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One thing I would love to see in a city generator like this is a simulation of time and how gradual evolution shapes a city. There's a picture book called "Bar
by DanAndersen 8y ago
One thing I would love to see in a city generator like this is a simulation of time and how gradual evolution shapes a city.
There's a picture book called "Barmi: A Mediterranean City Through The Ages" by Xavier Hernandez and illustrated by Jordi Ballonga. It illustrates a fictional city from Neolithic settlement to Roman outpost to medieval town to modern city. Some images can be seen at http://jordiballongaen.blogspot.com/p/baronia.html http://jordiballongaen.blogspot.com/p/baronia.html
In this book, you see how a Roman amphitheater decays during the Dark Ages, and the structure is partially used and cannibalized to create a circular set of apartment buildings, which then influences the later layout and design of the city in modern eras.
Procedural generation unfortunately tends to try to generate everything at once, as if a medieval city was created ex nihilo. It would be interesting to see what it would look like if such designs incorporated evolution over time.
- arethuza 8y agoSplit in Croatia is a great example of this - where a part of the layout was based on the Emperor Diocletian's Palace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia Maybe Edinburgh and volcanoes as well... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Castle#Geology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Castle#Geology
- Maultasche 8y agoThat was one of the most interesting cities I've visited. The city was a mix of medieval architecture and pieces of a Roman palace. There were the brick walls of buildings built between Roman columns and there was a Roman-era mausoleum on one side of the street. It was clear that it used to be quite an open layout that was filled in by buildings in later centuries. It must have been interesting in the early days of the city with a bunch of people occupying an old palace, fortifying it, and building houses for themselves within the grounds. I wondered what Diocletian would have thought to see his old palace transformed in such a way.
- desertrider12 8y agoNice! This reminds me a lot of "City" by David Macaulay (https://www.amazon.com/City-Story-Roman-Planning-Construction/dp/0395349222 https://www.amazon.com/City-Story-Roman-Planning-Constructio...). Absolutely loved that book.
- franciscop 8y agoI was fascinated as a kid about "Una calle a través del tiempo" (a street through the ages), which is a very similar concept but with a first-plane of a street (and some general details as a background). Google images reveals some details with this title.
- iagooar 8y ago> the structure is partially used and cannibalized to create a circular set of apartment buildings Something like this happened in Barcelona, where columns of an ancient Roman temple where found INSIDE regular workers' apartments. Oh, I found it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Augustus,_Barcelona https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Augustus,_Barcelona
- kiliancs 8y agoThis is common in Tarragona, where Roman ruins are found pretty much every time there's some digging or work in existing houses in the old city. See Tarraco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarraco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarraco
- smogcutter 8y agoThat's a neat idea. I'm imagining a system based around a kind of decision tree of what different structures or districts could turn into. Each change adjusts the weighting for the potential futures of neighboring structures in the graph. Throw in random events like fire, invasion, etc that can change the map at a stroke.
- DonHopkins 8y agoThere's a nice 3D animation of Amsterdam's growth from Stadsarchief Amsterdam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvsHvfs3G1M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvsHvfs3G1M