Post Apocalyptic City development and issues

Right, posted this a while back in Writers Block but got nothing. Figured it belonged here more anyway.

Bit of a text wall here, sorry

So I've been putting a story down on paper for some time now and I've posted most of the protagonists for review in other threads and asked for help naming things in others.

Anyway the story revolves around a group of 5 travelers in the post WW 3 apocalypse in Russia, 4 surviving Russian soldiers and one young woman who up until recently was living in a bunker in relative safety. They all ride about in their tank and scavenge for food, trade with other survivors and just generally do post apocalyptic stuff. Eventually they hear rumors of a city that's been constructed by other survivors with a sizable population and the group make it their new goal to find the city and finally settle down from their nomadic lifestyle.

And yes, the city really is a thing and not some legend told by survivors to try and cheer themselves up and yes our dear protagonists reach it eventually.

Now herein lays the problem, I've got the basic idea for how the city functions but I'd like some feedback to see if I'm missing some major issue or something or other.

Now the city is split up into 3 sort of sections each marked by circular walls. First of all there is the outermost wall constructed of cannibalized bricks and stone, hunks of metal, derelict cars and other vehicles, some wooden beams and topped off with barbed wire. There are also guard towers placed every so often around the perimeter. There are a few entrances into the city through this wall all of which have guards and decontamination chambers that scrub for radiation, traces of chemical and biological weapons from the war and generally just screen people and whatever they brought with them. There's also a sort of customs office if you will that gathers information on visitors and potential new citizens (Name, history before the war, allergies, any noteworthy skills, purpose for visiting, etc.). There's also an entrance for any vehicles that might be brought along (Surviving war machines, cars, motorcycles, ambulances and so on).

After the outermost wall you enter the first section of the city which is a sort of bazaar marketplace type thing. Here various vendors are selling out of their trucks or have stalls and booths set up to trade amongst each other and the city populace. It's mostly populated by scavenger caravans and those inside the city who wish to trade with them, most of the buildings are very simple structures that the caravaners just pack up and take with them when they leave to search the wasteland for more merchandise. Bartering is by far and away the most common and trusted way of exchanging goods and the like but the city government has started a limited production of simple coins and tokens that are legal tender inside the city walls.

After that there is a second wall of much simpler design but that is still guarded and with a second set of decontamination points.

The second ring is a sort of farm/livestock area. Scattered about are various heated greenhouses and hydroponics areas where simple food is grown from seeds stored before the nuclear holocaust. There are also simple barns and pens to hold somewhat common and easy to care for livestock, pigs, chickens and goats and so on. With the nuclear winter coming to a close many are beginning to see if the soil is still viable for true and proper farming. After that is the final set of walls that are much more lightly guarded and with one final set of decontamination checkpoints.

Now here we enter the city proper. Much of it was built on an existing smaller pre war town but nobody can put a definite name on what it used to be. At the furthest edge of the city centre there's the housing and some smaller establishments such as simple bars, what could barely pass for restaurants, tailor shops and smaller food stores for those who don't want to deal with the caravaners. Much of the structures are built from cannibalized bricks and stone, sheet metal and whatever else is around. As you get closer towards the center there are more important buildings such as a large intact prewar hospital with staff, though nowhere near as much as the doctors would like. A prison and police center, a larger customs office for those seeking citizenship, a town hall where the city government meets. The town hall is known to double as a courthouse and serves as a meeting place for citywide announcements. There's also a citywide intercom system that barely works and what could almost be called a fire station. There's also a very simple school where the old try to pass on what pre war knowledge is left to what few children live in the city. There's also a mostly intact library though it's shelves are almost empty survivors try and bring in what books they can of any kind to donate. There is a water purification plant of sorts in a different surviving structure that tries to distribute clean water through the very crude plumbing in the city.

This is what I have so far, most of my inspiration comes from the surviving towns and cities in the Fallout series, the stations in the Metro series. If I've overlooked any major problems or anything of that sort please point them out, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

edited 13th Nov '13 10:34:29 PM by LeGarcon

Not sure about the decontamination stuff in the second and third walls, if the city's open to the air, then surely almost as much contamination is going to blow in as is carried in. It would be smart to my mind to have decontamination booths in some of the buildings themselves (the greenhouses for example, and the food stores)

The building decon stuff is a good idea.

It's been a decent amount of time since the bombs fell so contaminants aren't being blown around as often as they were.

thank you

edited 3rd Jan '14 1:53:34 PM by LeGarcon