Building a Highly-Detailed Realistic American Town From Scratch in Cities Skylines!

[@Infrastructurist]

Hi! - Want to help out? Hit the LIKE button! - Got a suggestion for more builds on this awesome map? Let me KNOW Thank you all! And huge shout-out to Maver1ck for the FANTASTIC map! Have a great Sunday! Infrastructurist

[@RammingSpeed-lk8kk]

4:33 that's where you can build "old hick town"

[@SumbAsd]

Hello! Someone from Colorado here! Everything in this video is highly accurate to an actual town in Colorado, the streets, the home and store architecture, even the mountains and the trees. I will say that this looks like Cripple Creek, a town full of casinos, and i do suggest that you put some in the town. But anyways i really love this vid, keep up the good work man!

[@jumpywizard7665]

I lived in such suburbs in my early childhood and my first house with my husband was in a proper suburban sprawl too. We eventually found better and moved closer to downtown and our jobs. As a kid it was fine, the neighborhood was kind, had play dates over. Suburban culture is something unique. You see everyone leave for work and come back at night at the same time. The barbecues the garbage days, the kids biking and playing in your driveway. The suburban neighborhood I was in with my husband was also nice. We had progressive dinners, we had a book club, a gardening group which was more of an excuse for drinks at 2 lol. We moved out mostly because of the higher cost and maintenance time needed when renting a house as opposed to an apartment. I think we’ll eventually live in the suburbs again when we can be homeowners ourselves. My parents lived in the suburbs their whole life. I think they like it except for the annoying paperboy and the lack of milkmen nowadays lol. It really depends on the state or the neighborhood I guess too. I’m from Southern California.

[@Infrastructurist]

Thanks a ton for the insights, very interesting. It's funny, I've always had a certain... feeling towards the US suburban life as a teenager, all those things you describe. It's like a memory of something I never actually experienced, which is quite weird, and my best guess is that I was exposed to American popular culture early on in my childhood and teens, and sort of just built it up in my imagination. ... I know that was a weird description, hope it makes some sense 😅😅☺

[@327gareth]

Interesting choice of music - Silent Night at 1:14:20 Great video, been playing for a couple of years and had no idea about using tags in find it.

[@TukaihaHithlec]

Because of where we live, my family and my parents’ have lived in areas like that for generations. My parents found our current lot during development and had the house customized before it was built, and have routinely renovated it ever since. I always had and still do feel it’s one of the best places to live in the city. That said, I have since learned about the relevant problems, and I understand exactly why other commenters are praising their suburbs, not yet realizing the issues. We live on the cities edge and drive inside for work. We don’t live downtown or in older neighborhoods because they’re falling apart and violent crime is much worse, because funds that should be going to them are instead going to us. We have to drive everywhere, because public transit is either unavailable or worse in ever way except barely price. There is only one little commercial building within a 30 minute walk, so no one walks anywhere. As a result, we only ever interact with our immediate neighbours on the rare occasion, and at night there are racers on the collector streets and criminals trying for unlocked doors on residential streets. Buildings and trees are so far apart that you could hear freight trains kilometers away, then by the time more suburbs filled in you can hear more cars on the highways. Traffic is so bad that it often takes an hour to go 10km, despite all roads ranging 50-90km/h. For comparison, longer ago and when the city was noticeably younger, my grandfather bought a new home and new car, supported his wife and three kids, all on an entry level salary. Now, our city is dying from the inside out, because increasingly aged and neglected interiors are funding increasingly expensive and wasteful exteriors. This house could probably sell for 5 times as much as it was bought for, but there’s nowhere better we can go without leaving the city entirely. Everything is more expensive than ever, largely due to roads and yards that barely get used but still need to be maintained, while public health is declining, largely due to so much time sitting in traffic and no opportunity for exercise or fresh air. As quality of life drops, immigrants are coming here for the relatively better experience and to make up for the labour shortage since workers are expected to do more for less, not making the minimal sense of community or safety any better, while a lot of locals (likely to include ourselves before long) are emigrating to Northern Europe. TLDR: To sum up your enquiry and explain the other answers, the suburbs here are desirable because that’s as good as it gets, often unknowingly being the cause of the problems that make them so. I can’t blame people for not getting that, as I didn’t either for decades, but they are objectively bad and are strangling their citizens and cities.

[@dylansteed1270]

Loving the frequency of these videos at the moment! Absolutely fantastic, please keep it up ❤️

[@Infrastructurist]

I've got some vacation as we speak, which frees up a bit more of my time - will try to keep a good frequency when reality hits after vacation 😂😅

[@dylansteed1270]

@Infrastructurist haha no pressure, enjoy the down time and look after yourself when you get back to reality!

[@smoore6461]

First, let me say beautiful build! You did a great job capturing rural america. mixed use down town is not all that uncommon in downtown rural America. Many small towns have housing over storefronts just like its very common to find old mill buildings thst were once industrial that have become residential. Thus is especially so on the east coast but nor exclusively as east viadt thing. Going back in time even further, shop owners often lived above their shops and those single family dwellings were often later changed into smaller apartments. Often the housing around those former industrial buildings would be worker housing for the mills that have been converted into duplex housing (two families living often side by side) just a heads up for you but you did a GREAT job capturing rural America in my opinion!!

[@nanjec9960]

Map reminds me so much of the front range of Colorado, right down to the flatirons!

[@Cecylovesyou]

Just starting this one and I'm soooo excited I feel as if a new season of my favourite show just dropped😂

[@EnglishSimRacing]

I love these ultra realistic builds so much I can’t explain why but I love it!!

[@psychicowl483]

the first thought I had was that it looked like Colorado, and hearing it was based off of the Colorado mountains I was very happy. I live in Colorado and it truly is beautiful in Colorado Springs.

[@Meeesa]

I live in Colorado. Can confirm its the best place in the world. 😁 What an epic build! Also, Im loving the longer format "one-off" type videos!

[@thientamvu9681]

I am guessing that flat iron is located close to Boulder Colorado right

[@Meeesa]

​@@thientamvu9681Yep!

[@ScottServais-poet]

"I know its not in Freedom Units" absolutely killed me.

[@morgandownes]

Honestly you are the most underrated city skylines KZbin i know

[@LTDanBuildsCities]

American from colorado here! I wouldn’t say I lived in anything extravagant but I did grow up in a suburban development. There is a very good reason so many people choose to live like this. It’s very nice to have a large lot and a big house to yourself -especially if you have a bigger family, which many Americans do, especially out west. These developments also foster a sense of privacy that many people value a lot. I live in an older part of Jacksonville now that has smaller blocks and lot sizes that makes this part of town very walkable, but Jacksonville (being physically the largest city in the US) is the epitome of suburban sprawl for the most part (highly recommend you take some inspiration from Jacksonville for Crystal reef county, since it’s only about an hour and a half north of where your build is set!!!) I don’t think sprawling, confusing and poorly connected suburbs are a good way to use land, but it is pleasant to live in one if you don’t mind driving 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@starrwulfe]

Hey I live in the Atlanta forested suburbs surrounded by McMansions. You nailed the aesthetic- now add sprawling parking lots and upscale lifestyle centers and you’re spot on

[@TeeJayWeeJay]

Christmas music in July??? ;-) another very nice episode! Thanks, dude. You are amazing

[@Meeesa]

It's Christmas in July! 😉

[@jorisjann]

At the church moment I felt the vibe that a Ghost movie would be needed in this Town 😭like a Scooby doo or whatever lol great video beautiful details !

[@northeasturbanist]

Cool build! Reminds me pretty heavily of small towns in New Jersey, which says something about how homogenous much of the U.S. built environment. Would love to see some ranch style suburban development, as that’s often what you would see between the historic homes and the 90s/2000s McMansion/Eclectic style areas.

[@Infrastructurist]

Thanks a lot - very interesting! And I've actually got some pretty nice 1960s-1980s ranch homes in my collection that would fit the bill! The transition from the historic homes to the Eclectic ones did end up being rather abrupt ☺

[@Infrastructurist]

Leave it to me to place the town's only school right across the street from the town's only industrial block 😎😎😎😎😎 #greatPlanning #wow

[@That_1_guy]

I've learned a lot from watching you play and now I can actually give you a small tip. When you get a tree that you don't like using the forest brush on the "single mode", you can right click to cycle to the next tree in the brush. This is useful when you don't want to place a tree in another location at that moment.

[@Infrastructurist]

@@That_1_guy that is a great tip, thanks! 🤩

[@CodiakTheKodiak]

My small town shared a High School with the next town over and their Middle/Elementary building was also right next to their Industrial so it's actually pretty accurate!

[@jakobgib]

Awesome! Makes me wish I had that NASA Supercomputer you mentioned. A big city or at least a network of smaller cities and villages would be a great fit for this map

[@thegang3551]

I really appreciate that you made an authentic American town and not the off-ramp interstate gas station hub meme town. My city was established in 1733 (Savannah) and was the first planned city (Lord Oglethorpe). It still has a colonial English look.

[@KentuckyAk101guy]

I really like this. Living in the countryside this reminds me a lot of the small towns here in Kentucky that I go to sometimes. The work with the some of the wacky road layouts really put the cherry on top lol small towns have some weird intersections. For example there is this one town that a squared off roundabout is built around the town hall. Definitely a interesting layout

[@YRDX]

I believe you're on about a town in Texas called Crockett, with the town hall surrounded by roads grlung round it with weird intersections/slip roads

[@nikoladubica]

I love these chill builds, perfect for a cup of coffee. Hope to see something like this again soon from you! The static scenes at the end, from like a ground level feel so cozy, and nostalgic in a way, I don't know how to describe it, but you hit the spot.

[@Infrastructurist]

So happy to hear that Niko! I will do more cozy stuff 😊😊☕☕

[@SamplCave]

One of my favorite videos of all time on KZbin. Fantastic detailed build. It would be very nice if you would make a tutorial how to get your graphics, they look great!

[@2727daqwid]

Amazing, I'm modeling a spaceship in blender and having this in background, it's very chill. We need more for sure

[@noahguerra8847]

Love the build! Reminds me of my college town. Perhaps if you continue on this map a small state university or agricultural college would be amazing. Also a name suggestion for the town itself: Streamfield

[@FriedShrimpPoBoy]

This is amazing. The ending cinematic looked like drone shots. I’m about a year into this game and still trying to build something that looks this good.

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you! 😊😊

[@rothebear]

I'm really enjoying these one-off builds. You're spoiling us with your frequent uploads - watching your videos helps me relax and puts me in a positive headspace!

[@Infrastructurist]

Glad to hear that Rona! Good to know my voice can be calming for some 😊

[@Haydenny]

In my small hometown, the park is right across from a newer development with large houses that's partially fenced around just like in your town

[@ajja5958]

This build is super cool!!! I do think that with some of the roads in the outer grid should be a rougher pavement. Most towns especially up by the Dakotas have rougher roads around the outer grids in small towns. Typically you wouldn’t see sidewalks except for the main roads on the town. This is really realistic and a very pretty town!!!

[@danonck]

I'm running out of compliments with the frequency of your uploads these days, Infra. And here you drop a yet another banger! What a lovely place you've created there, hopefully this region will be revisited for another small town build down the railway tracks..

[@Infrastructurist]

Hahaha, Thank you once again Danon 😊

[@gabrielterraBHT]

So cozy and chill video. Congrats for the quality of your content!

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you Gabriel 😊

[@TheSkyGuy77]

Looks like an alternate version of Colorado with those mountains Really nice

[@tracyruether2370]

The new subdivisions with the large houses are generally safe. That is where you take your kids trick-or-treating on halloween and viewing christmas lights at the holidays. Children are usually out skateboarding or bike riding.

[@AJL15N]

I just downloaded this map today! Going to use this video for motivation!

[@Infrastructurist]

Thats great! 😊

[@globul3410]

This honestly looks very similar to the town I grew up in!

[@potatocure2073]

Loving the attention to detail 👍

[@nolanivane4477]

THIS IS AMAAAAAZING! I would suggest if you’re building a on and off ramp for freeways, make sure cars do not have to cross the road by making a left turn. Like what you did here if you notice the cars had to make a left turn and no one is using the right turn off ramp. I think I’ve noticed this with your other creations as well. Hope you catch my drift haha. Everything else though looks perfect (as usual).😘

[@m0z188]

I lived in Woodbury, MN a typical low dense middle America suburb. it is also quite forested and the neighbourhood you made looks quite identical to what you would see here, the best things about living there was the peace and quiet but still living in the proximity of a large city, park trails and the access to nature. going on walks was the best as the city parks were larger with well connected trails, even unpaved trails where you can walk through a prarie or a forest.

[@luccacareem4991]

Bro lived in the walking dead

[@ThreeStar1011]

I like how many of the houses look like Sears home kits!

[@jeremymartin1957]

Most US homes, especially in the mid states are. Weirdly, its not jsut small towns but a lot of bigger cities have old Sears, Aladdin, and other pre made styles.

[@KonstantinKolesnikov-v2s]

Absolutely fantastic town!! Please, continue to develop this map For example you forgot about Townhall :) This is the best town in american style I have ever seen

[@bull243nl]

Bigg Compliment for youre Vid !!!! Just found it, and really like youre gameplay, Keep Up the Great Work ! Small question, could you post a lib. with the mods you use to play this map ?

[@crowleypj4444]

Really nice chill video to enjoy and see how amazing this game is when you know what you are doing! Keep up the awesome work :)

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it! 😊

[@grahamhill7913]

I think you should look at Port Townsend for some more inspiration. It's a small little town in Washington that I think would help give you some building ideas.

[@YourHellishEntertainment]

I am an American who isn’t a big fan of modern suburbia for the sole fact that you aren’t connected. However, I will tell you that an overwhelming majority of Americans/Canadians love them for that exact reason. Because they aren’t connected, they are quiet and have way less crime than major city centers. They also tend to be new and modern with so much more space. They tend to have the best schools and just a vibrant area for safe family living. City centers here in North America tend to be the highest crime areas with the worst city resources (which seems to be the opposite from the rest of the world). And now we are running into the issue of tons of office jobs being remote, which is leading to companies removing their footprint from city centers, which gives people even more reason for not going downtown. So if you want to fix this; safety, better schools, and a strong environment for families; not just young “professionals” is where we need to start.

[@Infrastructurist]

Interesting input - thanks a lot! It is obvious that excessive suburban sprawl is a complex issue, with no easy (or cheap) solutions.

[@YourHellishEntertainment]

@@Infrastructurist and that’s the thing, we have the land here in Canada and the US, but that is quickly dissolving. We are losing valuable farm land over here. We really have to find a why to convince people that they don’t need a house in a spaghetti suburb to have the American dream without being rude to them

[@TukaihaHithlec]

@@Infrastructurist Ironically, the issue is not that complicated, and the solution is even cheaper. The problem is that this kind of suburban sprawl exacerbates the problem it claims to fix, and if it continues it will only get exponentially worse. City centers are problematic here largely because they’re older and internal, while suburbs are the opposite, but if nothing changes then those same suburbs will ultimately face the same problems while newer suburbs will make things even worse, until eventually the entire city is not only unsustainable but irreparable. The solution is as simple as stopping the current style of development, and focusing on increased density of housing and commercial, while also focusing more on public transport. If done reasonably well, everything will be better for everyone (except oil companies, auto manufacturers, and land developers) all while being cheaper too. The biggest issue is that we’ve been purposely told that the problem is the solution and vice versa for generations, and effectively no one is coming here from somewhere better, so almost no one here actually trusts how to do things right. That tide is slowly turning, but many cities are likely to be too far gone before they change.

[@Jaime-ki3sk]

That waterfall trio kinda reminds me of pictures that I've seen of Great Falls, Montana.

[@PershingOfficial]

One of the best looking modded maps I have seen! Great video

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you!

[@DominikNagel7388]

Cool build I love it as all the other builds from you. But why the hack is at 1:13:00 'Silent Night' variation as background music - It's July!!! 😆😆

[@ReallyNoAlex]

This map easily moved its way up to being one of my favorites

[@Infrastructurist]

Maver1ck is awesome 🎉

[@KarstRauhe]

listening to lofi christmas music in july while watching macmansion being plopped

[@joelanttila7927]

Great video man!

[@TheGonzalla88]

Love the sly little Silent Night 1:13:40

[@Infrastructurist]

😂🎄🎄

[@Anthony_247]

Was the music Silent Night, when building the suburb? Infrastructurist bringing the Christmas in July lol

[@ethanhala]

22:00 “freedom units”😂

[@tonegonzalez3098]

this game looks amazing I can’t wait to play it on game pass in october

[@ARandomCardinal]

I really love this! I wish i had those mods, but i play on base PS4 cities skylines

[@romanrat5613]

Great video but with your point about mixed use - unless the town is really down bad, like this town clearly isn't, people will be living in those apartments above the shops

[@OhioanVlogsOfficial]

Ive lived in mcmansions before, they are so nice imo. I live the way they look and overall theyre just great to live in.

[@jacksonp2397]

Lovely job, reminds me of Holland, MI

[@Chris24Mxli]

I really enjoy watching your videos. I currently don't own Cities Skylines 2; i've heard some negative remarks about bugs within the game that need to be worked out, but it seems you have no issues at all. Keep up the great content. Also an idea, I would like to see you recreate the city of Sacramento, California aka "City of Trees" (formally), well now it's "Farm to Fork Capitol of the Worls".

[@blkwrld5600]

This game is so detailed now...hopefully we can get a larger variety of buildings.. apartment complexes and mansion style homes ..and bring back low income environments with high crime rates lol

[@Maver1ck06]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! For the record, this comment is before watching the video but I already know its awesome as hell!!!😁

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you for an awesome map Maver1ck, real pleasure to work on ☺👏

[@Maver1ck06]

@@Infrastructurist Just finished watching. What a build! Really cozy and soothing!

[@jamesking543]

Living In US northeastern newer suburb . There is pros and cons . I can’t walk to anything , closest thing is sandwich and coffee shop maybe 20 minutes walking distance . Pros , a lot of nature , however I don’t have any parks in walking distance .

[@FilipeCatarro]

Love your vídeos man. Keep it up.

[@Infrastructurist]

Thank you!

[@DM542J]

Very cool map . The Dam is awesome 💯 There's always beauty in simplicity . If only our real world natural environment could be so clean and structured and the economies could be fixed so easily .lol 💡

[@zijo778]

- The intersection she's telling you not to worry about - This is you.

[@CodiakTheKodiak]

Just started an American small town build on this map myself. Such a perfect map for it. Amazing variety and detail. Maver1ck truly knocked it out of the park! Great video as always. Definitely helped give me some new inspiration.

[@bryandennis1833]

Angled parking doesn't work in areas with one entrance and exit....

[@Bilfford]

That is absolutely a partial cloverleaf there at the beginning 👍 i know because YUMBL

[@kermitthemutantlevitatingfrog]

3% grades are really steep for trains, especially in the US. You usually don't see anything more than 2% for heavy rail.

[@h.f6364]

you should build barbieland, thatd be so fun

[@jacehartis8546]

what mod is it that let’s you place all the vehicles as props?

[@Infrastructurist]

This one: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2689247512 - remember to read the description though, as it can cause issues ☺

[@Gtquartz]

It wouldn't be an american town without at least one gas station.. Also maybe a dollar general and volunteer fire department and police station :)

[@jeremymartin1957]

I'll be honest, I am a little surprised you put parking between the tracks and the main street. A lot of the towns around here that have tracks going through often have older homes or businesses backing directly on the tracks. For the homes, it was fashionable at one point to be near the new technology that was the trains (1800s) and the commercial liked the tracks as when the trains stopped, they could load directly into store or unload product directly to the trains.

[@michaelanderson2106]

Looks great. I have this map downloaded myself but have yet to throw anything on it. I'd say you are missing a couple of gas stations (even our small towns have a few, America and our cars!) And I would second @northeasturbanist 's take that there would be some ranch homes between the modern and the older housing stock.

[@alexlarson2466]

I live in Fort Collins. Yeah that's definitely based on the Boulder/Gunbarrel/Niwot area in Colorado. It's well done. If you plop a big campus down using the Liberal arts campus style, you can create a CU boulder looking college too

[@kentrobbins8773]

This is my favorite map to play on I actually have a million population city on this map I love it

[@jimmynuetronrblx8628]

I would upgrade the road into the city from the highway into a road with sidewalks, instead of a highway. Also, some of the replaced houses on that road by the river probably were almost falling down 🤷‍♂

[@Thaum1el]

1:14:00 when I realize the song being played is Silent Night 😂

[@Infrastructurist]

Bringing those christmas vibes 😆😂

[@tristanyoh8405]

Growing up, I lived in a Mc Mansion Neighborhood on an island in Ohio (Lake Erie). They were not cookie-cutter houses; most were built in the 1990s before the 2008 crash. The name of the "suburb" had a Woody name that served the woodland aesthetic, and it preserved the trees during the construction. I will say over time, as the Ash trees died out, which were the predominant tree in the area, due to beetle infestation, the inhabitants of the neighborhood did not restore the trees, and the lawns grew bigger and brighter, losing shade since the culture is to mow the grass all the time. It's an epidemic how much lawns are just cut grass; that is controversial, even for me, since I loved working on the golf course on that island. Looking back, I was blessed to live in a neighborhood with stylized mansions before the Mc mansion phase. Like the American federal style, a few tutor houses were dotted in my neighborhood. My house was a Brick McMansion, though; I wouldn't say I liked the open interior design of the building. The undeveloped areas of the island,, turned into McMansions over time, and currently, the cookie-cutter houses have taken over the wooden parts of the island; there was a lot of forest taken out, leaving these brightly colored dual textureless houses that look the same and are honestly an eye sore to the once Earthy Tones of the GolfCourse and the Stone built buildings that were shyly built and hid around the golf course and island. I'm pretty salty about America's new policies on building codes. And the over development of an island, and I, too, share a generational hatred for development on that island like the many people I talked to on that golf course in the mid-2000s. Bless that place.

[@jimmynuetronrblx8628]

I dont think they would use angled parking on the left lot, because there is only one entrance and no way to loop around to get into the parking spot by turning right

[@subressor1]

Would love to see you tackle a UK city!

[@novelvega2530]

Build more small town builds

[@maxeveleth2875]

Your content is the best!!

[@TeddyRadko]

😮 so thats what you were doing on mavs map haha nice, gg, congrats on beating citiesskyline 😂

[@BreakerLove]

"Im juuust gooooooiiiiiiinnnnnnng tooooooo moooooove thiiiiiiise buuuuuiiiiiillllding" 😴🛌 Voice is so relaxing lol.💤

[@petterv6604]

all thats missing is a wallmart

[@MrCalls1]

12:09 “Archetypical” , we actually pronounce it unlike it’s written, “Arc eh/er type all”. Very much not a criticism, it’s a dumb language and I had to check how to spell it before anyway.

[@brucewayne_ok]

incredibly awesome!!!

[@tristan6021]

i live in a suburb of atlanta that does have this type of suburban sprawl and ofcourse with trees everywhere but due to cheap prices people from the city are realizing living in the ghetto in the inner city is just as expensive as living in the suburbs and in turn the county i am in, gwinnett, has shootings every single day and im not even exaggerating and on top of that its very dense with over a million people living here too i will say north east gwinnett is beautiful but south west gwinnett is just like dekalb and fulton now but ofc we have nature everywhere and i kinda love that about atlanta

[@kuroro_z]

i dont know why cities skylines doesnt have this "lego style" of playing in the vanilla game already. sometimes we just want to build a miniature city.

[@jacksonbarkerthebluehairedfox]

This may be based on Colorado, but I get some serious New Hampshire vibes from the town itself.

[@romanthauern6408]

Amazing.

[@doublea06]

1:15:06 (IDK what music it is)

[@vaughandrummer]

Did you manage to fix the tower of tables? I'm currently starting a build on this map and had to delete them manually one-by-one. And it worked. I must say that even with approx 3x the RAM you have - I get extemely bad frame rate around the tunnel area that is near the interstate junction you start from. I'm yet to figure out why as everywhere else is okay...

[@moizesbrando]

this map is focking incredible. CS2 is so boring

[@Haydenny]

1:30:35 bro is the Bob Ross of CS

[@PuckDudesHockey]

Can't wait to see what you do with CS2! When do you plan to switch to the new game? (Sorry if you said that already and I missed it.) Obviously CS2 won't have all the flexibility of the CS1 mods for a while, but the underlying canvas should hold more promise. I'm just curious to see how long CS1 content continues to come out after CS2 drops.

[@CrabmanReturns]

1:24:40 "might be a nice city where people want to live but its still us infrastructure so it has to be sort of crumbly right?"