Graven (redrawing)

[Wingshaw]

Glad my comments helped. Let's see if it happens again.

1. a single settlement or convergence of multiple villages: given the size of this city, I doubt it could have been a single town. Graven is a true metropolis. It depends mostly on the history you've worked out. If this is a very old society, you would expect a handful of villages spread across the island. Generally you would have a village every couple of miles; people might travel to the neighbouring village, but not much further. Gradually, as one village grew, it would absorb the others as suburbs or satellite towns. London is a good example of this. Don't forget about fresh water, either - a rugged island like yours will need some source of water. Of course, magic can change all that.

2. farms being dispersed throughout the city: I think it is actually quite likely that the remnants of farms would remain spread across the city. It is quite possible that the city would, at first, spread along the roads connecting different villages, so that areas of farmland might start to get partially surrounded by buildings. Eventually, as some towns get bigger, they would start to build on top of meadows/fields. When they do build on the meadows, it is less likely to be incrementally - it would all be at once, and so might look more planned. Nonetheless, you would still tend to find the occasional farm - eg where a stubborn farmer simply refused to give up his/her land, where it was profitable to keep a farm intact, or the land was no use (eg swamp). You would possibly also see some farms turned into your city parks. Generally, old farm boundaries tend to hang around, and help form roads and alleyways in modern times. Having said all that, farms (and villages) only occur where there is soil and water for crops.

3. different districts: I can't really comment on what modern cities like Tokyo have, because the place I live is completely artificial. From an urban form point of view, though, a few comments: think about the connections between different things. Eg. fish markets need to be close to the fishing fleet, right. So seafood restaurants are going to be close to the fish market; but if you run a chicken restaurant, you'll probably want to be near other restaurants, so people looking for a meal, but don't fancy fish, will come to your restaurant. Another example: artists don't tend to have much money, so they'll hire flats in the poor end of town; that makes the poor area trendy, so young rich people also go there, raising the prices and causing all the artists (and poor people) to move out. It's complicated, but that's basically how it works. It's just common sense. Marketplaces want to be near the ground, for shoppers to wander around; offices want to be near markets, but they can soar into the air; many people want to live near their workplace, so you will have lots of apartments for office workers, and the housing quality won't be too bad; in Australia, inner city people are often richer than people in outer suburbs, but I've heard it's the opposite way round in America (and I have no idea about Japan). As I say, it all comes back to common sense - you don't need to get everything 'right' but I think the more of these details you can think of, the more convincing your city will become.

A couple of extra things you might want to think about.
1. as a modern city, you would quite probably have several urban centres, which would be linked by freeways/trains. Modern planning always tries to link 'nodes' together, and offices/shops often form along major arteries.
2. those buildings overhanging the cliffs don't need to have the same shape as the cliffs. They would be more likely to stick out over the water in squares and rectangles, rather than the curves and angles of the coast. Cool idea though.
3. have you thought of adding a scale. A map of this type could really benefit from one.
4. I'd say you don't need more plazas. I think you've already got a pretty realistic balance in terms of quantity, size and general shape.

Another long one, sorry. I could go on about this stuff for weeks. Hope it helps, and happy to answer any more questions if you have 'em.

[amberroberts09]

Glad my comments helped. Let's see if it happens again.

1. a single settlement or convergence of multiple villages: given the size of this city, I doubt it could have been a single town. Graven is a true metropolis. It depends mostly on the history you've worked out. If this is a very old society, you would expect a handful of villages spread across the island. Generally you would have a village every couple of miles; people might travel to the neighbouring village, but not much further. Gradually, as one village grew, it would absorb the others as suburbs or satellite towns. London is a good example of this. Don't forget about fresh water, either - a rugged island like yours will need some source of water. Of course, magic can change all that.

2. farms being dispersed throughout the city: I think it is actually quite likely that the remnants of farms would remain spread across the city. It is quite possible that the city would, at first, spread along the roads connecting different villages, so that areas of farmland might start to get partially surrounded by buildings. Eventually, as some towns get bigger, they would start to build on top of meadows/fields. When they do build on the meadows, it is less likely to be incrementally - it would all be at once, and so might look more planned. Nonetheless, you would still tend to find the occasional farm - eg where a stubborn farmer simply refused to give up his/her land, where it was profitable to keep a farm intact, or the land was no use (eg swamp). You would possibly also see some farms turned into your city parks. Generally, old farm boundaries tend to hang around, and help form roads and alleyways in modern times. Having said all that, farms (and villages) only occur where there is soil and water for crops.

3. different districts: I can't really comment on what modern cities like Tokyo have, because the place I live is completely artificial. From an urban form point of view, though, a few comments: think about the connections between different things. Eg. fish markets need to be close to the fishing fleet, right. So seafood restaurants are going to be close to the fish market; but if you run a chicken restaurant, you'll probably want to be near other restaurants, so people looking for a meal, but don't fancy fish, will come to your restaurant. Another example: artists don't tend to have much money, so they'll hire flats in the poor end of town; that makes the poor area trendy, so young rich people also go there, raising the prices and causing all the artists (and poor people) to move out. It's complicated, but that's basically how it works. It's just common sense. Marketplaces want to be near the ground, for shoppers to wander around; offices want to be near markets, but they can soar into the air; many people want to live near their workplace, so you will have lots of apartments for office workers, and the housing quality won't be too bad; in Australia, inner city people are often richer than people in outer suburbs, but I've heard it's the opposite way round in America (and I have no idea about Japan). As I say, it all comes back to common sense - you don't need to get everything 'right' but I think the more of these details you can think of, the more convincing your city will become.

A couple of extra things you might want to think about.
1. as a modern city, you would quite probably have several urban centres, which would be linked by freeways/trains. Modern planning always tries to link 'nodes' together, and offices/shops often form along major arteries.
2. those buildings overhanging the cliffs don't need to have the same shape as the cliffs. They would be more likely to stick out over the water in squares and rectangles, rather than the curves and angles of the coast. Cool idea though.
3. have you thought of adding a scale. A map of this type could really benefit from one.
4. I'd say you don't need more plazas. I think you've already got a pretty realistic balance in terms of quantity, size and general shape.

Another long one, sorry. I could go on about this stuff for weeks. Hope it helps, and happy to answer any more questions if you have 'em.

Great helping posts... Really helpful.... seems like you are very historic person.