has existed since the founding of the city and was unfortunately a result of a somewhat chaotic start to the server. This mega block is extremely built up and essentially forms a triangle with one side facing the waterfront and the other two sides facing the interior of the city. The two sides that face the interior of the city are in decent shape, they have a few shops and see a reasonable amount of foot traffic. They are a little dull, mostly due to the fact that it is essentially a giant straight road with no twists or turns or lively side streets.

Despite only being a short distance (as the happy ghast flies) from the city center, the side facing the coast is the epitome of dullness; the only shops here are largely calcified fossils that have not seen so much as a lost newfriend in them for months. No one except for one or two local residents visit this area (and this area is completely dead if these people ever go inactive). There is little new development happening here, most of the builds are old and dead. No one has a reason to go here and the long travel time despite the close geographic distance to the city center makes it unlikely for people to stumble into this area or care about the happenings in it.

Other Considerations

Building Codes

I have very mixed opinions on building codes. They _can_ be useful in certain circumstances and will certainly provide a floor on building quality; however, past a certain point they become overly bureaucratic, legalistic, and cumbersome. Not many people will actually read the build code and in plenty of instances, people will outright ignore it. I think in most cases, if a city is limited in size and space is a commodity, bad builds will be replaced over time due to the dereliction use turnover cycle, oversized builds won’t have enough space to be constructed in the first place, and nice older buildings will be refurbished instead of being demolished.

With that being said, there are a few build codes just about every city should use:

1. Set a max height limit. Ever seen Vaught Tower in Icenia City? Excessively tall doesn’t begin to describe it. Imposing a standard height limit will put an end to the

dick-measuring contests some builders get into over who has the tallest building in the city.

2. No excessive dirt bubbling (excessive alteration of the landscape using dirt or other materials, often to flatten it). A prime example of this was Imperial Truidence’s City on CivClassics, aka the Frisbee. It was a giant circular disk of dirt floating 15 blocks in the air and was surrounded by a stone brick wall. It looked terrible. The plane of the Frisbee had no character and looked like a towny-build plot; it was so completely devoid of any interesting features or uniqueness and was unpalatably bland. https://youtu.be/6vJ29xkkWNI _Bgbba visits the Imperial Truidence Frisbee_

3. Prevent building in the water. There are certainly some acceptable exceptions to this rule such as bridges or a boat, however most of the time building in the water does nothing except artificially expand the city and ruin the coastline (typically a feature you want to preserve).

4. Ban floating builds. Not much explanation should be necessary. Unless you’re constructing a fantasy themed city, floating builds usually look terrible and are extremely visible. In plenty of cases they are just a result of a builder’s laziness and refusal to landscape or adjust their build’s foundation.

5. No building outside of the city limits. This should be RUTHELESSLY enforced. A limited city size is likely the most important aspect to a successful, living city and straying from that can lead to serious problems. The only exceptions to this rule should be vanity builds which will be covered later.

Something to consider is a build review discord channel. Not every build necessarily needs to be reviewed before it’s constructed, however high profile builds may benefit from having more eyes on them. Additionally, a review board can offer a place for builders to receive feedback and suggestions on their builds, or in cases where a build is terrible or destructive; enough public scrutiny to prevent it from being constructed in the first place.

Apartments

Apartments can be broken into two categories: basic apartments and permanent apartments.

Basic apartments are for players who may become inactive in the near future and don’t have significant ties to the city, transients, and newfriends. The apartments are expected to turn over fairly regularly (every 3 months or so) when the player goes inactive, leaves the city, or moves into a permanent apartment. The apartment is nothing special, just an empty floor with some space for furniture and chests. Other than the walls, there is limited space for customization and the apartment typically only occupies one floor of the building.

Permanent apartments are for well established players who have spent significant time in the city. They are going to be much larger and may occupy multiple floors of a building. The floors and ceiling should be two thick so that the person living in the apartment may customize them as they see fit, without infringing on their upstairs or downstairs neighbor. These apartments should be relatively permanent with minimal turnover. These kinds of apartments should also enjoy more protections from dereliction.

The distinction between the two apartments is important. A well established player is not going to be content being confined to a boring apartment that they can’t modify the floor or ceiling of, they are almost certainly going to want more space, more customization options, and more security. On the other hand, players who have limited ties to the city or are newfriends are much more likely to leave or go inactive. When this happens, no one wants to be the one who has to go and remove a multi-floor housing complex.

_The interior of a permanent apartment._

Vanity Builds

Just about every city has them. Once a city has reached a certain level of maturity, every ambitious builder is going to begin to itch to construct a massive courthouse, church, or airship. Oftentimes, these builds are destructive to the city. A giant palace complex that bisects the city is obviously terrible for reasons described in the City Size section and in the City Block Size chapter. An enormous blimp that is a quarter of the size of your city being constructed over downtown probably won’t look very good. A giant statue of ChrisChrispie holding Gwua’s severed head that starts at bedrock and extends to the build-limit is most likely going to dominate your cities’ skyline.

Imposing reasonable limits on these builds is absolutely necessary, however, there are ways to make these vanity builds benefit your city. These builds should be made to compliment the city, not dominate it. For example, a huge viaduct supporting the main eastern rail line out of the city would absolutely enhance the beauty and glory of the city. A well scaled capitol building (like the Icenia City one on CivMC) will add a cool role-play aspect. A stunning boardwalk could transform the coastline. There are so many options that will positively enhance a city; builders just need to be directed towards these and away from oversized builds designed to dominate a city, not enhance it.

One other critical component to vanity builds is that they _generally_ should be built outside of the core city area. If your city is of limited size, few buildings should occupy large swaths of the city. In most cases only the factory building, rail station, and maybe a government building should belong to the “vanity builds” category. All of the other vanity builds can surround the city and by doing so, enhance it without disrupting the tight urban core.

Fin.

If nothing else, I hope that this book will reignite the discussion on Civ urban planning. I think the topic is incredibly complex (as is real life urban planning) and is one that I hope people choose to study deeper. Aside from vault science, there are few topics on Civ that have received the attention they deserve. Hopefully this book can act as a guide for future Civ cities and perhaps help restore the existing cities that are struggling. There are plenty of topics in here that I think need deeper research and testing along with others that are outside the scope of urban planning but are complimentary to it such as newfriendology. I encourage everyone who has read this to seriously consider the ideas I have described and if you are convinced, push for them in your governments.