Day 1

Four from me...

- Always have a purpose to your city, no city is ever just there, whether it is because it is on high land safe from floods and defensive or in the shadow of a extinct volcano, where the land is fertile for farming. Newer cities (built from 1880 onwards) might be by the sea as the bay makes a natural harbour or built along a road or railway.

- Always have your main government building as a centerpiece, in most MEDCs planning always takes place around public buildings, for example have your roads radiating from your parliament, or have it bang in the middle of the city surronded by upmarket buildings and parkland.

- If your capital is a federal district, remember that generally these are planned before they are built with fancy road patterns, parkland and symetrical buildings. In older cities or LEDCs then the city should engulf the government area while still letting it stand out.

- and remember, your capital city doesnt always have to be your most populated or main city (take Austrailia or Canada for example), so there is NO requirement for skyscrapers galore and super 14 lane motorways. :roll:

My advice, for capital cities is that they are either romantic with lush gardens and fountains or ancient yet modern with government like Rome, London and Beijing.

Also, I think that capital cities are well....one of your most beautiful cities in your country. After all its the capital, so naturally it should be the showcase of your country.

Capital cities should really have airports, buses and other modern transportation.

They should show that the city is prospering, so no vacant buildings!!

And, capital cities should be unique like Thomas said, they should really bring out the best of your countries, so you can boast them!!

When I designed Providence, I was designing a purpose built capital. There were a couple of cities that I took inspiration from, namely Canberra and Paris. I wanted a blend of the two.

Capitals should have a distinct government district, either smack dab in the middle of town, or in a special zone, such is the case with Providence.

They should be unique and easily distinguishable from other cities in the country. They should be far from generic.

There should be a well integrated transport system. An airport is essential, as are good roads, light rail or subway (or both, if required) and buses.

They should be the most desirable of your cities, attracting high wealth residents and businesses. There shouldn't be any industry, but if there is it should be high tech. Smoke stacks are not a pretty sight.

The capital should be the focus of your country's culture and be a centrepiece of your country and look good on a postcard.

When I designed City of Hypertrophy I wanted it to be a city of true resembelance of where I'm from: New York. However, I combined the mapping of both Manhattan and Bronx and mild twist of Brooklyn and Queens and created some extra portions of the map to take away the exact similarity.

The inspriation is mainly from five cities: New York, San Francisco, London, Washington, DC and Paris. All capital cities should be extinguishable, however let's add note here, because when you deal with a larger population like over million. You have to take careful consideration.

While you may have a government district central to one location. You also need to have districts that would represent the true value.

For example:

If you run a stock exchange (like HYSE - Hypertrophy Stock Exchange) You should have a particular district that caters soley on the banking industry.

If you have a heavily; active industrial area bordered by water. ( like Port of Hypertrophy) I would advise to place plenty of seaports, railyards, and a major highway or autoban arond that area.

Another thing when you have another commercial center, it doesn't have to be lke NYC, but somewhat representable that would cater to other commericial industries (like advertisement, broadcasting, or headquarters of a industrial corporation) this would be very essential to seperate it from the financial district. Financial district sole purpose is money, while other commercial districts sole purpose is conducting operations.

Residential Areas - I always advise get very creative of custom content. But another thing is what kind of neighborhood are you intending to create?

Economic class neigborhood

- If it is a cosmopolitan neighborhood, then create commercial sectors and add large parks or water promenades (if your cities is bordered by water).

*Let's not forget landmarks, museums, theatres, and colleges/ univ. Also make sure you add an environment where wealthy class people shop, or congregate.

- If it is a middle class/working class neighborhood add baseball parks, manufacturing industries, even high tech industries. It singifies a well to do neighborhood.

* you can add a large park if you like, but it's best you utilize playgrounds, baseball fields, football fields, or soccer fields as well. They add to the middle class feel that there are places to go in their neighborhood. Even a major venue like a major/minor league baseball stadium, soccer stadium, or football stadium exist. It represents middle-class pride. Otherwise, stick to skating rinks, or community gathering centers for that neighborhood.
If it is located by the beach. Amusement parks, and beach like venues would benefit those neighborhoods. Even casinos if your country allows it.
And oh yeah, don't forget about zoos and aquariums.

- If you create a low income class/ghetto, and yes they exist all over the world. You can never eradicate poverty, no matter how nice you glorify your city. Poverty and crime exist all over the world. But getting back to the subject, if you intend to create a low wealth/ghetto community it would be best to place a few parks, plus some manufacturing or dirty industries to represent some locations. Even in capital cities they exist.

- Military bases should also exist in your capital city. Because your capital city should have some history of defense. City of Hypertrophy has four naval bases. (I'll show them) Not only that, when you have dignitaries, diplomats, your leader, or the leader's staff where are they gonna land or take off? In a commercial airstrip? It's too risky.

* Most important if you have an air base for your leader and dipolmats? Place your air base in an isolated location where there is little or no density. No high rises from a mile away or apartment buildings. Like it I said too risky. Helipads are different. The Empress of Hypertrophy has a helipad 3 blocks east of her palace. But in reality, air bases should be away from civilzation. unless you have it at a low-dense industrial area (1 story warehouses and keep it miliatry)

I know I have posted alot, but I want to give some real big advice about designing a capital city. I hope it helped.

- For some point, Kemayoran City based at Jakarta (Including the name). Some other point made by my self.
- I built it on a Valley between a mountain and a hill. The result are I have a nice landscape, and a satelite city(Meadow Hill) on the hill.
-I build a busy Airport at the Suburban area to make realistic, because there are no tall building there.
- I make some metro lanes across the downtown. It'll make the transportation more eazy.
- This city have 4 Satelite City(Meadow Hill, Deltamas, Mt. Silver City, Tanjung Anyar City ).

Don't worry about posting loads Anarchy - it was really good.

- Have a good and quality transport system!

-Put low imposts on middle and rich houses and comercial, and in hight tech industry in order to erradicate poor.

-Put large parks in or near the city centre!

-Connections are fundamental!

-Remember: your city is made by people so give them an happy live!

I haven't worked on Colbitz in a while, but I have a few things that I used when planning:

-There has to be a reason for it to be there. I placed Colbitz in a small harbor, to show that people didn't land and proclaim "This is the perfect place for a capital, away from anything useful!"

-Eyecandy is more important in a capital city than most other cities. It's your capital.

-Green. Space. I know I use green space everywhere, but a capital is a really good place to place large park belts. I'm planning on having a huge green strip radiating from my government center all the way to the inner suburbs. It's going to look awesome in Region View.

-If your capital has planned grids, parks, etc., there's going to be a limit to all the planning. At some point, it's going to turn into mindless sprawl, just like most of the world.

-Transportation. It's the capital. Have highways, buses, airports, and maybe some form of rail transportation. You could even add a newish subway/light rail system, like in Washington DC.