What is an organic city?
Most of the time, saying that you can build an organic growth city implies that:
The first point highlights the fact that, in reality, the roads in European cities don't typically form a neat grid. Instead, they resemble more a combination of islands with varying shapes.
As for the second point, some games allow you to define an area in which your inhabitants create their own houses. These random constructions are likely to create unique spaces with diverse structures that give the feeling of organic organisation.
And sometimes, the residents themselves define the routes through the city as they navigate between the various buildings.
In either case, the idea is to produce an 'organic' form that does not obey a conscious design, but exploits the practical use of the urban space as a mean of defining the city’s organisation.
When we look at history, we see that only a few cities in Europe have been entirely planned.
Some famous interventions – Haussmann’s changes for Paris springs to mind – have greatly transformed the appearance of the city. But in most cases, cities have developed autonomously.
At times, depending on the current leader's political inclination, specific areas of the city may adhere to a definite plan. However, more often than not, the city's development is shaped by the immediate needs and available land.
We believe that the primary driver behind a town's growth is, essentially, land ownership – the very ground it stands on. A mere path transforms into a road, and eventually, a street; a field evolves into a construction plot, into a house, and ultimately, into a building.
We worked hard on this map of Paris to come up with the development rules we could use in the game.
Moving from left to right – from the outskirts to the city centre – observe how farmland start giving way to small houses, all lining the road.
The land around these plots is broken up to create access to the main road from the plot's centre. Additional houses sprout along these new pathways, boosting urban density and reshaping the land into an urban block— an assembly of buildings encircled by roads.
That is the system of division and densification that we've tried to reproduce in the game.
Identification of each type of land on the plan
It's this system of division and densification that we've tried to reproduce in the game.
The first step is to establish a plot of land near the player's constructed buildings. These plots are divided into construction plots or orchards or vegetable gardens. The initial houses are built along the roads, following the town planning rules set for each era.
As new structures pop up on the outskirts, the appeal they generate draws in the construction of additional houses until the construction percentage hits the maximum limit allowed by planning regulations.
These rules consider factors like plot size (i.e., house dimensions), height, architectural style, roof type, inhabitants per house density, and the construction percentage allowed on a plot.
Creating the land and dividing up the plots
As each age has its own set of town planning rules, they will evolve differently over time.
Land created in early antiquity will not evolve in the same way as land created in late antiquity. Similarly, these two types of land will evolve differently in the Middle Ages.
We hope that this system will make it possible to create towns that are very different from one another.
Town planning rules from early antiquity
Town planning rules from late antiquity
Of course, players will also be able to rearrange the land plot to give it the shape they want and control its transformation over time.
We'll look at this in detail in the next Dev Diary
- the game will not produce a regular construction grid to rely on
- And that the player lets the game decide on the urban layout.
The first point highlights the fact that, in reality, the roads in European cities don't typically form a neat grid. Instead, they resemble more a combination of islands with varying shapes.
As for the second point, some games allow you to define an area in which your inhabitants create their own houses. These random constructions are likely to create unique spaces with diverse structures that give the feeling of organic organisation.
And sometimes, the residents themselves define the routes through the city as they navigate between the various buildings.
In either case, the idea is to produce an 'organic' form that does not obey a conscious design, but exploits the practical use of the urban space as a mean of defining the city’s organisation.
When we look at history, we see that only a few cities in Europe have been entirely planned.
Some famous interventions – Haussmann’s changes for Paris springs to mind – have greatly transformed the appearance of the city. But in most cases, cities have developed autonomously.
At times, depending on the current leader's political inclination, specific areas of the city may adhere to a definite plan. However, more often than not, the city's development is shaped by the immediate needs and available land.
We believe that the primary driver behind a town's growth is, essentially, land ownership – the very ground it stands on. A mere path transforms into a road, and eventually, a street; a field evolves into a construction plot, into a house, and ultimately, into a building.
We worked hard on this map of Paris to come up with the development rules we could use in the game.
Moving from left to right – from the outskirts to the city centre – observe how farmland start giving way to small houses, all lining the road.
The land around these plots is broken up to create access to the main road from the plot's centre. Additional houses sprout along these new pathways, boosting urban density and reshaping the land into an urban block— an assembly of buildings encircled by roads.
That is the system of division and densification that we've tried to reproduce in the game.
Identification of each type of land on the planIt's this system of division and densification that we've tried to reproduce in the game.
The first step is to establish a plot of land near the player's constructed buildings. These plots are divided into construction plots or orchards or vegetable gardens. The initial houses are built along the roads, following the town planning rules set for each era.
As new structures pop up on the outskirts, the appeal they generate draws in the construction of additional houses until the construction percentage hits the maximum limit allowed by planning regulations.
These rules consider factors like plot size (i.e., house dimensions), height, architectural style, roof type, inhabitants per house density, and the construction percentage allowed on a plot.
Creating the land and dividing up the plotsAs each age has its own set of town planning rules, they will evolve differently over time.
Land created in early antiquity will not evolve in the same way as land created in late antiquity. Similarly, these two types of land will evolve differently in the Middle Ages.
We hope that this system will make it possible to create towns that are very different from one another.
Town planning rules from early antiquityTown planning rules from late antiquityOf course, players will also be able to rearrange the land plot to give it the shape they want and control its transformation over time.
We'll look at this in detail in the next Dev Diary