I have been a bit busy on the Urban Geography in real life side of the ledger meaning not much time with Cities Skylines at the moment.
However, I have managed to squeeze a few hours in there and there and have continued to work on the Downtown District.
The two cruise ship terminals have also finally started attracting cruise ships into the City now meaning more tourists and more revenue.
I also had to replace all my substations after an asset swap in the STEAM Workshop caused the deletion of the old model that I was using. No matter all the substations are replaced and power is flowing back into the City from Nuclear City!
With Downtown established and maturing I will turn my attention to Sheffield Square as well as connecting the City Centre up to the International Airport with heavy rail (it already has a monorail line running through it.
There are several ways I like to keep my cities green in Cities Skylines:
Power production will often come from low-carbon emitting sources including hydro or nuclear. I do use the Waste to Energy Incinerators that produce small amounts of air and ground pollution but they make up no more than 1% of total power production
Recycling centres and recycling is a must
EV cars are encouraged city-wide
Mass deployment of mass transit
Street Trees
Urban Forests
Green self-sustained residential buildings in some Districts
Okay that was a few more than several 😉
The big two pollution emitters are power production and transport (followed by heavy industry). Heavy industry pollution is handled by urban forests and the Filter Waste policy meaning factories have to filter their sewerage before it heads out to the sewerage plants. This leaves power production and transport.
Power production
I follow what I preach when it comes to power production for a City. So if I say I believe in 100% (or near to it) Low Carbon Power Production then I follow through into Cities Skylines:
For San Layton City:
1,449MW of power is produced as electricity coming from:
1,254MW (or 86.6%) coming from two nuclear reactors
80MW from Geothermal
50MW from incinerators
65MW from on and offshore Wind turbines
400MW comes from Geothermal based bores sent through to the City as District Centralised Heating (steam or hot water)
Using electricity map (and assuming the incinerators let off as much as a biomass plant) the carbon output is: 37g/CO2/Per KW or 98% low carbon – same as France as of writing this post
As you say when I say Green I do Green!
As for transit I invest in most modes depending on the Geography of the City. Patronage is about 50% of the population (using transit) with more using cycling. Given San Layton has two Cores connected by heavy rail and monorail with urban islands coming off of them (surrounded by pasture or forests) that are interconnected also by all forms of rail and bus it is quite easy to move around the city without the need of a car – even going to the industrial complexes.
And yes my transit system runs 24/7 on an integrated fare system. Quite interesting to see even the big 135 bendy busses straining to keep up with passenger demand at 3am in the morning of a Saturday or Sunday as the night owls like to party.
The one thing about Cities Skylines Park Life is that it even makes the most macro-level urban designer like me come right down to the micro levels – when it comes to designing parks. There is a satirical take on it which I will have at the bottom of the post.
San Layton City Goes Green – with parks!
While Cities Skylines Green Cities allowed for Green Buildings and policies Park Life allows you to go really green with parks. Whether they City Parks, Amusement Parks, Zoos or Nature Reserves even the most compulsive micro detailer would be getting their fill from Park Life.
As San Layton City continues to expand the open space provisions of the City are never far from the front of mind. That is a mix of small pocket parks and large nature reserves and everything else in between!
San Layton City is blessed with large swathes of forests through the map – this makes the development of large Nature Reserves a very attractive idea and one the Cims and tourists love.
So then let’s take a look at San Layton Reserve.
The opening shots before the Reserve was developed:
Some initial area shots of the developed Reserve:
Leading to San Layton Reserve:
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And walking through the San Layton Nature Reserve:
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And of course some night shots:
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And yes you can even access the Reserve by transit whether it be heavy rail, subway, monorail or bus – now how Green is that:
Whether it be hunting, fishing, hiking, tents, cabins or self contained camp ground San Layton Reserve has it here for you. Some paths are lit while some are not (the park is oepn 24 hours) allowing for whatever experience you are looking for catered for!
All said San Layton Reserve is in the middle of a city so reminders of urban life are never that far away:
San Layton Reserve –Â your Nature Reserve home away from home that is in the middle of your home – City!
Let’s see what I have been designing for San Layton City
Since Cities Skylines came out in 2015 I have been honing in my Urban Geography and Urban Design skills. That is trying out different spatial developments, different urban design techniques and most of all working the transport system in so your City does not lock up.
As a side note this is why I am using roundabouts more in my newer Cities as they do a better job in keeping traffic moving.
Below are two sets of slide shows both covering the City Centre and Garnet Hills. The first will be of Bus Line 16 doing its trip from City Centre to the Garnet Hills subdivision via a stop outside the newly opened San Layton Nature Reserve. The second is of aerial shots of a new extension of the City Centre and Garnet Hills itself.
One of my favourite editions to the game are the Pedestrian Mall and Shared Path assets. The Pedestrian Mall says as it does – a mall for pedestrians although it does not stop emergency service and service vehicles from using it. On a rare occasion a bus might traverse the mall but the speed limit is reduced to 20km/h. The Shared Path allows all traffic on it at a reduced speed of 20km/h and is good for when commercial is in the area and you need the goods trucks to come through. At the moment Urbanist (the creator of the Shared Path asset) only has the one-way shared path with parking available but more variations are coming.
Without further-ado let’s get the show on the road:
Bus Line 16 and some wet weather
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Some aerials of Garnet Hills and the City Centre (ANDÂ first look from the Nature Reserve):
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Finally where San Layton City is at as of 31 May 2018:
Well one of those bugs is pretty major if I can not place down the International Airport in your map.
Anyway yesterday the Cities Skylines Park Life DLC came out so I decided to give it a whirl – once the crucial Mods were updated. I didn’t have to wait long as by mid-day the Mods were updated and away I went for the rest of the day.
More Play, Less Stress – Parklife is Available Now for Cities: SkylinesCities: Skylines now offers vibrant new parks, playgrounds, zoos, green spaces and more importantly, new ways to play. With a new park area tool, five new maps, a ton of new assets and level-up features that increase your park’s property values, Parklife is will spruce up any city in a snap.
Or why not take a 360 degree tour and look around?
Cities is also getting a new radio station today: Country Road Radio, with 16 new songs from Appalachian Folk, Bluegrass/Honky Tonk, Nashville Modern Country and Unplugged country.
In addition to the paid expansion, Cities: Skylines will also get a free PC update, as usual, including a new tourism panel, trees that reduce noise pollution, a camera mode upgrade, new tourist models, and new modding features, including submeshmodding and an improved camera system so users can control the camera with scripts.
……
Source: Steam
So what did I get up to?
Well the normal Urban Geography game play of building and tweaking continues as always. A new major suburb known as Kent Square was opened up in one of San Layton’s bays connecting the City Centre and Centre Park to the historic area of the City.
That said the Satellite method (establish a Core connected by multiple urban satellites) is being tried in San Latyon City and should be easier to do with Nature Reserves (part of the new DLC) being able to be established in between urban areas.
As of today San Layton City has two “City Parks” and one Amusement Park. The first Nature Reserve and a Zoo are in the planning pipeline for when I next load the game.
Park Life
Some early photos of Park Life in action:
The initial look around
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Building our first “City Park”
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All Aboard the sight seeing bus linking the Amusement Park with Centre Park (Convention Centre, Casino, Sky Tower and Monorail hub)
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Some quick broad shots
And now for the tram between Centre Park and the historic area:
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Finally some shots from a hot air balloon and other random shots:
I will get the Nature Reserve and Zoo built next week and test the Green Utility out further as the City continues to expand.
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