Impossible? Building a Small American Downtown in Cities Skylines 2

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

Great video, very enjoyable. Thankyou 😊

[@College-Builder]

Thanks Biffa!! 🙏

[@jstokes]

Love your design principles for creating a small town. What I have seen is that small towns like Healdsburg, Sonoma, and Napa (the towns) are packed with people enjoying the ambiance, and lots of shops and restaurants. Its interesting that the malls that once were so popular and made downtowns ghost towns has reversed where you now have ghost malls. The first thing that small historic downtowns did to get people to go downtown was to establish a farmers market. The next thing is mixed use zoning where you have apartments above commercial shops. Your thought process and designs are very sophisticated, and its very much appreciated and enjoyed.

[@College-Builder]

Yes the reverse trend is very interesting. I recently heard that the ghost malls are considering luring people back by creating apartments inside some of their empty spaces! Lots of zoning issues with that, not to mention the lack of exterior windows in malls, but I will be curious to see if they pull it off. Thanks as always for your comment and feedback! I’ve been thinking about how to create a farmers market. That would be lots of fun in this small town.

[@gschonet]

I really like a lot of these tips. I hope one day zoned buildings will get a setting which defines whether they are or are not set back from the front of the property, and that then we’ll be able to set district policies which define whether their buildings must or must not be set back. This would go a long way toward being able to define both “historic” commercial and residential districts as well as “suburban” neighborhoods.

[@College-Builder]

Oh I love that idea. A zoning policy would be a huge help! What would you think about policy that prohibited small individual parking lots on buildings? Glad you found it helpful and thanks for the comment!

[@laurengabriel3724]

My favorite small town is Aldan, Pennsylvania. It’s where my maternal grandparents lived. There’s a train running behind backyards, a janky five way intersection with trolley tracks running through it, a convenience story with a tiny parking lot, and lots of old WWII era homes. It’s very urbanized but also has green spaces such as two small baseball field and a park. I don’t even know if the trolley is still running but I got to ride on it with my grandparents in the late 80’s/early 90’s. They just don’t make small towns like that anymore.

[@College-Builder]

That sounds charming! I was thinking this town needs an old baseball field. 💡

[@Clovisgrunty777]

Just binged all your vieos in 24 hours. Love every one! Looking forward to seeing where Marathon goes from here. 👀

[@College-Builder]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the series so far. More to come!!

[@Clovisgrunty777]

@College-Builder LOVE the series ❤️

[@College-Builder]

🥰

[@splashgod]

I coincidentally used all these principles in my build, love it! I go a little harder on principle #7 for my town. -- adding street detail with other amenities for safety, cleanliness, and leisure. I'm thinking bollards (called pylons in game), garbage cans, benches, more foliage for shade, and planter boxes being some props.

[@College-Builder]

Those are all great ideas for the streets! I am working on some more streetscape parts for the next episode. Wish we had some real bollards 🤪

[@BranninTV]

Beautifully done.

[@College-Builder]

Thank you I truly appreciate it! 🥰

[@realshaho3180]

I was looking forward to this re-build🙌🏽

[@College-Builder]

Oohhh you will have to let me know what you think!! 🙃

[@garyklyce713]

Thanks, this is very helpful

[@College-Builder]

Happy to hear! Thanks for the comment!!

[@Clovisgrunty777]

San Carlos Hills looks amazing 🤩

[@College-Builder]

Thanks!!! 🙃🙂

[@markwright9612]

You should look into Birmingham, AL. Very old areas in and around it built into the end of a mountain range. Serveral types of areas for a mid sized ciry.

[@College-Builder]

Thanks I will check it out!!

[@amsterdamandco]

Love all of it!

[@College-Builder]

Thank you! I appreciate the comment 🥰

[@johnson0618]

This is so beautiful

[@College-Builder]

Thank you!!! 🙏 ☺️

[@mauriceskyliners9873]

Good video!

[@College-Builder]

Thank you! I appreciate the comment! ☺️

[@College-Builder]

Let me know what other design tips you have for building a small, historic American downtown. Also, if you have a favorite city that you use as inspiration, I'd love to know that too!

[@pcdosgirl]

Wow, another amazing video! I've always struggled with small town America, I'm great at villages in Europe though! At 4:17 in regards to the Post Office, there are two entrances to the asset parking lot, you could extend that lot with a parking road and use surfaces to make it matchy matchy. At 5:42 you change the plants to palm trees one at a time. There is actually a brush you can use to "change all" (or something like that) to whatever tree you have selected. Also, next to that toggle is a brush to change the trees to a certain age. I'll let you know if I see more, I don't watch your videos, I study them. Always so inspiring!

[@College-Builder]

@ thank you!! As always I am grateful for your comments. 🙂🙃 and thanks for the suggestions. I will take a look at the post office and see what I can do. As for the change all, I have been hesitant to try that one with the trees for fear that I will accidentally change all the trees on the map and there is no undo button 🤣🤣. But maybe I should get over it and just try it!

[@pcdosgirl]

@@College-Builder It's a brush, I just make sure to be mindful, because it is quite useful at times. On my current build, I love a smorgasbord of plants. The brush doesn't give the density I'm looking for, so I use the line tool. I click the bush setting, then set the line to a random rotation (that's the dice), and put spacing and alignment (I think it's alignment?) at +1 - and the end result looks pretty landscaped yet natural. Add a boulder and a tree or two, and you have a lovely cluster. You can line streets, paths, buildings, like hedges but really much more attractive, imho. Please try it out, maybe you'll show others the process. Anyway, cheers for another awesome video, it's very much like taking an art class. Informative, creative, inspiring, your videos are my favorites, if you can't tell, lol 🤓

[@College-Builder]

🥰🥰 you are too kind, much appreciated!! And I will give it a try and let you know how it goes!!

[@QemeH]

"We will use the next 6 principles to build a new town." Oh. okay. "I have been looking at a lot of old downtowns all across the US." That could be something! "First of all we will clean up our rail line to make space for our town." TELL ME MORE! "The center for our new town will be this main four lane boullevard right through the middle." *GOD DAMN AMERICANS* No, seriously: The rebuild in the first hhalf looks amazing, really pulled the old part of town together and gives a rather historic feeling (ironically making it much more modern in the sense of walkability and quality of life than all these dead 60s/70s downtowns) and the new city looks much nicer than grid-topia has any right to :D

[@College-Builder]

Hehe thanks. I somehow knew you wouldn’t like that boulevard 🤣🤣🤣

[@QemeH]

@@College-Builder Well, to be fair, it's far and away the best boulevard you COULD push straight through the middle of the town - limited intersections, raised median to prevent U-turns mid block and most crucially no driveways of adjacent lots onto it - so the usual criticism of "just another stroad" doesn't fit here at all. This is actually how these arterials SHOULD be build. It's just that.. cutting it right through the middle of the residential area is so... ugly :) As a resident of the community, I'd probably be advocating for mid-block cross-walks as well - and paths from the meandering roadside cycleway into the neighborhood, so one could actually walk to a house that is 100 yards away instead of having to drive around 3 blocks to get there. From there you loosen the zoning restrictions a bit to allow for in-subdivision corner shops and BOOM you'll have the most attractive small town in SoCal in a jiffy :D

[@College-Builder]

I love that. I will think about a mid block crossing as I keep an eye on the traffic. I think it should be doable. Yes, the avenue dividing the neighborhood is definitely not ideal for pedestrians. Classic American towns 😬

[@CORYSTOLBERG]

This is great! One question, when building a historic downtown is there an old theater or opera style house to add to the downtown? One with a marquee like you see in small towns? Just a thought. Look up the Coronado Performance Art Center in Rockford,IL for an example. It seems like all old towns have a theater for movies or shows. Just a thought. Keep up the great work!!!

[@College-Builder]

Thank you that means a lot. I wish there was an old theater! Or better yet, several! We really need it. A super long theater building came with the French pack. It is a beautiful building but doesn’t quite fit in a small American town. I would love an old brick theater, cinema, or play house! You are right, all the historic small towns seem to have them. I like the Coronado, it is such a distinctive building. I also love the Chicago Theatre and the Music Box. Truly so many masterpieces: the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, the Fox Theater in St Louis, etc. Definitely something the game needs!

[@keithlowry4213]

@@College-Builder @CORYSTOLBERG It's kind of cheating, but if you have the ploppables mod, use the Cane Residences and turn it around backwards (since its ploppable its not active) and if you have other mods, you can add signage for plays, movies, etc. Its not 100% but you can make it look like an old-town theater (maybe a bit large but very convincing).

[@College-Builder]

@ thanks for the suggestion I will check that out!

[@AzealiaBonkers]

I'd love to see a high speed rail road added to the cities!

[@College-Builder]

Oh that is a great idea!! I’d love that also!!

[@stuartwalker1008]

When are we getting the next installment of Marathon Cove??! Looking forward to it!

[@College-Builder]

Sooooooon! I took some time off from Marathon Cove over the holidays and also spent a little time on some side projects. I will hopefully share that side project soon and then will return to Marathon Cove! ☺️😁

[@stevenwalravens4220]

Color of the buildings is a real important aspect.

[@College-Builder]

That’s a great point! I originally planned to talk about using brick buildings being an important part but in all honesty we just don’t have enough assets in that category. Fingers crossed that we get more! 🤞

[@maliggg]

What is the name of parking space mod

[@College-Builder]

There are two different mods I used for parking in this video. One is the Road Builder Mod. That one allowed me to add the angled parking along streets. The second one I used is Extra Networks and Areas. This is the mod that adds the custom marking roads that then need to be filled in with a surface. Lots of flexibility for adding parking with both mods. Let me know if I can be of further help!

[@SmartPhone7]

This is beautiful! What mods you used? And what's the name of the map? Please let me know!

[@College-Builder]

Thanks I appreciate it! I have listed most of my mods here: mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/93614/Any The map is on PDX mods, called Sunset Beach by the Actual Real Chair. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[@Brian_NJ]

Excellent tips. I love this game but struggle expanding my city after I reach 6-8,000 pop. Do you typically create multiple small towns and then a large metro? What is the best way to start implementing large skyscrapers?

[@College-Builder]

I guess my approach varies depending on the map and my goals, but in general for both CS1 and CS2 I try to build out many of my smaller and medium sized towns first and then work towards starting my downtown. I usually decide in advance where that big city will be. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way, but that is what I tend to do.

[@College-Builder]

Hello! I just released a new Beginner's Guide, going up to 14,000 population. Let me know what you think! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5S2k5t6gtN4fJIsi=KGaPi2Av17qwo9gU

[@BorisRomagna]

Ciao! I am trying to build a historical center of a small Italian town (with central square and medieval walls). A bit difficult to realize, but I am confident.

[@College-Builder]

That will be an awesome project. Let me know how it goes!!

[@DokisKalin1]

I wish you'd do this without mods so everyone can follow along regardless of what mods they use.

[@College-Builder]

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I have been enjoying many of the mods, but I understand not everyone likes to play that way. I will probably continue with this city as it is, but I am willing to start a series that is mod free. I will think about what to do. Thanks again!

[@College-Builder]

Hello! I just released a new vanilla (mostly) video. Hope this is what you were looking for. Let me know! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5S2k5t6gtN4fJIsi=KGaPi2Av17qwo9gU

[@DokisKalin1]

@College-Builder thank you!

[@College-Builder]

👍