So, @edouard is running this Dream City Builder Contest right now. At first, I thought he wanted a huge amount of artwork with this - and though he would love to see that sort of thing, he has assured me that even written ideas, etc, would make his day on this contest. (He's even said he will extend it by a week, so if you've come in late to my post, check out his page anyway.)
This contest seemed like a good opportunity to talk about my citybuilding for Terrenden - the world my A'mara Books takes place in.
Citybuilding philosophy
Although some people do take a top-down approach - building everything they (think they) will ever need for their world, I have come to this from a different angle - the need preceeds the building for me.
I started out with a story first, began taking notes about which features/aspects a certain city or area required. Later (often, when I'm trying to work out whether certain journeys or views work, etc) I do a rough sketch to let me know where things are. It's purely something that I need.
Every city needs something different - and although some things will remain the same (such as the preferred building structures for the A'mara buildings - or the Neví projects), the basic city will always be somewhat unique.
Whether it's the perfumeries and caballus track in Ke'oya, the Gardens Café in Jerven, or the massive Refuge and social project of Towani City, each town has individual requirements.
Example
So far, I only have a handful of cities/towns actually mapped.
Here is my current map of Loxos, the capital of Gaskarii - where Elect to Change and the future Building of Promise take place.
I don't draw buildings because that really is outside the scope of my abilities. I can just about put together a map that could be used in my books, but that's about it. I don't go through great efforts to label all the buildings because I don't know what is in each of them yet - and perhaps I won't ever know (and buildings do tend to change fairly frequently.)
The Loxos city harbor was an important feature - and may actually be too small, but it's adequate to handle the daily runs between Gaskarii and A'mara, the nearest land mass. (There are two rivers on the outskirts of Loxos - on either side of the flood plain, but thus far, I haven't needed to use them.) I include the old newspaper building and adjoining warehouse which feature in Building of Promise although I neglected to include the library which probably occupies two or even three adjacent buildings across the alleyway from the equipment storage building.
Irola
Okay, I have to put my hand up here and admit that the idea of Irola was based on the concept of Coruscant in the Star Wars universe. This is where I got my ideas of the Understory and the Overstory.
In the 800s T.C.E., the population of Irola is in the 100 million range - all in the space of about 1,000 sq km, or about the size of Tahiti. This makes it twice as densely populated as any city on Earth. With the distance across the Irolan Sound, very few people would actually consider commuting to or away from Irola on a daily basis, but here, the commute can easily be a vertical one!
The Understory
Irola has been 100% paved over since about 779 TCE, as Saisha mentions in Birth of the Neví - but because it's often cheaper to build new than to repair old, the "ground level" of the main living on Irola has moved up and up over the years - to the effect that the main "street level" in Irola is now about 6-12 stories above the actual ground! But that doesn't mean no one lives in the Understory.
The Understory is a dangerous place to be.
- The climate is dark and dank (and smelly). The lighting is necessary, yet inadequate, providing the perfect climate for dangerous fungal spores to proliferate. But even proper fungi tend to avoid the deepest levels of the Understory. People frequently get sick, and rarely recover fully.
- The government really doesn't care too much about the Understory population - the "groundwalkers" - after all, they don't contribute to political campaigns and rarely vote anyway. They already know that nothing changes for those at the bottom.
- Police generally don't go into the Understory unless the need is dire.
- The pavement that still exists is in very poor repair, wheeled traffic mostly replaced by hover technology, though some human-powered or animal-drawn modes still travel - dangerously interspersed with the hoverbils that have some urgent (and usually shady) mission so far below.
- The establishments which still exist are generally disreputable. "Ask no questions" types of places such as where Zarkonn exchanges his A'mara cloak for his darker one when he meets up with Nameless One in a dark alley.
- The Understory of the mind has become a euphemism for that dark place one goes when depressed or grief-stricken - mentioned by Tle-sun and Levon after Iyva's disappearance.
Yet, even in the Understory, not all is bad!
- Community service projects exist to help feed the poor and homeless.
- In the places nearer the edge, there is just enough sunlight that reaches the ground to fuel the bits of undergrowth that allowed Iyva to find shelter in that abandoned park.
The Midlevels are much more tolerable!
- In the Wolfkin nightclub, they're able to "pipe in" sunlight (at great expense) to help counteract the negative aspects of being below street level.
- Toll skywalks allow Midtown dwellers to avoid the ground almost entirely.
- Still, life in Midtown is not too expensive - most people who do any sort of regular, paid work are able to establish a dwelling in the Midlevels.
- Some of the early parks still function in the Midlevels, lit by piped sunlight or by proximity to the seashore.
But many who live in the Midlevels dream of living in the Overstory for real. This is one of the motivations which leads to the formation of the Neví.
The Overstory is where the Elite and other fortunates live and work.
- They travel by hoverbils and other airborne modes of transportation in established skyways, well above the street level.
- Skywalks connect many buildings, allowing good views of the city - using both steel and a transparent (or tinted skyblue!) steel to implement. (Products of TephsanWorks.)
- The A'mara Complex is situated well into the Overstory, but then, their building also predates many modern structures in the area. They did build up over the decades to ensure they always seemed relevant, but then would rent out the lower stories to help make a decent return on their investments.
- Parliament is also situated in the Overstory, similarly built up over the decades.
- Many parks and community gardens do exist in the Overstory. Some are even covered by a transparent steel, tinted skyblue to simulate blue skies. Although most of them are available to anyone able to reach them, some are private or fee-paid.
- Even small farms are possible on the rooftop gardens that are common on Irola. The A'mara have one such farm to allow them to keep their prized nuwa, even in the middle of the massive city.
The complexity of Irola may prevent me ever truly mapping the island capital. The map would be different from layer to layer and is unlikely to ever be able to be done without the technology used on Terrenden in the from of Holo Projection Systems' ability to do proper 3D maps. I am thankful my other cities aren't as crazy as Irola. These other cities were able to develop more naturally and tend to resemble small to midsize cities by Earth standards rather than the megapolis that is Irola.
Anyway, I hope this is something like what you were hoping for @edouard - I guess the way you were talking - creating the citizens/needs, then create the city - is exactly what I end up doing... Where there is a will, there is a way, for sure - and citybuilding is no exception!
Lori Svensen – A'mara Books & Viking Visual
Banner by @shai-hulud
