Sorry to necro this old thread, but I realized that everyone who commented was focusing on the 'quality' parts of a city/town, not the parts that aren't as pretty or functional. Such as:

  • slums
  • ruins
  • collapsed buildings
  • sewers
  • brothels
  • drug dens
  • sinkholes
  • trash pits
  • seemingly normal small businesses that are actually fronts for illicit activity
  • shantytowns
  • areas where the homeless gather
  • leper colonies


I guess it shows that I like my fantasy gritty and harsh, with lots of problems and externalities.