Classic Games for OS/2 Warp/Classic Games for OS2 Warp (1995)(IBM).iso/simcity/simcity.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1995-06-20 | 81KB | 2,046 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. SimCity for OS/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Introduction

Enter SimCity and take control.  Be the undisputed ruler of a sophisticated
real-time City Simulation.  Become the master of existing cities such as San
Francisco, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro, or create your own dream city (or
nightmare slum) from the ground up.  Whether you take over an existing city or
build your own, you are the Mayor and City Planner with complete authority.

Your city is populated by Sims - Simulated Citizens.  Like their human
counterparts, they build houses, condos, churches, stores and factories.  And,
also like humans, they complain about things like taxes, mayors, taxes, city
planners, and taxes.  If they get unhappy, they move out; you collect fewer
taxes, the city deteriorates.

The next few sections will explain the overall concept of SimCity and give
information that will help you win Scenarios and design and build better
cities.

About System Simulations

SimCity is the first of a new type of entertainment/educational software,
called System Simulations.  We provide you with a set of Rules and Tools that
describe, create and control a system.  In the case of SimCity the system is a
city.  The challenge of playing a System Simulation game is to figure out how
the system works and take control of it.  As master of the system, you are free
to use the Tools to create and control an unlimited number of systems (in this
case, cities) within the framework and limits provided by the Rules.

Rules

In SimCity, the Rules to learn are based on city planning and management,
including: Human Factors - Residential space and amenities, availability of
jobs, and quality of life. Economic Factors - Land value, industrial and
commercial space, unemployment, internal and external markets, electric power,
taxation, and funding for city services. Survival Factors - Strategies for
dealing with disasters, crime, and pollution. Political Factors - Public
opinion, zoning, and keeping residents and businesses satisfied with your city
and your performance.

Tools

Tools provide you with the ability to plan, lay out, zone, build, bulldoze,
re-zone, and manage a city.

 Plan - Mapping systems give physical and demographic overviews of the entire
city.

 Layout - Design living and working areas, road and transit systems, and
recreational areas.

 Zone - Set zoning boundaries for parks, residential, commercial and industrial
areas.

 Build - Place roads, rails, airports, seaports, fire and police stations,
sports stadiums, and power plants.

 Bulldoze - Clear forests for city growth, build landfill along waterways,
clear and re-zone developed areas.

 Manage - Using the mapping and graphing systems, gather up-to-date information
on traffic density, population trends, power grid status, pollution, crime,
land value, police and fire department efficiency, and cash flow. Set the tax
rate and funding levels for city services.

But the most important Tool of all is the Simulator itself.  Test your plans
and ideas as you watch the city grow or shrink through the immigration and
emigration of industrious Simulated Citizens.  Sims will move in and build
homes, hospitals, churches, stores and factories in the zones you provide, or
move out in search of jobs or a better life elsewhere.  The success of the city
is based on the quality of the city you design and manage.

Simulator Reaction Time

The simulator is a very complex multi-tasking piece of software.  It is
constantly performing many checks, calculations, and updates, as well as
keeping watch on the mouse and keyboard to respond to your demands.  When you
load in a city, give the simulator some time to compile its data and update the
maps, graphs, population levels, etc.  Some of the other times when the
simulator lags behind you are when powering zones and updating the city
services map after installing police and fire stations.

The Goals of SimCity

There are many goals to be pursued and reached in SimCity.

Your Dream City

Perhaps the main goal of SimCity is for you to design, manage and maintain the
city of your dreams. Your ideal place to live may be a bustling megalopolis,
lots of people, lots of cars, tall buildings: high-energy, high density living.
Or it may be a small rural community, or a linked group of small communities
providing slow-paced country living. As long as your city can provide places
for people to live, work, shop and play, it will attract residents.  And as
long as traffic, pollution, overcrowding, crime or taxes don't drive them away,
your city will live.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. SimCity Features ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

SimCity Features

Scenarios

Each of the eight included scenarios is actually a game in itself, with an
unlimited number of ways to win - or lose. Each Scenario is a city which is
either the victim of horrible planning or about to be the victim of a natural
disaster. After you load in a Scenario, you will have a limited amount of time
to correct or repair the problems.  If you are successful, you will be given
the key to the city.  If not, you may be ridden out of town on a rail. If one
strategy doesn't work, try another.  There are a million stories in each city,
and you write them.

Multiple Views

It's possible to display several animated views of the city on the screen at
once.  Each view may be sized and positioned independently.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Walking through SimCity for OS/2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Starting SimCity for OS/2

To start up SimCity, open SimCity for OS/2 folder and double-click on the
SimCity program icon.  You may also start SimCity by typing 'simcity' at an
OS/2 windowed or full screen session.

The Main Window

The main window is where all your SimCity windows will reside.  It contains the
main menu, toolbar, and status bar.

The Introduction Screen

Once SimCity is loaded, the Introduction Screen will appear allowing you to
start a new city, load a city, or load a scenario.  You may also press the ESC
key to make the introduction screen disappear.

Generating a New City

To generate a new city, click the left mouse button on the "New City" button.
The Introduction Screen will disappear and a new window for setting up a New
City will be displayed.

The New City Panel

City Name

You can set the name of your city by clicking the left button on the "City
Name" text field, and typing the name.  Use the normal OS/2 editing keys to
edit your text.

Game Level

The three radio buttons let you select the Game Level.  Choose "Easy" for now,
by clicking the left mouse button.  If you're just starting out, you can
certainly use the extra money!

The Edit Window

The Edit Window is where you will do the actual building and zoning.  In the
middle of the Edit Window is a detailed map showing part of the terrain.
Around the edges are controls and fields displaying information about the city.
Along the top edge of the window is the City Name, where the name of your city
or the scenario you selected is displayed.  Clicking on it brings the window to
the front.  You may move or size the edit window by dragging the borders with
the mouse, or using the system menu options or the minimize/maximize buttons at
the top right of the window.

The Map Window

The other window that's shown when you start the game is the Map Window, which
displays an overview of your entire city map.  You can see different
demographic views of the city, chosen by selecting different items from the
'Zone' and 'Overlay' menus.  The type of zone and overlay currently being
displayed is shown in the title bar of the Map window.  There is a yellow
rectangle in the Map Window that shows the location of the detailed city view.
(There may be more than one yellow rectangle, if multiple Edit windows are
open.) Press the mouse button down over the yellow rectangle, and drag it
around the map, to scroll the Edit window view.

Building a City

To begin a city, we need: places for Sims to live, places for Sims to work, and
power. You can only build on Clear Land, so use the Bulldozer to clear away
some trees. Click the left mouse button on the Bulldozer Icon.  Move the cursor
over to land.  It now points to a small square, outlining the area that will be
bulldozed when you click the left button.  The Trees under your pointer are now
Clear Land.  Now, hold the left button down and drag the pointer  across the
Trees.  Mass destruction.  Clear a large area of land to prepare for building.
Click the Residential Icon, then move back to your terrain.  Your cursor will
now point to a large square outline.  This outline indicates how much clear
space you will need to create a Residential Zone - a place for Sims to live.
Clicking the left mouse button in Clear Land will "zone" that area.  The "R" in
the zone center indicates that it is a Residential Zone.  The flashing
lightning symbol means that the zone has no power.  Place a few more
Residential Zones next to the first one.

New Residential Zones

Now decide where to position a Power Plant in your city.  Point to the Power
Plant Icon, and press and hold the left mouse button.  A menu will appear,
giving you the option of choosing a Coal or Nuclear plant.  For now, release
the button over "Coal".  The outline for a Power Plant is even larger than for
a Residential Zone.  Place the Power Plant in some open space near your
Residential Zones.  If your Power Plant is not directly adjacent to a
Residential Zone, you'll need to run a Power Line from your Power Plant to the
Residential Zones. To do this, click the left mouse button over the Power Line
Icon.  By pointing your cursor and pressing the button, lay Power Lines from
your Power Plant to your Residential Zones.  Adjacent Power Line sections will
automatically connect to each other.  Road and Rail lines connect in the same
manner. In a moment, the flashing symbols in the Residential Zones will
disappear, indicating that your zones have been powered.  Any zones that are
adjacent to a powered zone do not need separate Power Lines run to them.  Soon
you will see small houses start to appear.  The Sims have started to move in!

Here Comes the Neighborhood!

Once there are a few Residential Zones, where Sims can live, you need to make
it possible for your new residents to find jobs.  They can't all work at the
power plant! Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Zones Now you're ready for
Commercial and Industrial areas; places for Sims to work, shop, and transact
business.  Select the Commercial Icon and place a few Commercial Zones near
your Residential ones.  Then select the Industrial Icon and place some
Industrial Zones.  Connect all necessary Power Lines. Notice that as you select
different Tool Icons, the icon's description and its associated cost will be
displayed in the Tool Cost field near the lower left corner of the Edit Window.
The Current Funds field near the top of the window displays your total funds
available. Now click the left button on the Road Icon and add Roads from your
Residential housing to the Commercial and Industrial areas to allow the Sims to
commute to work.  Road sections connect themselves like Power Line sections.
Once you have Roads, traffic will be generated.

Roads with Traffic

Now move the cursor to the Menu Button labelled 'Windows', and press the left
mouse button down.  The Windows Menu will pop up.  Click on the menu item
labelled 'Budget'.  This brings up the Budget Window, which lets you set the
level of funding for your fire, police, and transportation departments.

The Budget Window

Click the left mouse button on the up and down arrows, or drag the sliders to
change the funding levels.  You can also adjust the current tax rate.  If you
have no police or fire departments, you can't fund them.  You cannot fund more
than 100%.  Since your city is so new, you can't do much here now, but come
back later.  Click the left mouse button on the "Go With These Figures" button
to make the window go away when you're done.  Now look at the Map Window.  You
can get an idea of the size of your city, and how much room you have left.  Try
the different map views by selecting different zones and overlays from the
menu.  You will need this information to build and adjust conditions in your
city.  For example, you can pinpoint the areas with the highest crime to
determine locations for new police stations.

The Map Window

Additional information can be gained through the available Graphs.  Unlike the
Maps, which only show the current state of your city, the Graphs give you a
record of the past so you can gauge trends and cycles.  You can display the
Graph Window by selecting the item labelled "Graph" from the Window Menu.

The Graph Window

You can toggle the various graph displays on and off, and switch between 10
year and 120 year graphs, by selecting them from the 'Graph' menu in the
window.  Another way to gather information about your city is by using the
Query Tool.  To use this, select the Tool Icon with the question mark.  Then
click the left mouse button over the area of the Edit window you are interested
in.  You will be shown a window filled with information about the zone you have
selected.

Save City Dialog

Now, let's Save the city to disk.  Use the File Menu to select 'Save City
as...'.  You'll see the Save File dialog.  Near the top of the window is a text
field labelled 'File'.  You can select a directory by typing its name into the
text field, or by double clicking in the scrolling list.  Then you can type in
a name for your city, ending with the '.cty' extension, and press return.  Your
city will be saved to disk, so you can load it later to get back to where you
are now.

Load City Dialog

To load a city, use the File Menu and select the item labelled 'Load City...'.
The Open File dialog looks and works almost like the Save File dialog.  It will
start out in a directory named 'Cities', which contains some interesting cities
included with SimCity.  You can load and play any of them, or navigate to the
directory where you saved your city, and load that again.  This is all the
basic information you need to run SimCity, but we suggest reading on.  The User
Reference section explains in detail how to use each program function.  Inside
SimCity explains the inner workings of the simulator, and gives some brief
hints and tips for using it.  There is also an essay on The History of Cities
and City Planning, and a Bibliography for serious City Planners. Have Fun
Playing SimCity!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. User's Guide ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Controlling SimCity

Managing Windows

A big part of controlling SimCity is controlling its windows.  You can select
which windows are displayed.  Windows can be moved around the screen.  They can
be brought to the front, or minimized into small icons.

The System Menu

To move a SimCity window around, just press the mouse button down on its Drag
Edge, the thick beveled border, and drag the outline to where you want it.
When you release the button, the window will move there.  Some windows can be
resized, by pressing the mouse button down on the Resize Corner, and dragging
the outline to where you want it.  The opposite corner will stay in the same
place, and the window will stretch so the corner is where you've put it
(however, windows won't stretch smaller than their minimum size).  Click
anywhere on a window to bring it to the top.  All windows have a System menu in
the upper left corner, you can double-click the left mouse button on it to
close the window, or you may hide, move, resize, or close the window by
selecting an item from the System menu.

Fly Help

SimCity for OS/2 has 'Fly Help' on all toolbar and tool dialog buttons.  Moving
the mouse over any of these controls pops up a small help window telling you
about that control.

Using the Mouse

In SimCity, you will primarily use the left mouse button.  Use the right mouse
button to quickly bulldoze areas in the Edit window.  Clicking a mouse button
means to press and release it without moving.  Dragging means to press and hold
the button, move the mouse, then release.

Options Menu

The Options Menu contains on/off settings, you may toggle on or off by clicking
on them.

Auto Budget - Keeps your budget at the same level (or fully funded) without
asking for approval every year.  If there isn't enough money to meet the
budget, then funds will be allocated first to the Transit system, then to the
Fire Department, then to the Police.  If your city runs out of money, the
budget window comes up at the end of the year anyway, and Auto Budget is turned
off.

Auto Bulldoze - Allows you to place zones, roadways, etc., directly on top of
trees, shoreline, power lines, and rubble, without manually bulldozing first.
You will be charged the same amount as for manual bulldozing.

Disasters - Enables or disables random disasters.  If disasters are disabled,
you can still select them manually from the Disasters Menu.

Music - Toggles the background music on and off.  Preserves the sanity and good
will of those who have to work in the same room.

Sound FX - Toggles the city sounds on and off.  Preserves the sanity and good
will of those who have to work in the same room (Didn't we just say that?).

Animation - Turns animation on and off.  Turning off animation makes SimCity
run a little faster.

Fly Help - Toggles the Fly Help windows on and off.

Info popups - Toggles the informational popup windows on and off.  The
information is still displayed in the status bar of the main window.

Disasters Menu

The Disasters Menu allows you to set natural (and unnatural) disasters loose on
your city.  Use these disasters to test your ability to deal with emergencies
in your city or just to release some aggression.  More information on
disasters, their causes, and dealing with them is presented later.

 Monster - Sets a monster loose on your city.

 Fire - Starts a fire somewhere on the map.

 Flood - Causes a flood to occur near the water.

 Air Crash - Causes a plane to crash.  If there are no planes in the air, one
will be generated.

 Tornado - Causes a tornado to appear somewhere on the map.

 Earthquake - Causes a MAJOR earthquake.

 Meltdown - If there's a nuclear power plant, this spills Irn-Bru in the
control room, causing a meltdown.

Speed Menu

The Speed Menu contains settings that control the speed that time passes in the
simulation.  The faster time passes, the less frequently the screen updates.

 Pause - Stops the passage of time entirely.

 Slow - Months pass slowly, with smooth animation.

 Medium - Months pass by, with smooth animation.

 Fast - Months pass fast, with smooth animation.

Windows Menu

The Windows Menu opens up the various SimCity windows, bringing them to the
front.

 Budget - Opens the Budget Window.

 Evaluation - Opens the Evaluation Window.

 Editor - Opens the Edit Window.

 Map - Opens the Map Window.

 Graph - Opens the Graph Window.

 Tools - Opens the Edit Tools Window.

The Edit Window

This is where all actual zoning and building takes place.

Terrain

There are three types of terrain in the Edit Window Open Land, Trees, and
Water.

Open Land is where you can zone and build.  It is shown as brown with dark
brown speckles.

Trees and Forests are shown as green, with dark green speckles.  You cannot
zone or build on trees.  You may bulldoze trees and forests to turn them into
clear land. While some bulldozing is necessary, clearing away too much green
area will result in lower property values.

Water is shown as blue, with dark blue speckles.  You cannot zone or build on
water.  You must bulldoze coastlines to create landfills before you can build
or zone there.

Edit Window

The Edit Window is where you will do the actual building and zoning.  In the
middle of the Edit Window is a detailed map showing part of the terrain.
Around the edges are controls and fields displaying information about the city.

Edit Tools Window

Click on an icon in the Edit Tools window to use a city editing tool.  When an
icon is selected, a rectangle will accompany the cursor when it's over the Edit
window, to indicate the area the tool will affect.

The Zone Status Window

Selecting the query tool (the question mark icon) and clicking on the Edit
window displays the Zone Status Window, describing the population density,
value, crime rate, pollution, and growth rate of the zone you clicked on.  It
doesn't cost anything to use.

Bulldozing Zones

The bulldozer clears trees and forests, creates landfill along the water, and
levels developed, existing zones and clears rubble caused by disasters.  The
Auto Bulldoze option works on natural terrain, power lines and rubble, but not
on zones, roads and rails.

It costs $1 for each square tile bulldozed.  Knocking down a 3x3 zone costs $9
since it's made up of nine tiles.  You're automatically charged $1 for each
non-empty tile that you Auto Bulldoze.

Roads and Bridges

Roads connect developed areas.  Intersections and turns are automatically
created.  Lay continuous roads by pressing the left mouse button and dragging
your cursor.  Be careful - if you accidentally lay a road in the wrong place
you will have to pay for bulldozing and rebuilding.

Roads may not be placed over zoned areas.  They may be placed over trees,
shrubbery, and shoreline only after bulldozing or activating the Auto Bulldoze
function from the Options Menu.  Roads can cross over power lines and rails
only at right angles.

Laying roads across water creates a bridge.  Bridges can only be built in a
straight line - no curves, turns or intersections.  Shorelines must be
bulldozed prior to building a bridge, unless the Auto Bulldoze function from
the Options Menu is active.

Roadways are maintained by the transit budget, and wear out if there is a lack
of funding.  The amount of yearly funding requested by the transportation
department is $1 for each section of road, $4 for each section of bridge.

It costs $10 to lay one section of road and $50 to lay one section of bridge.

Power Lines Connecting Zones

Power Lines carry power from power plants to zoned land and between zones.  All
developed land needs power to function.  Power is conducted through adjacent
zones. Unpowered zones display the flashing lightning bolt symbol.  There is a
delay between the time you connect power to a zone and when the flashing symbol
disappears. The delay grows longer as the city grows larger.

Power lines cannot cross zoned land.  They can be built over trees, shrubbery,
and shoreline only after bulldozing, or activating the Auto Bulldoze function
from the Options Menu. Junctions and corners are automatically created.  Lay
continuous power lines by pressing the left mouse button down and dragging your
cursor.  Power lines across water must be horizontal or vertical - no turn,
curves or intersections.  Power lines consume some power due to transmission
inefficiencies.

It costs $5 to lay one section of power line on land, $25 on water.

Railways

Transit Lines create a railway system for intra-city mass transit.  Place
tracks in heavy traffic areas to help alleviate congestion.  Intersections and
turns are created automatically.  Lay continuous transit lines by pressing the
left mouse button down and dragging with your cursor.  Tracks laid under rivers
will appear as dashed lines. These are underwater tunnels, and must be vertical
or horizontal - no turns, curves or intersections.

Transit lines are maintained by the transit budget.  The level of funding
affects the efficiency of the system.  The amount of yearly funding requested
by the transportation department is $4 for each section of rail, and $10 for
each section of tunnel.  It costs $20 per section of track laid on land, $100
per section under water.  Train Tracks Provide Mass Transit

Parks can be placed on clear land.  Parks, like forests and water, raise the
land value of surrounding zones.  Parks can be bulldozed as fire breaks or
reserve space for later mass transit expansion.  Parks Improve the Quality of
Life.

Residential Zone Evolution

Residential Zones are where the Sims live, build houses, apartments and
community facilities like hospitals and churches.  Most residential zones
develop into one of four classes lower, middle, upper, and high.  They can
range in population density from single-family homes to high-rise apartments
and condominiums.  Some residential zones will automatically develop into
churches and hospitals.

Factors influencing residential value and growth are pollution, traffic
density, population density, surrounding terrain, roadway access, parks and
utilities.  It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as residential.

Commercial Zone Evolution

Commercial Zones are used for many things, including retail stores, office
buildings, parking garages and gas stations.  There are four values for
commercial property, and five levels of growth, from the small general store to
tall skyscrapers.  Factors influencing the value and growth of commercial areas
include internal markets, pollution, traffic density, residential access, labor
supply, airports, crime rates, transit access and utilities.  It costs $100 to
zone one plot of land as commercial.

Industrial Zone Evolution

Industrial Zones are for heavy manufacturing and industrial services.  There
are four levels of industrial growth, from small pumping stations and
warehouses to large factories.  Factors influencing industrial growth are
external markets, seaports, transit access, residential access, labor supply
and utilities.  It costs $100 to zone one plot of land as industrial.

Police Station

Police Departments lower the crime rate in the surrounding area.  This in turn
raises property values.  Place these in high-density crime areas, as defined by
your Crime Rate Map.  The efficiency of a station depends on the level of
police department funding and transit access.  It costs $500 to build a police
station.  Full yearly maintenance of each Police Station is $100.

Fire Station

Fire Departments make surrounding areas less susceptible to fires.  When fires
do occur, they are put out sooner and do less damage if a station is near.  The
effectiveness of fire containment depends on the level of fire department
funding and transit access.  It costs $500 to build a fire station.  Full
yearly maintenance of each fire station is $100.

Athletic Stadium

Stadiums encourage residential growth, once a city has become fairly large.
You may build a stadium in a smaller city without negative (or positive)
effect.  Stadiums indirectly generate a lot of revenue, but create a lot of
traffic.  Properly maintaining a stadium requires a good road and transit
network.  It costs $3000 to build a stadium.

Coal and Nuclear Power Plants

Power Plants can be Coal or Nuclear, chosen from a sub-menu provided when you
press the left mouse button over the power plant icon.  The nuclear plant is
more powerful but carries a slight risk of meltdown.  The coal plant is less
expensive, but less powerful and it pollutes.  All zoned land needs power to
develop and grow. When developed land loses power, it will degenerate to an
undeveloped zone unless power is restored.  Connecting too many zones to a
power plant causes brownouts.  Coal power plants cost $3000 to build, and
supply enough energy for about 50 zones.  Nuclear power plants cost $5000 and
supply electricity for about 150 zones.

Seaports and Ships

Seaports increase the potential for industrial growth.  They have little effect
in a small city, but contribute a lot to industrialization in a large city.
Seaports should be placed on a shoreline.  The shoreline must be bulldozed
prior to zoning a Seaport, unless Auto Bulldoze is active.  Once the port is
operational you may see ships in the water.  It costs $5000 to zone land for
use as a seaport.

Airports

Airports increase the growth potential of your commercial markets.  Once a city
starts getting large, commercial growth will level off without an airport.
Airports are large and expensive and should not be built unless your city can
afford one.  Position airports to keep flight paths over water whenever
possible, lessening the impact of air disasters.  Once you build an airport you
will see planes flying above your city to and from the airport.  There is also
a traffic helicopter that alerts you to heavy traffic areas.  It costs $10,000
to zone land for use as an airport.

The Budget Window

When your first taxes are collected in a new city, and each year after, the
Budget Window will appear (unless you select the Auto Budget option).  You will
be asked to set the funding levels for the fire, police, and transportation
departments, and to set the property tax rate.

The Budget Window can be opened from the Windows Menu.  When Auto Budget is
active, all the funding levels will remain at full funding, or your last
setting.  If there is not enough money to completely fund the budget, money
will go first to the Transit Department, then the Fire Department, then the
Police Department.

Changing the Budget

You can raise and lower budget levels by clicking on the little arrows or
dragging the sliders that correspond to each category.  A numeric field will
display the level of funding that will be maintained if you turn on the Auto
Budget function.  You may also adjust your tax rate by clicking on the arrows
or dragging the slider next to the tax rate indicator.  Press the button
labeled "Go With These Figures" to make the Budget Window disappear.When the
Budget Window opens up, the hour glass in the upper right corner starts
running.  When it runs out, the Budget Window automatically goes with the
currently selected figures and disappears.  You can click on the hour glass to
make it go away, and the Budget Window will stay up for as long as you like.

Tax Rate

The maximum tax rate you can set is 20%.

The minimum tax rate you can set is 0%.

The optimum tax rate for fast growth is between 5% and 7%.

To slow city growth without actually shrinking, set the tax rate to 8% or 9%.

The tax collected from each zone is based on the following formula

The scaling constant changes with the difficulty level of the game.

Funding Levels

The amount of yearly funding requested for the fire and police departments is
$100 per station that you have placed.  Until you actually build fire or police
stations, you cannot fund them.  You cannot allocate more than 100% of the
requested funding for fire and police departments.  SimCity police officers and
fire inspectors are honest and will not accept your bribes.  Allocating less
than the requested amount will decrease the effective coverage of the police or
fire stations.  The amount of yearly funding requested for the transportation
department is $1 for each section of road, $4 for each section of bridge (roads
over water), $4 for each section of rail, and $10 for each section of tunnel
(underwater rails).  You cannot allocate more than 100% of the requested funds.

Transportation maintenance funding slightly below 100% will cause slow, minor
deterioration of the transit system - an occasional pothole or bad track
section.  Funding between 90% and 75% will cause noticeable damage - many
sections of road and rail will be unusable.  Funding below 75% will cause rapid
deterioration of your transit system.

Cash Flow

Cash flow will be negative if your yearly maintenance costs are greater than
your yearly tax intake.  A major difference between SimCity and a real city is
that SimCity does not allow budget deficits.  If you don't have the money, you
can't spend it.  Try not to let your city run with a negative cash flow.

The Map Window

The Map Window shows the entire area of your city.  The maps show demographic
information to help you comprehend the state of your city.  You can select
between various views by selecting different zones and overlays from the 'Zone'
and 'Overlay' menus.

One or more yellow rectangular outlines overlay the map, showing the location
of the Edit Window views of the city.  You can drag the rectangles around the
map to pan the other views.

Using the Maps

The Map Window should be constantly referred to in all stages of city planning,
building and managing.

Before you build, use the map before beginning a new city to plan:

 Where you want your city center.

 Where you want the high-class waterfront residential areas.

 Where you will cross water with bridges, power lines and tunnels.

 Where to place power plants.

 Where to place large industrial sections away from the residential sections.

 The general layout of your city.

Printing the map and sketching in your plan with pencil or pen can save a lot
of bulldozing and re-zoning and rebuilding.

During city growth

 Use the map to guide your city's growth around forest areas, to preserve the
trees and improve property values.

 Use the Transportation Map along with the Traffic Density map to plan traffic
control and expansion.

 Use the City Form Maps to make sure you have the proper ratio of residential
to commercial to industrial zones.

 Use the Pollution Map to detect problem areas, and disperse the industrial
zones and/or replace roads with rails.

 Printing out the map in various stages of development and doing some
preliminary expansion planning with pencil can be useful.  Printouts can also
be used for city historical records.

During city maintenance

 Use the Power Grid Map to locate zones that have lost power.

 Use the City Services Maps to evaluate the effective coverage of your police
and fire departments.

 Use the Crime Rate Map to locate problem areas that need more police
protection.

 Use the Pollution Map to locate problem areas.

 Use the Transportation and Traffic Density Maps to determine where to replace
roads with rails.

 Use the Land Value Map to locate depressed areas for improvement or
replacement.

 Use the City Form Maps to maintain the proper ratio of residential to
commercial to industrial zones.

Graph Window

The Graph Window gives you time-based graphs of various city data.  It can be
opened through the Windows Menu.Unlike the maps, which only show the current
state of your city, the Graphs give you a record of the past so you can gauge
trends and cycles.

You may view graphs for time periods of either the last 10 years or the last
120 years by clicking on the "10 YRS." or "120 YRS." button.

10 and 120 Year Graph Windows

 The Residential Population Graph shows the total population in residential
zones.

 The Commercial Population Graph shows the total population in commercial
zones.

 The Industrial Population Graph shows the total population in industrial
zones.

 The Cash Flow Graph shows your city's cash flow money collected in taxes minus
money it took to maintain your city.  The center of the Cash Flow Graph
represents a cash flow of zero.  Do not build more infrastructure (roads,
rails, police departments, fire stations) than you can support with tax
revenues.

 The Crime Rate Graph shows the overall crime rate of the entire city.

 The Pollution Graph shows the overall average pollution reading of the entire
city.

Using the Graphs

The Graphs give information on many of the same factors as the maps, but show
the information over time.  Graphs are for locating trends in city life that
won't be noticeable in a map.  If you look at a map, for example the Crime Rate
Map, a very slight rise in the crime rate will not be noticeable.  But on the
Crime Rate Graph, you would easily locate the upward trend in crime because you
will be viewing the levels for a number of years at the same time.

Residential, commercial and industrial population growth and/or decline can be
tracked and displayed.  If you notice a downward trend in any of these, refer
to the User Reference Card to locate potential problems and solutions.  Use the
Cash Flow Graph to track your city's efficiency as it grows.  If your
maintenance costs are higher than your tax revenues, you will have a negative
cash flow.

The Crime Rate Graph can be displayed, revealing slight but consistent upward
or downward trends.  Use the Pollution Graph to catch rising levels of
pollution before they reach a problem level.

Evaluation Window

The Evaluation Window gives you a performance rating.  You can access it
through the Windows Menu.  Public Opinion is presented in poll form, rating
your overall job as Mayor and listing what the public regards as the city's
most pressing problems.  You are advised to keep your residents happy or they
might migrate away, and you will be left with a "ghost town."

In general, if more than 55% of the populace thinks you are doing a good job,
then you can feel secure of keeping your job.

If 10% or less of the people think something is a problem, then it's not too
bad. These are most of the problems that citizens complain about, and how to
correct them

 Traffic - Replace dense sections of roads with rails.

 Crime - Add police stations and/or raise property values.

 Pollution - Replace roads with rails, disperse industrial zones.

 Housing - Zone more residences.

 Housing Costs - Zone more residences in low property value areas.

 Fires - Build more fire departments.

 Taxes - Lower taxes (if you can).  Or lie through your lips.

 Unemployment - Zone more commercial and industrial areas.

Statistics on Population, Net Migration, and Assessed Value are displayed,
along with the city's Game Level and the Overall City Score.  This data is
calculated once a year at budget time.

Population is the number of residents in your city.  The Net Migration
statistic provides a rating of the desirability of your city.  If people are
leaving in droves, then you know something is rotten in SimCity.

The Assessed Value is the combined value of all city-owned property, roads,
rails, power plants, police and fire stations, airports, seaports, parks, etc.
It does not include residential, commercial and industrial zones.

The Categories are defined by population as follows,

 Village       0 to 1,999

 Town      2,000 to 9,999

 City      10,000 to 49,999

 Capital    50,000 to 99,999

 Metropolis  100,000 to 499,999

 Megalopolis  500,000 and above

Overall City Score is a composite score based on the following factors (some
positive, some negative),

 Major Factors - Crime, pollution, housing costs, taxes, traffic, unemployment,
fire protection, unpowered zones, city growth rate.

 Minor Factors - Stadium needed (but not built), seaport needed (but not
built), airport needed (but not built), road funding, police funding, fire
department funding, and fires.

A large population is not necessarily a sign of a successful city.  Population
size does not affect the overall city score, since low population could
indicate a new or growing city.  Since city growth rate does affect the overall
city score, a city in which growth has been intentionally stopped for
environmental or aesthetic reasons will have a slightly lower score.

Game Level

When you first start a new city, you must pick a Game Level.  Once a city is
started, you cannot change the Game Level; it remains at your initial setting
for the life of the city.  The current Game Level is displayed in the
evaluation window.This level - Easy, Medium, or Hard - adjusts the simulation
to your current abilities by altering several factors.  A harder setting will
increase the chance of disasters, make residents more intolerant of taxation,
cause maintenance costs to grow, etc.

Disasters

Disasters will randomly occur as you play SimCity.  At higher game levels the
disasters will happen more often.  Most disasters can be activated from the
Disasters Menu.  Random disasters can be eliminated by turing off the Disasters
setting of the Options Menu.

Shipwreck

Shipwrecks can occur once you have an operating seaport.  They can cause fires
where the ship crashes into a shore or bridge.  Shipwrecks are not available on
the Disasters Menu.

Monster Attack

Monster Attacks are provoked by high levels of pollution.  A monster destroys
everything in its path, starts fires, and causes planes, helicopters, trains,
and ships to crash.

Fire

Fires can start anywhere in the city.  Fires spread fairly rapidly through
forests and buildings, somewhat slower over roadways.  Fire will not cross
water or clear land.

The effectiveness of the fire department (which can be viewed in the Map
Window) is based on how close it is to the fire, its funding level, and its
transit access.  Fires inside this effective radius will be extinguished
automatically.  If you have no operational fire departments in the area you can
try to control the fire yourself.  Since fire will not spread across clear
terrain, you can build fire breaks with the bulldozer.  Just surround the fire
with clear areas and it will stop spreading and eventually burn itself out.
You cannot directly bulldoze a fire.

Flood

Flooding occurs near the water.  Floods gradually spread and destroy buildings
and utilities.  After a while the flood waters recede, leaving behind cleared
terrain.

Air Crash

Air Crashes can happen anywhere in the city if an airport is operational.  This
happens whenever aircraft collide with things, such as tornados or another
aircraft.  When a crash occurs, a fire will start, unless the crash is on
water.  A good strategy is to locate the airport away from the central city to
minimize the fire damage.

Tornado

Tornados can occur anywhere on the map at any time.  Very fast and
unpredictable, they can appear and disappear at a moment's notice.  Tornados
destroy everything in their path, and can cause planes, helicopters, trains,
and ships to crash.

Earthquake

Earthquakes are the most devastating disaster.  This is a Major earthquake -
between 8.0 and 9.0 on the Richter Scale.  It will destroy buildings and start
fires.  The initial damage will vary with the severity of the earthquake, and
the eventual fire damage depends on your fire-control efforts.  When an
Earthquake occurs, the Edit Window will shake for a while.  When it stops you
will have to take charge and control the scattered fires.  Use the bulldozer to
contain the largest fires first and work your way down to the smaller ones.

Meltdown

Meltdowns are only possible if you are using a nuclear power plant.  If a
meltdown occurs, your nuclear plant will explode into flames.  The surrounding
area will be unusable for the remainder of the simulation due to radioactive
contamination.

Scenarios

The Scenarios provide both real and hypothetical problems for you to deal with
in seven famous (and one not-so-famous) cities.  They present various levels of
difficulty. Some problems are in the form of disasters which will occur some
time after you start.  Other problems are more long-term, such as crime.

Your task is to deal with the problem at hand as well as possible under the
circumstances.  After a certain amount of time the city residents will rate
your performance in a special election.  If you do very well you may be given
the key to the city.  However, if you do poorly, they just might run you out of
town.

Dullsville, USA 1900 - Boredom

Things haven't changed much around here in the last hundred years and the
residents are beginning to get bored.  They think Dullsville could be the next
great city with the right leader.  It is your job to attract new growth and
development, turning Dullsville into a Metropolis by the 21st century.

 Difficulty      Easy

 Time Limit      30 years

 Win Condition    Metropolis

San Francisco, CA 1906 - 8.0 Earthquake

Damage from the earthquake was minor compared to that of the ensuing fires,
which took days to control. 1500 people died.  Controlling the fires should be
your initial concern here.  Afterwards, clearing the remaining rubble will
allow the city to start rebuilding.

 Difficulty      Very difficult

 Time Limit      5 years

 Win Condition    Metropolis

Hamburg, Germany 1944 - Fire

Allied fire-bombing of German cities in WWII caused tremendous damage and loss
of life.  People living in the inner cities were at greatest risk.  You must
control the firestorms during the bombing and then rebuild the city after the
war.

 Difficulty      Very difficult

 Time Limit      5 years

 Win Condition    Metropolis

Bern, Switzerland 1965 - Traffic

The roads here are becoming more congested every day, and the residents are
upset.  They demand that you do something about it.  Some have suggested a mass
transit system as the answer, but this would require major rezoning in the
downtown area.

 Difficulty      Easy

 Time Limit      10 years

 Win Condition    Low Average Traffic Density

Tokyo, Japan 1957 - Monster Attack

A large reptilian creature has been spotted heading for Tokyo bay.  It seems to
be attracted to the heavy levels of industrial pollution there.  Try to control
the fires, then rebuild the industrial center.

 Difficulty      Moderately difficult

 Time Limit      5 years

 Win Condition    City Score above 500

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2047 - Flood

In the mid-21st century, the greenhouse effect raised global temperatures 6
degrees F.  Polar ice caps melted and raised sea levels worldwide.  Coastal
areas were devastated by flood and erosion. Unfortunately, some of the largest
cities in the world are located on the coast.

 Difficulty         Moderately difficult

 Time Limit         10 years

 Win Condition       City Score above 500

Boston, MA 2010 - Nuclear Meltdown

A major meltdown is about to occur at one of the new downtown nuclear reactors.
The area in the vicinity of the reactor will be severely contaminated by
radiation, forcing you to restructure the city around it.

  Difficulty         Very difficult

 Time Limit         5 years

 Win Condition       City Score above 500

Detroit, MI 1927 - Crime

By 1970, competition from overseas and other economic factors pushed the once
"automobile capital of the world" into recession.  Plummeting land values and
unemployment then increased crime in the inner-city to chronic levels.  You
have just been elected after promising to reduce crime and rebuild the
industrial base of the city.

 Difficulty         Moderately difficult

 Time Limit         10 years

 Win Condition       Low Average Crime Density


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. City Growth ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Growing a City

While growing a city, refer often to the User Reference Card.  It provides a
chart of City Dynamics; how all factors of city life and growth are related.

The main points to keep in mind while growing a city are,

 Grow slowly.  Watch your money.

 All zones must be powered to develop.

 Zones must be developed to generate tax money.

 Roads or rails must provide access to and from each zone for it to fully
develop.

 There is a yearly maintenance cost for each section of road, rail, bridge and
tunnel.

This can add up.  Don't build too many roads and rails and generate high
maintenance costs before your city can generate enough tax revenues to support
them.

 Extra power plants and redundant power lines are expensive, but can keep zones
from losing power during a disaster or emergency and deteriorating.

 Rails can carry much more traffic than roads.  While building and zoning an
area that you predict will generate heavy traffic, install rails instead of
roads in the early stages of development.

 If you get a lot of heavy traffic warnings, replace roads with rails.  You can
build an entirely roadless city, even if you're not a train spotter!

 Grouping zones together, four of five in a row touching each other, can
eliminate a lot of power line segments.

 Airports, seaports and stadiums won't help a small city grow - so save your
money until the city gets larger.

The Sims will tell you when they need these things.

Place zones, roads, etc.  carefully - they cannot be moved, and you will have
to pay to bulldoze them and rebuild.

As a rule of thumb, the number of residential zones should be approximately
equal to the sum of commercial and industrial zones.  When your city is small,
you will need more industrial zones than commercial, and when your city gets
larger, you will need more commercial zones than industrial.

Separate the residential areas from the industrial areas.

Proximity to forests, parks, and water increases land value, which increases
the taxes collected.  Don't bulldoze any more forest than you must.

Natural shoreline increases property values more than landfill shoreline.

Keep in mind that proximity to downtown raises property values.  The simulator
defines the downtown areas as "the center of mass of the population density."
It calculates the average geographical center of the population.

A bigger, more populous city is not necessarily better.  Having a
self-supporting, profitable city with pleasant surroundings is better than a
huge city that is always broke and has no forest or shoreline.

Use the various maps and graphs to plan city growth, locate problems, and track
your progress.  Look for areas that need police and fire coverage as you go, so
you don't have to go back and bulldoze developed zones to make room for police
and fire stations.

Save your city to disk before trying any major new policy so you can go back if
your plan doesn't work.

Check the Evaluation Window often.  The Sims will let you know how you are
doing.  Also the statistics can be useful; if your population is shrinking,
don't go zoning new areas that may never develop.  Look for problems in the
existing zoned areas, and spend your time and money solving them.

Save your city to disk often!!!

Inside The Simulator

How the Simulator Works and Strategies for Using It

Many factors influence the chance of your city`s prospering or floundering,
both internal factors (the structure and efficiency of your city) and external
factors (the regional economy, disasters, etc.).

Zones

Your city is divided up into three primary zones, residential, commercial and
industrial.  These zones symbolize the three basic pillars upon which a city is
based, population, industry, and commerce.  All three are necessary for your
city to grow and thrive.

Residential Zones are where the Sims live.  Here they build houses, apartments
and community facilities such as churches and schools.  Sims are the work force
for your city's commercial and industrial zones.

Industrial Zones are used to site warehouses, factories, and other unsightly
and polluting structures which have a negative impact on surrounding zones.
One of the major goals of planning is to separate these "nuisances" from the
areas where people live.  In this simulation, industrial zones represent the
"basic" production of your city.  Things produced here are sold outside the
city to an "external market," bringing money into the city for future growth.

Commercial Zones represent the retail stores and services in your city,
including gas stations, grocery stores, banks, and offices.  Commercial areas
are mainly dedicated to producing goods and services needed within your city.
This is called "non-basic" production or production for the "internal market."

Residential Population

The major factors controlling residential population are birthrate,
availability of jobs and housing, unemployment, and quality of life within the
city.  Birthrate as used here, is actually a combination of the birthrate
(positive) and the deathrate (negative).  Within SimCity there is always a
positive birthrate.  Availability of jobs (the employment rate) is a ratio of
the current commercial and industrial populations to the total residential
population.  As a rule of thumb, the number of commercial and industrial zones
together should roughly equal the number of r

Residential zones.

If there are more jobs in your city than residents, new settlers will be
attracted.  If the job market declines during a local recession, your people
will migrate away in search of jobs.  Housing for your residents is built in
the residential zones.  These zones must be powered and connected to the places
of employment by roads.  The structures built in residential zones are
influenced by land value and population density.  Quality of life is a measure
of relative "attractiveness" assigned to different zone locations.  It is
affected by negative factors such as pollution and crime, and positive factors
such as parks and accessibility.

External Market - Industrial

There are thousands of variables that influence your city.  All these variables
can be influenced by your actions with the exception of one.  The external
market (the economic conditions that exist outside of your city) is controlled
by the simulation - there is nothing you can do to change it.  In many ways,
this external market is the original source of all city growth.  Towns
frequently begin as production centers (steel towns, refineries, etc.) that
service a demand in the surrounding region.  As time passes, the external
market grows to reflect the regional growth going on around your city.

The industry in your city will attempt to grow as the external market grows.
For this to happen there must be room for expansion (more industrial zones) and
an adequate labor supply (more residential zones).

Internal Market - Commercial

The internal market is completely influenced by the conditions within your
city.  Internal production, created in the commercial zones, represents all the
things which are purchased and consumed within the city.  Food stores, gas
stations, retail stores, financial services, medical care, etc.  - all depend
on a nearby population to service. Within SimCity, the size of the internal
market determines the rate at which commercial zones will prosper.  Commercial
zones need enough zoned land to build on and an existent, sufficient work force
to employ.  The structures built in commercial zones are mainly influenced by
land value and population density.

Commercial zones grow and develop to serve the expanding internal market.
Commercial growth will usually be slow at first, when the population is small
and needs very little.  As your city grows, commercial growth will accelerate
and the internal market will become a much larger consumer of your total city
production.  This accelerating effect, when the external/industrial production
is overtaken by the accelerating internal/commercial sector, can turn a sleepy
little town of 50,000 into a thriving capital of 200,000 in a few short years.

Tax Rate

The tax rate you set controls the amount of income generated by your city.  As
taxes are collected each year (simulation time), the Budget Window will appear,
giving you the fiscal details of your city and a chance to adjust rates.  The
simulation determines the amount of revenue collected by assessing each zone an
amount based on its land value, current level of development and the current
tax rate.

The tax rate has a global affect on your city's growth rate.  If you set it low
(0%-4%), growth will be brisk but the city income will be low.  If you set it
high (10%-20%), you will collect a lot in the short run but in the long run tax
income will decrease along with the population.  You must keep tax income high
enough to invest in new development, but low enough not to scare off residents
and businesses.  A high tax rate is one way to control city growth, should you
want to experiment with "growth control measures."

Budgeting

City budgeting affects the way your city grows.  City infrastructure cost is
represented by three departments, police, fire, and transportation.  You may
set the funding levels separately for each.  All three departments will request
a certain level of funding each year.  You may supply all or part of the
requested funds, in the attempt to balance safety needs and budgetary concerns.

Police Department

Police stations lower the crime rate around a territory.  The effective radius
of your police station is related to the amount of funding allocated to the
police department. Police stations cost $100 per year to fund.

Fire Department

Fire stations prevent and extinguish fires.  The level of funding determines
the effective radius of a fire station.  Fire stations put out fires within
this radius much sooner than outside it, and decrease the chance that they will
start in the first place.  Fire stations cost $100 per year to fund.

Transportation Department

When you build roads and rail systems you are charged for construction and
yearly maintenance.  The larger your transportation network, the more it will
cost for upkeep.  If you decide not to or are unable to pay this maintenance
cost, roads will slowly deteriorate and become unusable.  The maintenance cost
for each piece is, Road - $1, Bridge - $4, Rail - $4, Rail tunnel - $10.

Power

Electrical power makes modern cities possible.  Efficient and reliable power
transmission to all zones is the goal of good "power management."

The entire power grid of your city is periodically checked in the simulation
for links to power.  If a zone is connected (by other zones or power lines) to
a power plant, the zone is considered powered.  Zones must be powered for
development to occur.  Many things (such as fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and
bulldozers) can knock down power lines and cause blackouts in parts of your
city.  Development will stop in unpowered zones, and if power is not quickly
restored, the zone will decline back to its original state of emptiness.

Redundant power plants and power connections can make your power grid more
reliable, but running more line adds construction costs.

Transportation - Traffic

One of the most important elements of city structure is the transportation
network.  It moves Sims and good throughout your city.  Roads typically occupy
as much as 25%-40% of the land in urban areas.  Traffic along these roads
indicates which sections of your road system are used the most.

Traffic levels are simulated by a process known as "Trip Generation." Over
time, each populated zone in the city will generate a number of trips,
depending on the population.  Each generated trip starts at the origin zone,
travels down the road, and if a "proper destination" is reached, ends at the
destination zone - otherwise, the trip fails.  Trip failure indicates
inaccessibility of a zone and limits its growth.

The majority of generated trips represent people commuting to and from work.
Additional traffic is generated by residents traveling to shopping, recreation,
etc.  When analyzing traffic, the simulator tests the following traffic routes;

  From Origin Zone To Destination Zone

  Residential, Commercial, and Industrial.

  Commercial, Residential, and Industrial.

  Industrial, Residential.

When Sims drive away from an origin zone, they have a limited "trip range" in
which to find a destination zone.  Heavy traffic decreases the trip range.  If
the destination zone is too far away, the trip is unsuccessful.  Repeated
unsuccessful trips will cause the Sims to move out of the origin zone.

Each road has a limited capacity for traffic.  When this capacity is exceeded
traffic jams will form.  Traffic jams drastically lower the capacity of a road,
compounding the problem and frustrating drivers.  Traffic conditions fluctuate
quickly.  Avoid traffic problems by providing several routes for the traffic to
take.

A road must be adjacent to a zone for the zone to be connected to the traffic
pattern.  Zones do not conduct traffic the way they conduct power.

Pollution

Pollution levels are tracked in all areas of your city.  This is a general
"nuisance level" that includes air and water pollution, noise pollution, toxic
wastes, etc.  Pollution has a negative impact on the growth of residential
areas.The primary cause of pollution is industrialized zones.  The level of
pollution created by an industrial zone increases with its level of growth.

Traffic is another cause of pollution.  There are limited means of combating
the pollution level.  Lowering traffic density, limiting industrial
development, and separating the pollution from the residential areas will help.

Crime

Crime rates are influenced by population density, local law enforcement, and
land values.  As population density increases in an area, the number of crimes
committed increases.  Crime will also increase in areas of low land value.  The
most effective way to deal with high crime rates is to introduce a police
station into the area.  Based on its level of funding, the police station will
reduce the rate of crime in its sphere of influence.  A long-term approach to
lowering crime is to raise the land value of the area.  One way to do this is
to demolish and rezone (urban renewal).

Land Value

Land value is one of the most fundamental aspects of urban structure.  The land
value of an area affects how that area is used.  In this simulation the land
value of an area is based on terrain, accessibility, pollution, and distance to
downtown.  The farther the residents have to go to work, the lower the land
value where they live, due in part to transportation costs.  The value of
commercial zones depends greatly on accessibility by the populace.

Land value is also affected by surrounding terrain.  If land is closer to
water, trees, agricultural areas, or parks, its value will rise.  Creative
placement of zones within the terrain, with little bulldozing, can make good
use of this natural advantage.  Land value and crime rate have a feedback
effect on each other.  Lower land values cause crime rates to rise.  Higher
crime rates cause land values to drop, and can cause "transition areas" near
your central city to rapidly decline in value.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. History Of Cities And City Planning ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

History Of Cities And City Planning By Cliff Ellis

Introduction

The building of cities has a long and complex history.  Although city planning
as an organized profession has existed for less than a century, all cities
display various degrees of forethought and conscious design in their layout and
functioning.Early humans led a nomadic existence, relying on hunting and
gathering for sustenance. Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, systematic
cultivation of plants and the domestication of animals allowed for more
permanent settlements.  During the fourth millennium B.C., the requirements for
the "urban revolution" were finally met, the production of a surplus of
storable food, a system of writing, a more complex social organization, and
technological advances such as the plough, potter's wheel, loom, and
metallurgy.

Cities exist for many reasons, and the diversity of urban forms can be traced
to the complex functions that cities perform.  Cities serve as centers of
storage, trade, and manufacture.  The agricultural surplus from the surrounding
countryside is processed and distributed in cities.  Cities also grew up around
marketplaces, where goods from distant places could be exchanged for local
products.  Throughout history, cities have been founded at the intersections of
transportation routes, or at points where goods must shift from one mode of
transportation to another, as at river and ocean ports.

Religious elements have been crucial throughout urban history.  Ancient peoples
had sacred places, often associated with cemeteries or shrines, around which
cities grew. Ancient cities usually had large temple precincts with monumental
religious buildings.  Many medieval cities were built near monasteries and
cathedrals.  Cities often provide protection in a precarious world.  During
attacks, the rural populace could flee behind city walls, where defence forces
assembled to repel the enemy.  The wall served this purpose for millennia,
until the invention of heavy artillery rendered walls useless in warfare.  With
the advent of modern aerial warfare, cities have become prime targets for
destruction rather than safe havens.

Cities serve as centers of government.  In particular, the emergence of the
great nation-states of Europe between 1400 and 1800 led to the creation of new
capital cities or the investing of existing cities with expanded governmental
functions.  Washington, D.C., for example, displays the monumental buildings,
radial street pattern, and large public spaces typical of capital cities.

Cities, with their concentration of talent, mixture of peoples, and economic
surplus, have provided a fertile ground for the evolution of human culture, the
arts, scientific research, and technical innovation.  They serve as centers of
communication, where new ideas and information are spread to the surrounding
territory and to foreign lands.

Constraints on City Form

Cities are physical artifacts inserted into a preexisting natural world, and
natural constraints must be respected if a settlement is to survive and
prosper.  Cities must conform to the landscape in which they are located,
although technologies have gradually been developed to reorganize the land to
suit human purposes.  Moderately sloping land provides the best urban site, but
spectacular effects have been achieved on hilly sites such as San Francisco,
Rio de Janeiro, and Athens.  Climate influences city form.  For example,
streets have been aligned to take advantage of cooling breezes, and arcades
designed to shield pedestrians from sun and rain.  The architecture of
individual buildings often reflects adaptations to temperature, rainfall, snow,
wind and other climatic characteristics.

Cities must have a healthy water supply, and locations along rivers and
streams, or near underground watercourses, have always been favored.  Many
large modern cities have outgrown their local water supplies and rely upon
distant water sources diverted by elaborate systems of pipes and canals.

City location and internal structure have been profoundly influenced by natural
transportation routes.  Cities have often been sited near natural harbors, on
navigable rivers, or along land routes determined by regional topography.
Finally, cities have had to survive periodic natural disasters such as
earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and floods.  The San Francisco earthquake of
1906 demonstrated how natural forces can undo decades of human labor in a very
short time.

Elements of Urban Structure

City planners must weave a complex, ever-changing array of elements into a
working whole, that is the perennial challenge of city planning.  The physical
elements of the city can be divided into three categories, networks, buildings,
and open spaces.  Many alternative arrangements of these components have been
tried throughout history, but no ideal city form has ever been agreed upon.
Lively debates about the best way to arrange urban anatomies continue to rage,
and show no signs of abating.

Networks

Every modern city contains an amazing array of pathways to carry flows of
people, goods, water, energy, and information.  Transportation networks are the
largest and most visible of these.  Ancient cities relied on streets, most of
them quite narrow by modern standards, to carry foot traffic and carts.  The
modern city contains a complex hierarchy of transportation channels, ranging
from ten-lane freeways to sidewalks.  In the United States, the bulk of trips
are carried by the private automobile, with mass transit a distant second.
American cities display the low-density sprawl characteristic of auto-centered
urban development.  In contrast, many European cities have the high densities
necessary to support rail transit.

Modern cities rely on complex networks of utilities.  When cities were small,
obtaining pure water and disposing of wastes was not a major problem, but
cities with large populations and high densities require expensive public
infrastructure.  During the nineteenth century, rapid urban growth and
industrialization caused overcrowding, pollution, and disease in urban areas.
After the connection between impure water and disease was established, American
and European cities began to install adequate sewer and water systems.  Since
the late nineteenth century, cities have also been laced with wires and
conduits carrying electricity, gas, and communications signals.

Buildings

Buildings are the most visible elements of the city, the features that give
each city its unique character.  Residential structures occupy almost half of
all urban land, with the building types ranging from scattered single-family
homes to dense high-rise apartments.  Commercial buildings are clustered
downtown and at various subcenters, with skyscrapers packed into the central
business district and low-rise structures prevailing elsewhere, although tall
buildings are becoming more common in the suburbs.  Industrial buildings come
in many forms ranging from large factory complexes in industrial districts to
small workshops.

City planners engage in a constant search for the proper arrangement of these
different types of land use, paying particular attention to the compatibility
of different activities, population densities, traffic generation, economic
efficiency, social relationships, and the height and bulk of buildings.

Open Spaces

Open space is sometimes treated as a leftover, but it contributes greatly to
the quality of urban life.  "Hard" spaces such as plazas, malls, and courtyards
provide settings for public activities of all kinds.  "Soft" spaces such as
parks, gardens, lawns, and nature preserves provide essential relief from harsh
urban conditions and serve as space for recreational activities.  These
"amenities" increasingly influence which cities will be perceived as desirable
places to live.

Evolution of Urban Form

The first true urban settlements appeared around 3,000 B.C.  in ancient
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley.  Ancient cities displayed both
"organic" and "planned" types of urban form.  These societies had elaborate
religious, political, and military hierarchies.  Precincts devoted to the
activities of the elite were often highly planned and regular in form.  In
contrast, residential areas often grew by a slow process of accretion,
producing complex, irregular patterns that we term "organic." Two typical
features of the ancient city are the wall and the citadel, the wall for defense
in regions periodically swept by conquering armies, and the citadel - a large,
elevated precinct within the city - devoted to religious and state functions.

Greek cities did not follow a single pattern.  Cities growing slowly from old
villages often had an irregular, organic form, adapting gradually to the
accidents of topography and history.  Colonial cities, however, were planned
prior to settlement using the grid system.  The grid is easy to lay out, easy
to comprehend, and divides urban land into uniform rectangular lots suitable
for development.

The Romans engaged in extensive city-building activities as they consolidated
their empire.  Rome itself displayed the informal complexity created by
centuries of organic growth, although particular temple and public districts
were highly planned.  In contrast, the Roman military and colonial towns were
laid out in a variation of the grid. Many European cities, like London and
Paris, sprang from these Roman origins.

We usually associate medieval cities with narrow winding streets converging on
a market square with a cathedral and city hall.  Many cities of this period
display this pattern, the product of thousands of incremental additions to the
urban fabric.  However, new towns seeded throughout undeveloped regions of
Europe were based upon the familiar grid.  In either case, large encircling
walls were built for defense against marauding armies; new walls enclosing more
land were built as the city expanded and outgrew its former container.

During the Renaissance, architects began to systematically study the shaping of
urban space, as though the city itself were a piece of architecture that could
be given an aesthetically pleasing and functional order.  Many of the great
public spaces of Rome and other Italian cities date from this era.  Parts of
old cities were rebuilt to create elegant squares, long street vistas, and
symmetrical building arrangements.  Responding to advances in firearms during
the fifteenth century, new city walls were designed with large earthworks to
deflect artillery, and star-shaped points to provide defenders with sweeping
lines of fire.  Spanish colonial cities in the New World were built according
to rules codified in the Laws of the Indies of 1573, specifying an orderly grid
of streets with a central plaza, defensive wall, and uniform building style.

We associate the baroque city with the emergence of great nation-states between
1600 and 1750.  Ambitious monarchs constructed new palaces, courts, and
bureaucratic offices.  The grand scale was sought in urban public spaces, long
avenues, radial street networks, monumental squares, geometric parks and
gardens.  Versailles is a clear expression of this city-building model;
Washington, D.C.  is an example from the United States.  Baroque principles of
urban design were used by Baron Haussmann in his celebrated restructuring of
Paris between 1853 and 1870.  Haussmann carved broad new thoroughfares through
the tangled web of old Parisian streets, linking major subcenters of the city
with one another in a pattern which has served as a model for many other
modernization plans.

Toward the latter half of the eighteenth century, particularly in America, the
city as a setting for commerce assumed primacy.  The buildings of the
bourgeoisie expand along with their owners' prosperity, banks, office
buildings, warehouses, hotels, and small factories.  New towns founded during
this period were conceived as commercial enterprises, and the neutral grid was
the most effective means to divide land up into parcels for sale.  The city
became a checkerboard on which players speculated on shifting land values.  No
longer would religious, political, and cultural imperatives shape urban
development; rather, the market would be allowed to determine the pattern of
urban growth.  New York, Philadelphia, and Boston around 1920 exemplify the
commercial city of this era, with their bustling, mixed-use waterfront
districts.

Transition to the Industrial City

Cities have changed more since the Industrial Revolution than in all the
previous centuries of their existence.  New York had a population of about
313,000 in 1840 but had reached 4,767,000 in 1910.  Chicago exploded from 4.000
to 2,185,000 during the same period.  Millions of rural dwellers no longer
needed on farms flocked to the cities, where new factories churned out products
for the new markets made accessible by railroads and steamships.  In the United
States, millions of immigrants from Europe swelled the urban populations.
Increasingly, urban economies were being woven more rightly into the national
and international economies.

Technological innovations poured forth, many with profound impacts on urban
form.  Railroad tracks were driven into the heart of the city.  Internal rail
transportation systems greatly expanded the radius of urban settlement,
horsecars beginning in the 1830s, cable cars in the 1870s, and electric
trolleys in the 1880s.  In the 1880s, the first central power plants began
providing electrical power to urban areas.  The rapid communication provided by
the telegraph and the telephone allowed formerly concentrated urban activities
to disperse across a wider field.

The industrial city still focused on the city center, which contained both the
central business district, defined by large office buildings, and substantial
numbers of factory and warehouse structures.  Both trolleys and railroad
systems converged on the center of the city, which boasted the premier
entertainment and shopping establishments. The working class lived in crowded
districts close to the city center, near their place of employment.  Early
American factories were located outside of major cities along rivers which
provided water power for machinery.  After steam power became widely available
in the 1930s, factories could be located within the city in proximity to port
facilities, rail lines, and the urban labor force.  Large manufacturing zones
emerged within the major northeastern and midwestern cities such as Pittsburgh,
Detroit, and Cleveland.  But by the late nineteenth century, factory
decentralization had already begun, as manufacturers sought larger parcels of
land away from the congestion of the city.  Gary, Indiana, for example, was
founded in 1906 on the southern shore of Lake Michigan by the United States
Steel Company.

The increasing crowding, pollution, and disease in the central city produced a
growing desire to escape to a healthier environment in the suburbs.  The upper
classes had always been able to retreat to homes in the countryside.  Beginning
in the 1830s, commuter railroads enabled the upper middle class to commute in
to the city center. Horsecar lines were built in many cities between the 1830s
and 1880s, allowing the middle class to move out from the central cities into
more spacious suburbs.  Finally, during the 1890s electric trolleys and
elevated rapid transit lines proliferated, providing cheap urban transportation
for the majority of the population.

The central business district of the city underwent a radical transformation
with the development of the skyscraper etween 1870 and 1900.  These tall
buildings were not technically feasible until the invention of the elevator and
steel-frame construction methods.  Skyscrapers reflect the dynamics of the real
estate market; the tall building extracts the maximum economic value from a
limited parcel of land.  These office buildings housed the growing numbers of
white-collar employees in banking, finance, management, and business services,
all manifestations of the shift from an economy of small firms to one of large
corporations.

The Form of the Modern City in the Age of the Automobile.

The city of today may be divided into two parts,

  An inner zone, coextensive with the boundaries of the old industrial city.

  Suburban areas, dating from the 1920s, which have been designed for the
automobile from the beginning.

The central business districts of American cities have become centers of
information processing, finance, and administration rather than manufacturing.
White-collar employees in these economic sectors commute in from the suburbs on
a network of urban freeways built during the 1950s and 1960s; this
"hub-and-wheel" freeway pattern can be observed on many city maps.  New bridges
have spanned rivers and bays, as in New York and San Francisco, linking
together formerly separate cities into vast urbanized regions.

Waves of demolition and rebuilding have produced "Manhattanized" downtowns
across the land.  During the 1950s and 1960s, urban renewal programs cleared
away large areas of the old city, releasing the land for new office buildings,
convention centers, hotels, and sports complexes.  Building surges have
converted the downtowns of American cities into forests of tall office
buildings.  More recently, office functions not requiring a downtown location
have been moved to huge office parks in the suburbs.

Surrounding the central business area lies a large band of old mixed-use and
residential buildings which hose the urban poor.  High crime, low income,
deteriorating services, inadequate housing, and intractable social problems
plague these neglected areas of urban America.  The manufacturing jobs formerly
available to inner city residents are no longer there, and resources have not
been committed to replace them.

These inner city areas have been left behind by a massive migration to the
suburbs, which began in the late nineteenth century but accelerated in the
1920s with the spread of the automobile.  Freeway building after World War II
opened up even larger areas of suburban land, which were quickly filled by
people fleeing central city decline. Today, more people live in suburbs than in
cities proper.  Manufacturers have also moved their production facilities to
suburban locations which have freeway and rail accessibility.

Indeed, we have reached a new stage of urbanization beyond the metropolis.
Most major cities are no longer focused exclusively on the traditional
downtown.  New subcenters have arisen round the periphery, and these subcenters
supply most of the daily needs of their adjacent populations.  The old
metropolis has become a multi-centered urban region.  In turn, many of these
urban regions have expanded to the point where they have coalesced into vast
belts of urbanization - what the geographer Jean Gottman termed "megalopolis."
The prime example is the eastern seaboard of the United States from Boston to
Washington. The planner C.A.  Doxiadis has speculated that similar vast
corridors of urbanization will appear throughout the world during the next
century.  Thus far, American planners have not had much success in imposing a
rational form on this process.  However, New Town and greenbelt programs in
Britain and the Scandinavian countries have, to some extent, prevented formless
sprawl from engulfing the countryside.

The Economics of Urban Areas

Since the 1950s, city planners have increasingly paid attention to the
economics of urban areas.  When many American cities experienced fiscal crises
during the 1970s, urban financial management assumed even greater importance.
Today, planners routinely assess the economic consequences of all major changes
in the form of the city. Several basic concepts underlie urban and regional
economic analysis.  First, cities cannot grow if their residents simply provide
services for one another.  The city must create products which can be sold to
an external purchaser, bringing in money which can be reinvested in new
production facilities and raw materials.  This "economic base" of production
for external markets is crucial.  Without it, the economic engine of the city
grinds to a halt.

Once the economic base is established, an elaborate internal market can evolve.
This market includes the production of goods and services for businesses and
residents within the city.  Obviously, a large part of the city's physical
plant is devoted to facilities for internal transactions, retail stores of all
kinds, restaurants, local professional services, and so on.

Modern cities are increasingly engaged in competition for economic resources
such as industrial plants, corporate headquarters, high-technology firms, and
government facilities.  Cities try to lure investment with an array of
features, low tax rates, improved transportation and utility infrastructure,
cheap land, and skilled labor force. Amenities such as climate, proximity to
recreation, parks, elegant architecture, and cultural activities influence the
location decisions of businesses and individuals.  Many older cities have
difficulty surviving in this new economic game.  Abandoned by traditional
industries, they're now trying to create a new economic base involving growth
sectors such as high technology.

Today, cities no longer compete in mere regional or national markets, the
market is an international one.  Multinational firms close plants in Chicago or
Detroit and build replacements in Asia or Latin America.  Foreign products
dominate whole sectors of the American consumer goods market.  Huge sums of
money shift around the globe in instantaneous electronic transactions.  Cities
must struggle for survival in a volatile environment in which the rules are
always changing.  This makes city planning even more challenging than before.

Modern City Planning

Modern city planning can be divided into two distinct but related types of
planning.  visionary city planning proposes radical changes in the form of the
city, often in conjunction with sweeping changes in the social and economic
order.  Institutionalized city planning is lodged within the existing
structures of government, and modifies urban growth processes in moderate,
pragmatic ways.  It is constrained by the prevailing alignment of political and
economic forces within the city.

Visionary or Utopian City Planning

People have imagined ideal cities for millennia.  Plato's Republic was an ideal
city, although lacking in the spatial detail of later schemes.  Renaissance
architects designed numerous geometric cities, and ever since architects have
been the chief source of imaginative urban proposals.  In the twentieth
century, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Paolo Soleri, and dozens of other
architects have designed cities on paper.  Although few have been realized in
pure form, they have influenced the layout of many new towns and urban
redevelopment projects.

In his "Contemporary City for Three Million People" of 1922 and "Radiant City"
of 1935, Le Corbusier advocated a high-density urban alternative, with
skyscraper office buildings and mid-rise apartments placed within park-like
open spaces.  Different land uses were located in separate districts, forming a
rigid geometric pattern with a sophisticated system of superhighways and rail
transit.

Frank Lloyd Wright envisioned a decentralized low-density city in keeping with
his distaste for large cities and belief in frontier individualism.  The
Broadacre City plan of 1935 is a large grid of arterials spread across the
countryside, with most of the internal space devoted to single-family homes on
large lots.  Areas are also carefully set aside for small farms, light
industry, orchards, recreation areas, and other urban facilities.  A network of
superhighways knits the region together, so spatially dispersed facilities are
actually very close in terms of travel time.  In many ways, Wright's Broadacre
City resembles American suburban and exurban developments of the post-WWII
period.

Many other utopian plans could be catalogued, but the point is that planners
and architects have generated a complex array of urban patterns from which to
draw ideas and inspiration.  Most city planners, however, do not work on a
blank canvas; they can only make incremental changes to an urban scene already
shaped by a complicated historical process.  Institutionalized City Planning

The form of the city is determined primarily by thousands of private decisions
to construct buildings, within a framework of public infrastructure and
regulations administered by the city, state, and federal governments.  City
planning actions can have enormous impacts on land values.  From the point of
view of land economics, the city is an enormous playing field on which
thousands of competitors struggle to capture value by constructing or trading
land and buildings.  The goal of city planning is to intervene in this game in
order to protect widely shared public values such as health, safety,
environmental quality, social equality, and aesthetics.

The roots of American city planning lie in an array of reform efforts of the
late nineteenth century, the Parks movement, the City Beautiful movement,
campaigns for housing regulations, the Progressive movement for government
reform, and efforts to improve public health through the provision of sanitary
sewers and clean water supplies.  The First National Conference on City
Planning occurred in 1909, the same year as Daniel Burnham's famous Plan of
Chicago. That date may be used to mark the inauguration of the new profession.
The early city planners actually came from diverse backgrounds such as
architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and law, but they shared a
common desire to produce a more orderly urban pattern.

The zoning of land became, and still is, the most potent instrument available
to American city planners for controlling urban development.  Zoning is
basically the dividing of the city into discrete areas within which only
certain land uses and types of buildings can be constructed.  The rationale is
that certain activities of building types don't mix well; factories and homes,
for example.  Illogical mixtures create nuisances for the parties involved and
lower land values. After several decades of gradual development, land-use
zoning received legal approval from the Supreme Court in 1926.

Zoning isn't the same as planning, it is a legal tool for the implementation of
plans.  Zoning should be closely integrated with a Master Plan or Comprehensive
Plan that spells out a logical path for the city's future in areas such as land
use, transportation, parks and recreation, environmental quality, and public
works construction.  In the early days of zoning this was often neglected, but
this lack of coordination between zoning and planning is less common now. The
other important elements of existing city planning are subdivision regulations
and environmental regulations.

Subdivision regulations require that land being subdivided for development be
provided with adequate street, sewers, water, schools, utilities, and various
design features.  The goal is to prevent shabby, deficient developments that
produce headaches for both their residents and the city.  Since the late 1960s,
environmental regulations have exerted a stronger influence on patterns of
urban growth by restricting development in floodplains, on unstable slopes, on
earthquake faults, or near sensitive natural areas.  Businesses have been
forced to reduce smoke emissions and the disposal of wastes has been more
closely monitored.  Overall, the pace of environmental degradation has been
slowed, but certainly not stopped, and a dismaying backlog of environmental
hazards remains to be cleaned up.  City planners have plenty of work to do as
we move into the twenty-first century.

Conclusion, Good City Form

What is the good city? We are unlikely to arrive at an unequivocal answer; the
diversity of human needs and tastes frustrates all attempts to provide recipes
or instruction manuals for the building of cities.  However, we can identify
the crucial dimensions of city performance, and specify the many ways in which
cities can achieve success along these dimensions.

A most useful guide in this enterprise is Kevin Lynch's A Theory of Good City
Form (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1981).  Lynch offers five basic dimensions of
city performance, vitality, sense, fit, access, and control.  To these he adds
two "meta-criteria," efficiency and justice.

For Lynch, a vital city successfully fulfils the biological needs of its
inhabitants, and provides a safe environment for their activities.  A sensible
city is organized so that its residents can perceive and understand the city's
form and function.  A city with good fit provides the buildings, spaces, and
networks required for its residents to pursue their projects successfully.  An
accessible city allows people of all ages and background to gain the
activities, resources, services, and information that they need. A city with
good control is arranged so that its citizens have a say in the management of
the spaces in which they work and reside.

Finally, an efficient city achieves the goals listed above at the least cost,
and balances the achievement of the goals with one another.  They cannot all be
maximized at the same time.  And a just city distributes benefits among its
citizens according to some fair standard.  Clearly, these two meta-criteria
raise difficult issues which will continue to spark debates for the foreseeable
future.

These criteria tell aspiring city builders where to aim, while acknowledging
the diverse ways of achieving good city form.  Cities are endlessly fascinating
because each is unique, the product of decades, centuries, or even millennia of
historical evolution.  As we walk through city streets, we walk through time,
encountering the city-building legacy of past generations.  Paris, Venice,
Rome, New York, Chicago, San Francisco - each has its glories and its failures.
In theory, we should be able to learn the lessons of history and build cities
that our descendants will admire and wish to preserve.  That remains a constant
challenge for all those who undertake the task of city planning.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Bibliography ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

City Planning Bibliography

  Boyer, R., and D.  Savageau.  Places Rated Almanac.  Chicago; Rand McNally
and Co., 1986.

  Callenbach, Ernest.  Ecotopia.  Berkeley; Banyan Tree Books, 1975.

  Choay, Francoise.  The Modern City; Planning in the 19th Century.  New York;
George Braziller, 1969.

  Clark, David.  Urban Geography.  Baltimore; The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1982.

  Clay, Grady.  Close-Up, How to Read the American City.  Chicago; The
University of Chicago Press, 1980.

  Gallion, A., and S.  Eisner.  The Urban Pattern.  New York; Van Nostrand
Reinhold Company, 1986.

  Greenburg, M., D.  Krueckeberg, and C.  Michaelson.  Local population and
Employment Projection Techniques.  New Brunswick; Center for Urban Policy
Research, 1987.

  Hoskin, Frank P.  The Language of Cities.  Cambridge; Schenkman Publishing
Company, 1972.

  Jacobs, Jane.  The Death and Life of Great American Cities.  New York; John
Wiley and Sons, 1974.

  Le Corbusier.  The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning.  New York; Dover
Publications, Inc., 1987.

  Lynch, Kevin.  A Theory of Good City Form.  Cambridge; MIT Press, 1981.

  Register, Richard.  Ecocity Berkeley.  Berkeley; North Atlantic Books, 1987

Planning

The magazine of the American Planning Association.

1313 E.  60th St.  Chicago, IL 60637

Related Reading for Children

Fiction

  Burton, Virginia Lee.  The Little House.  Boston; Houghton Mifflin, 1942
(reissued 1969).

  Murphy, Shirley, and Murphy, Pat.  Mrs.  Tortino's Return to the Sun.
Shepard Books, 1980.

  Dr.  Seuss.  The Lorax.  New York; Random House, 1971.

Nonfiction

  Barker, Albert.  From Settlement to City.  New York; Julian Messner, 1978.

  Eichner, James A.  The First Book of Local Government.  New York; Franklin
Watts, 1976.

  Macaulay, David.  City; A Story of Roman Planning and Construction.  Boston;
Houghton Mifflin, 1974.

  Macaulay, David.  Underground.  Boston; Houghton Mifflin, 1976.

  Monroe, Roxie.  Artchitects Make Zigzags; Looking at Architecture from A to
Z.  Washington D.C.; National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1986.

  Rhodes, Dorthy.  How to Read a City Map.  Chicago; Elk Grove Press, 1967.

For information on city planning and related subjects, contact;

American Planning Association

Planners Bookstore

1313 E.  60th St.  Chicago, IL 60637

[phone]

The User Reference Card

Included in the SimCity box is the User Reference Card, which includes the
System Information and Reference Card, the Keyboard Reference Chart, the Zone
Evolution Chart, and the City Dynamics Chart.  They're reproduced on the
following pages of this manual for reference.

The System Information and Reference Card gives hardware and software
requirements particular to this version of SimCity.

The Keyboard Reference Chart gives a summary of all the keyboard controlled
functions and shortcuts.

The Zone Evolution Chart shows the various levels of development and decline of
residential, commercial and industrial zones.  The level of development depends
on the land value and population density.  Use this chart along with the Query
function to identify and gather information on individual zones.

The City Dynamics Chart lists the factors of city life and growth and shows how
they interrelate.  Use this chart to guide you in designing your city.  It will
help you find solutions to the Sims' complaints, and to problems you discover
from the maps and graphs.

System Information

SimCity System Requirements

SimCity requires an IBM Compatible Computer with OS/2 2.1 or greater, at least
8Mb of memory, 12Mb or more is recommeded, and 2Mb of Free Disk Space.

Installing SimCity

Follow these steps to install SimCity for OS/2;

  1 - Insert the SimCity for OS/2 disk in drive 'A'.

  2 - Open an OS/2 full screen or windowed session.

  3 - Type 'A

Important!

SEND IN YOUR REGISTRATION CARD!  We'll keep you informed of updates, upgrades,
options and expansions to SimCity.  All information is confidential - we will
NOT release your name or address to anyone.

Keyboard Reference Chart

There are several keyboard shortcuts in SimCity.  Keep the keyboard reference
chart handy.

The following keys work with any SimCity window, the same as they work with the
other windows on the desktop;

  The 'Esc' key minimizes SimCity for OS/2 and silences any sound that is
playing.

  The 'Alt-F4' key closes or hides the active window.

  The 'Alt-F5' key restores the active window to its previous state.

  The 'Alt-F9' key minimizes the active window.

  The 'Alt-F10' key maximizes the active window.

The following keys are only applicable when the cursor is in the Edit Window;

  The Arrow Keys on the numeric keypad (R8, R10, R12, and R14) scroll the view
by three tiles.