Designing a fictional city

So, I have been trying to make a fictional city for a Dieselpunk novel I am writing and I'm not pleased by it, see, I took NYC to based it and it still feels too NYC and overall too generic in some neighborhoods and whatnot. I want to it to have its own soul and still feel a bit like NYC in the 30's. Am I asking too much? Have you faced similar problems?

Try to analyse and correlate what "effect" you want on the city and what the causes were.

ie. Increased leisure time due to home technology lead to leisure activities which gave birth to flappers, places to listen to music etc etc. It allowed the working classes to have their own leisure which they'd never had before. You could have this but refuse to take a bunch of fashion trends or alter it significantly depending on how your diesel punk works. This was more 1920's, but you know what I mean.

Don't forget terrain features can dictate how neighborhoods form, i.e. rivers, ridges, islands. For that matter don't forget neighborhoods especially for a 30's style city; whether it's meat packing, high finance, low rent apartments something sets a borough/neighborhood/ward apart from the others. Find that (think different) and you're set. Origins can help to; did it start out as a market or farming town, was it a shipping center, home to a lot of mills, stuff like that.

The people help shape he city too! The cultures that predominantly populate the city will effect its food, archectecture, ethic etc. Also different cultures within the same city will often be at odds with each other like the Irish/Italians during the 30's.

Definitely agree with Atom. People shape a city and how it's perceived by the world. Of course most ethnic groups'll be further divided (Lace Curtain v. Shanty Irish for example).

edited 18th Aug '10 9:17:23 PM by hotelkilo

Don't forget that the people and thus the city itself is deeply affected by history! You based your city on New York yes? Imagine for a moment the really big events that happened there. The Depression, The World Trade Centre Bombing, 9/11 etc. These moments in time deeply effected the citizens of New York and will no doubt continue to do so. If you really want to give your city a soul think about the things its gone through and how the people will be affected.

Also: Location, Location, Location! Happen to notice how coastal cities rely on fishing while mainland ones rely on farming? A city's industry(ies) will also have an impct on the character of the city! Las Vegas is the city of Sin, Portland is the Steel capital of the US and Detroit is best known for its cars. Think about just what your city is gonna excel at.

The city of Megapolis itself are two peninsulas divided by a the Rossenburg river, the eastern one is Pendelton and the western one is Putnam. Between Pendelton and the mainland (Port Prosperity) runs the Rivet River. The region is valley known as Hope Hollow, though the Rivet River extends all the way from the Montgolier mountains in the west, connecting boats from the hinterland-located capital of the country Constitution City.

The city is also connected by train and road to many cities along the coast and by ship to even more cities. Being itself considered the Light of Liberty, for many foreigners who come around the world, the city takes great pride of it, even having a bit of The Statue of Liberty analogue called The Liberty Lighthouse in middle of the harbor.

The city was actually formed by seven cities: Tamohagonny, Roseburg and Flopsville in Pendelton and Breckenridge, Beach Bay and Woodbury in Putnam and New Adderton in Isolated Island. But for most of its colonial history, the city was shadowed by New Malbrook and Milestone northwards and Port Manteau southwards.

One cannot tell the story of Megapolis without telling the story of the Rivet River Shipping Society, which became the Xenobia Xenogeographic Shipping Society after the owner's son-in-law, commodore Chistobaldus Coon "opened" trade with isolated nations on the Antipodean continent with the help of a dozen battleships, founding the prestigious Coon family line which brought to the city robber barons, politicians and headaches and made Megapolis a trading center for the whole country. (It also helped the mysterious fire that pretty much brought down the Milestone docks...)

Tamohagonny and Roseburg grew big and prosper, and soon enough factories across the seaside started to be seen and their workers, from all over the world came under the promise of a better life. Sadly, too many of them came and most of them had underpaid, exploting jobs and soon enough riots started to appear, especially among the Winotians and the Stivalians, who were prejudged by race and religion as drunken violent brutes.

Nobody knows how The Freakish Fire started, the general consensus is that the rioting foreigners did it out of hatred or accidentally but a popular theory is that the wealthiest families around decided to put a stop to the slums growning around in the Pendelton penninsula but what is true is that a violent fire damanged most of Tamohagonny and bits of Roseburg leaving it in rubbles with the only things standing in Tamohagonny being the slaughterhouse quarter, The Hasketry, a ghetto for the Hakestites and Orient Town.

Soon enough, a commitee was started, headed by colonel Cincinnatus Coon with some of the wealthiest families of the city: the Ackermann family, the D'Ascoyne family, the Fredersen family, et al. They settled on Avalon, near Breckenridge and designed a rebuilding plan for the southmost of Pendelton Peninsula, while the Putnam Peninsula grew big on industry having New Kingsmill, the leather and clothing district and The Cannery which speaks of itself.

Soon enough, all the communities on both sides of the Rossenberg river white consolidated as Megapolis, divided in seven wards: Tamohagonny, Roseburg, Flopsville, Brokenbridge, Seaside, Isolated Island north and Isolated Island south.

Sadly, after rebuilding the city, the country fell in a fierce zeppelin war against Volkland and the workers condition did not improve, but after the war, having Megapolis being such strategic center for the shipping of troops. After the war, Megapolis found itself to being the second city of the country and after the collapse of the airship industry, the first.

edited 19th Aug '10 4:26:08 AM by Maxmordon

The Pendelton Peninsula is divided in these districts:

'Tamohagonny':

'Tamohagonny': The heart of the financial district, the most important streets are named after the rich families that helped to rebuild the city after the fire, and some of their companies are located here, like Coon Co. and the Baron Building. It has Orient Town and Crosstown on north.

'Crosstown': The upper side of the financial district, it hosts the stock exchange and countless skyscrapers. Home of the Metropolitan Main Train Terminal and the Tamohagonny Tower. It has Holstenwall and Custer Circus on the north and Orient Town on the east.

'Orient Town': Ethnic enclave. China Town analogue. It has the Slaughterhouse district on its north.

'Slaughterhouse': Oldest part of Tomahoganny to still stand. It features Summoner Square with the old gallows. Got its name from the old slaughterhouses that located next to the Rivet river after the city's reconstruction.

'Roseburg':

'Holstenwall': Another historic neighborhood, this one is mostly inhabitated by bohemian artists and members of the counterculture. The zone is dominated by Holstenwall Hospital, the city's oldest running hospital, though technically Holstenwall is an insane asylum. The inmates have tried to burn it down a couple of times, so the whole construction is rather erratic having wings from pretty much every architecture. Holstenwall has Custer Circus on the east and Lower Roseburg on the north.

'Lower Roseburg': This is the biggest oldest part (along with Holstenwall) to still stand. It hosts the old port (now the Terminal), the old Maritime Market and The Quartermaster's House, the first HQ of the Megapolis Police Department, back when they were a militia dependent of the navy under the command of Commodore Coon. It's mostly a well-to-do neighborhood. It limits a tiny bit east with Great Gardens.

'Higher Roseburg': Middle class townhouses made after the Freakish Fire, mostly unremarkable except for hosting the city library and Superbia University, Uberty's rival. On its north lies Northwood and on the east, Great Gardens.

'Great Gardens': Well-to-do zone with department stores, luxurious hotels and the named gardens with a zoo where one can spend hours walking idly around. The zone is also home of the Grand Lodge of the Children of the Cog, the club of the wealthiest men and women of the city who helped to rebuild it after the Freakish Fire, St. Salvatore Chatedral and several museums. Southwards is located Custer Circus and eastwards, The Hasketry.

'Custer Central': Commercial venue and pretty much the heart of the city. Hosts the most important theaters, the building of the Megapolis Morning, the city's foremost newspaper, the main train station and of course, one of the city's biggest landmarks: The Megapolis Broadcasting Co. building with its gigantic television screen and The Television Theatre, a Radio City Music Hall-like building where one can see sitcoms screened or presented live. On the east it has Small Stivalia and The Hasketry.

'Small Stivalia': Old ethnic enclave, it has lost terrain to Oiokus and Hasketites. Nowadays, most Hasketites live in Isolated Island and The 3 Corners, in Brockenbridge.

'Hasketry': Ethnic enclave, mostly unremarkable with the exception of the Hasketite Temple. Northwood lies north.

'Northwood': Mostly middle class, it is home of Uberty University, a rather prestigious institution and it's mostly inhabitated by college students. It borders north with Holden Hill and Summerside.

'Flopsville':

'Avenue Alley': Historical black neighborhood that has seen through gentryfication the entrance of high middle class white people. The poorest residents have been forced to move out to Port Prosperity.

Between Avenue Alley and Northwood there's a low middle and low class neighborhood formed by mostly building blocks. This one is called 'Holden Hill'.

Eastward Holden Hill and Avenue Alley there's a similar neighborhood, 'Summerside', with the exception, of course, of the Summerside Stadium, home of the Megapolis Mercenaries, a professional sport team. The northern part of Summerside has become an an ethnic enclave for Tropicales.

Northmost of the map and bordering with Avenue Alley and Summerside is the slum of 'Flopsville', an enormous region full of almhouses, flophouses, warehouses, brothels and abandoned train tracks.

Next time I will get into Putnam Peninsula, which is far more sketchy...

edited 19th Aug '10 4:28:42 AM by Maxmordon

Ahhh and it comes to be! From what I see you have a really unique city rich with history and it actually also reminds me of Chicago, the windy city itself a victim of an unknown fire. Right of the bat, are Pendleton and Putnam sort of like the borroughs of New York?

Yes, Pendelton is Manhattan and The Bronx while Putnam is Queens and Brooklyn.

Thus making New Adderton Staten Island?

Yes, New Adderton and Isolated Island in a whole is a bit of a mix mash of Staten and Long Island. Mostly Staten Island's size and status and Long Island's location and affluence.

Now, with Putnam Peninsula!

All what I have mentioned so far is on the Pendelton Peninsula, which is defined as the tract of land between the Rivet River and the Rossenburg River, across the Rossenburg River is the more industrial and less urbanized bit of Megapolis, the Putnam Peninsula, which is reached from the Pendelton Peninsula through bridges (Brewster Bridge and Bayside Bridge to be exact) and subway connections.

While Pendelton is divided in three districts (Flopsville, Roseburg and Tamohagonny), Putnam is divided in Brokenbridge (an odious pun on Breckenridge) and Seaside, dividing it north-eastward and south-westward and taking the Eagle Expressway as border.

This region is still a bit troublesome to me, since I am not exactly sure what is manufactured in Megapolis, I always thought about it as one of those places where you can find a factory of every type. Nonetheless, thanks to outsourcing and gentryfication, there seems to be taking the industry outside the city limits. Port Prosperity, more exactly, which is the New Jersey analogue to this New York City or the Oakland analogue to this San Francisco, but lots of industry still remains here.

Here are the neighborhood layout so far from south to north:

Centenary City: planned public housing located between the city harbor and the Future Fantastique Fairgrounds, mostly unremarkable except by being surrounded by the Eagle in all its borders, though it limits north with Putnam Park. The Future Fantastique Fair is pretty much the analogue to the 1939 World's Fair, though nowadays it remains quite inactive being reduced to a cheap nostalgia-fueled carnival.

West Cove & East Cove: Unremarkable shady warehouses and gang-infested slums, it covers the whole north border of the city harbor and it's divided by The Eagle.

Lading Landing: It borders westward with East Cove, middle to low class residential zone and it's home on the southmost part of the North Bay Naval Base.

Brickville: Poor neighborhood between Beach Bay, East Cove, Lading Landing and New Kingsmill.

New Kingsmill: The leather and clothing manufacturing district. It's located between Woodsbury (north), Cannery (west), East Cove and Brickville (south).

Beach Bay: Ethnic enclave, possibly run by the mafia.

Woodsbury: Middle class neighborhood, the borders are defined by The Eagle, which ends on the north point: The Ignaz Ackermann International Airport. Think of it a bit like Rockaway Beach as shown in Woody Allen's Radio Days.

The Cannery: The food canning district, it's next to New Kingsmill and north of West Cove and Putnam Park.

Battleaxe Bay: North of Centenary City, south of The Cannery and westward of Putnam Park, it used to be an industrial park that was attempted to be gentryfied but failed, being now an odd mix-mash of abandoned warehouses and cheap apartments.

Hill Heights: Neighborhood just north of The Cannery and home of the Hill Heights Hippodrome (racetrack), it's pretty much the type of stereotypical Brooklyn neighborhood that The Honeymooners was set in.

Breckenridge: The largest and most important neighborhood of Brokenridge along with Avalon, usually considered a financial district of sort, it's home of several businesses. It's hub is Seamen Square on Avalon Avenue. It's north-west of The Cannery and west of Hill Heights, Torenbaum and South-West of Avalon.

Torenbaum: Ethnic enclave.

Avalon: The historical district of Brokenbridge, it hosts the old Breckenridge Surgeon Barber School, and the Old Reformed Wolfeschlegel­stein­hausen­berger­dorfist Church, as well as many stately manors looking over the Rossenberg River. It has Torenbaum at the south, Ironside and North Ironside at the west along with Presidents Park, a bit of The Three Corners on the north, but most of the North is formed by Brewster.

Mitchum: ???. No idea what to do with this one, it has Liberty Labs on it, which is pretty much the local Torchwood Institute/Area 51.

Gleary: ???. Next to Gleary, no idea what to do with this one either, it's next to airport and I am not crazy about the name. Same thing with Upper Gleary.

Ironside: ???. Not crazy with this one either, it has North Ironside, but while writing this I think it would be better to mix it with East Park and also borders with Presidents Park.

East Park: blocks of public housing between Upper Gleary, Gleary, North Ironside and Presidents Park.

Barkley Beach: Industrial park that is also home of the Putnam Penninsula Penitentiary Prison. Megapolis' main jail complex. It's located just on the North-East of Upper Gleary.

Oxnard: Middle to low class apartment building neighborhood between Avalon and Brewster.

Brewster: Gentrified hipster neighborhood, as with Holstenwall, it's an artistic hub of sorts.

The 3 Corners: Ethnic Enclave.

Riverfront Ravine: ???. Just north of Brewster, mostly undeveloped, perhaps?

And well, that's what I have so far.

Gotta tell ya some of these names stick out when seen in comparison to the others. Battleaxe Bay and Avalon look like they belong in a medieval story rather than a dieselpunk one.

Im curious as to what ethnicities your hoping to have populate Torenbuam and the 3 Corners. If I could make a suggestion: If your really hoping to break away from New York, why not have an African or Carribean culture? Add a little New Orleans flavour to the place?

Mitchum: An Area 51 complete with S.T.A.R Labs expy? Hmmmmm. You could take this a few ways. You could either make it a slum that was once home to the city's rich if not...eccentric upperclass or make it a new housing developement that could hide Liberty Labs activities.

Gleary: The name sounds fine although if you really want to change it theres Newberry, Everton, Megatone etc. Why not take a chance to add some green to the place and make it a park or something? Camping Hunting grounds

Yeah, I have been noticing how Battleaxe Bay really sticks out to the rest, but haven't thought what to change it so far and I have thought of Mitchum on, as you mentioned, mostly a residential zone for Liberty Labs employees where the really weird stuff may or not happen.

Gleary as a woodland region, uh? Sounds good enough, I was crazy to put one but was not sure where it would fit. Gleary and Upper Gleary are between Presidents Park and Barkley Beach (where the state prison is located), so it seems plausable enough. Nonetheless, I still have major blanks in Putnam: Everything north Upper Gleary, northeast The 3 Corners and north of Brewster is completely blank. Suggestions are more than welcome!

I don't use real-world nationalities but Fantasy Counterpart Culture and Culture Chop Suey elements to some of them. So, Stivalians are Italians with some Greek thrown in, Hasketites are vaguely Eastern Europeans and Tropicales are pretty much Caribbeans, but you're right, where are the Africans?

I was thinking on having Torenbaum inhabitated by Volkians, which are pretty much Germans with some French second empire thing going on. I thought it would break a bit from the NYC air since, again I talk as someone who has never been in the US, that Germans on the west coast are mostly located on the midwest.

No idea about The 3 Corners, I was thinking on perhaps putting the Winotians (vaguely Scottish-Irish with some Nordic elements) after the original Winotian neighborhood burned down on the Freakish Fire. But then, I have a big reference to 1800's The Five Corners in NYC and I still don't get out of NYC...

Perhaps I can locate them a bit north of Brewster, still next to the Rossenburg and leave the blank between this especulative neighborhood and Barkley Beach, on the other end as a more natural zone all the way to Mitchum and Presidents Park.

What do you think? Is it feasable? I can show you my map, to have a more clear idea...

Battleaxe Bay could keep the name but never actually get referred to it as such in the story.

"Big Arse Bay" is my suggestion.

the map would be great. just kinda finding it difficult to picture this place in it entirety.

What about the Mansani? West Africans with elements of Middle Eastern peoples? Also next to Brewster doesnt sound too bad.

^Thats actually a really good suggestion

Drats! My scanner just decided to take some holidays!

Anyway, I was thinking in something I can't believe I haven't thought before: Give more prominence to the Oioku. See, the country where Megapolis is set in got after the war some colonies on the Antipodean continent, which they were a bit reluctant to abandon. Them in a whole is known as either Leanderland, Oionko or The Protectorate of Overseas and Outposts, depending who was in charge.

The Oioku were slaves for many years of the Azancians, a sprawling empire in a mountain range in the Antipodean continent; they considered themselves divine creatures and nearby cultures as inferior, forced to do menial job, this culture, especially those inhabiting in the plains near the mountains and on the coast are the Oioku, who were treated a little better than animals by Azancians, who burned all their books and traces of culture to dominate them better.

The Azancians lost a lot of power and their emperor fell, turning their cities in fighting city-states to survive. Then Commodore Coon arrived and sacked the most important of these city-states, nonetheless, the small bit of them was pale in comparision of the domains of Volkland and the Angaloxian Empire (British Empire equivalent in this world), but they were affected by the war and soon enough, the port city that Commodore Coon had claimed many decades ago became the center of the nation's powerful colony.

But soon enough, Azancians and Oioku were divided on those who supported said nation and those who opposed said nation. Alot of Oioku supported the new nation, but many didn't, forcing massive immigration after an Oioku-Azancian revolution ousted the colonial government and declared death penalty to those living outside Oionko. (Think a bit on the Pied-Noir in Algiers or Cuban expats after the Castro revolution).

Truly, I have underrated the Oioku and is obvious they would add a new spice to the city. Their culture is a mix-mash of some elements of African cultures, Southeast Asia cultures and, oddly enough, a bit of Hebrew culture somewhere there.

What do you think? Do you see prospect in this culture?

Oh yeah! Use them!!! Just take a photo of your map btw. I used to do that before I even had a scanner

While it might seem a bit of a silly objection, all the alliterative place names really put me in mind of Donkey Kong Country more than a real city.

Here's the map:

Map of Megapolis◊

Sorry for taking my time, I have been like nuts organizing something for a few days out. Please ignore Riverfront Ravine as an urbanized area. Also, the NYC analogue is bigger. I was thinking on perhaps not putting Isolated Island south the Putnam Peninsula but east Pendelton, putting Pendelton in the middle and Putnam either of the extremes. But then, the division of Residential/Commercial/Industrial would seem too artificial.

The alliterative names is more of a thing of aesthetics than anything else to give it a more otherness feeling, among some, um, very original naming, (Heterodox Heeps and Rev. Random-Religious-Reference Randt comes to mind).

edited 25th Aug '10 7:28:45 PM by Maxmordon

So, I have considered making on what is marked "Riverfront Ravine" and the blank space to Barkley Beach a bit of a wilderness area because of the irregular hills and mountains there, perhaps having a single twisted road going to Barkley Beach and the Penitentiary there.

I have been thinking about the wealthy families that have influenced the city, the most fleshed out are of course the Coon family which mixes the Vanderbilt family (wealth origin on shipping) and the Rockefeller family (political dynasty and philantropist); I got the thought of the Ackermann family and an idea of "scientific monopoly" a la Thomas Edison or the Du Pont family, Ignaz Ackermann who in this universe patented from the electric bulb to the zeppelins, whom the city's airport is named after, being some sort of greedy Thomas Edison attacking "renegade scientists", forcing them to move away to other corners of the nation, which is more or less why filmmakers moved to California in the early XX Century.

So far, the "metropolitan monarchy" are the Ackermanns (electronics and gunpowder), the Barons (media), the Coons (manufacturing and shipping), the D'Ascoyne, the Entwistles (?), the Fredersens (real estate, possibly) and the Humperdincks (?).

The Coon family also have a rival, The Goulds who are meant to be nouvelle riche who get their fortune from railroads as do many wealthy families from Magnolia (a southmost region, if Megapolis is NYC, then Magnolia would be Florida crammed with California). This displeases those who have invested in shipping, mostly the Coon family, that manages to pass laws halting the railroads (explaining why no railroads to be in Megapolis itself but in slums, rather finishing up north in Flopsville and south in Port Prosperity). This has made some sort of silent battle between two blocks, the old distingished families from Megapolis, Port Manteau (New Orleans analogue, following the NYC-Megapolis analogue, roughly in the area of Charleston) and Constitution City with the escalating pioneers of Magnolia and everyone west the Montgolier mountains who can claim a dime as theirs. (Appalachia/Rockie mountains analogue).

Also, I am not sure about if Megapolis should be part of a larger state or be an autonomous district, so far, it's mentioned to be part of a state (called Megaland), but seems to exist more as a decrepit organism of power overshadowed by the city than something useful.

Also, I have designed some subway lines, not something worth of urban planners, but I think they do the trick.