Slums, housing projects and urban blight

[Crotalidae75]

Has there been any consideration for the possibility of slums and urban blight scenarios, in the cities, maybe showing up as a result of neglect and poor economic conditions?

Though no one likes these kind of things, I think slummy buildings would be interesting to have in the game, especially as a sort of mini-disaster -- or at least, something you want to avoid. In any case, it would be realistic. Most large cities have some rather rough areas, especially in North America.

I think under certain situations, public housing projects (notorious in the US for their poor living conditions) should show up.

Maybe if you weren't careful, monstrosities like these could be built in your cities. These buildings are in Harlem, New York.

 

[KR153]

I am just through watching "The Wire" which has quite a lot of these areas covered. One of the great aspects of this series is that it plays "only" in Baltimore, but you can transfer the plot into every bigger city in the US. While this is quite an american phenomenon (at least in this particular form) it can be found in a way or another all over the world.
Gamewise it would be fun to play the roles of the mayor, the commisioner and all the other crooks. I don´t want a clean, boring "Utopia".

 

[Sotrax]

Well, I am living in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, a part of Berlin, Germany. A very big part of the eastern part of Berlin looks like this, former "poor workers" part of the city. I think these are necessary for a realistic city.

Click for picture.

 

[theegamerdotcom]

I think it is normal for all big cities to have them, no picture here, however i know for a fact there are a few areas in London like it. Similar to Sotrax picture.

 

[vanadio]

American housing projects are different from the european...

 

[Taghan]

I dunno about that, a lot of housing blocks in Toronto look kind of European, sometimes vaguely Soviet.

 

[Bipin]

I'd love to see some urban decay and plight in our cities. It would certainly help rectify the issue that many city building games appear to be too clean and sterile.

 

[robbiow]

I think the urban decay is definitely worth a 'multi-faceted' approach - rather than a building going from "profitable" to "abandoned" in one moment. Definitely would be a function of risk [of increasing decay] where there was any [growing] combination of low income, unemployment, low education, and a number of other possibilities.

[edit] The "broken windows" theory points to this progression

 

[Junna]

I dunno about that, a lot of housing blocks in Toronto look kind of European, sometimes vaguely Soviet.

Toronto has a large assembly of blocks built in the 60's and 70's which are clearly inspired from research trips taken to Europe (Crescent Town and St. James Town being the best examples). However, I don't think that they at all should be slums - any area can become a slum if certain policies are applied and given the right (or wrong) kind of social issues. It is not the buildings that make the slum, but the social context that surrounds them. The decay should consequently not be a particular type of building but something that happens to a group of buildings in if certain conditions are met making the area undesirable or affected by social ills (bad pollution, lack of employment, etc).

 

[vanadio]

Slums are now becoming rare in developed european countries. We demolished the last one in Lisbon some years ago.

 

[Sotrax]

Well, the picture of Berlin I posted is not a slum. Its a big part of the town, well it's the last place with payable housings, but it's one of the safest part of town, with the least offenses. I love living here.

 

[robbiow]

... I love living here.

That is awesome.

 

[Barkydog]

I think it would be a good idea to have a mixture of these types of housing since you could have a mix of different council housing estates in your city and maybe you find the well designed and maintained estates have a longer waiting list so you have to try and meet demand whereas the poorly maintained/designed areas have shorter housing waiting lists so you have to try and improve your conditions on your rougher estates while trying to balance the budget.

of course as a city authority you could have the choice with your social housing either to manage as best you can with a limited budget or outsource your social housing to Social landlords like Housing associations or trusts etc

A good idea would be to have a mixture of social/public housing since I don't know about other countries but here we have a mixture of housing types with everything from Bungalows for pensioners houses and Maisonettes for families and low and high rise flats for a mixture of families and single tenants.

Of course you could then decide how much focus you want on public housing what the rents could be and maintenance schedules etc. Plus do you as a council or local authority want to provide rent assistance for low income tenant groups via the form of housing benefit etc.

Of course with social housing you might spend more on allied services like public transport subsidies since your tenants might not have cars and will be reliant on buses or trains. Plus you have the costs to cover local libraries, leisure centres and other community needs like weekly bin collections & schools as well as crime prevention since placing a police station in or near a rough housing estate might reduce crime but drive up your costs.

Plus you need to budget for staff for all the different jobs so the less you pay out the rougher and more neglected an area might become.

 

[Lakenstaken]

Slums are now becoming rare in developed european countries. We demolished the last one in Lisbon some years ago.

The slums are just being replaced by ghettos, but im not trying to make a political debate.

 

[Sotrax]

That is awesome.

Why is that? Why the astonishment?

 

[Svip]

Why is that? Why the astonishment?

robbiow is from Australia. So the idea of people liking where they live is astonishing.

 

[co_motep]

robbiow is from Australia. So the idea of people liking where they live is astonishing.

 

[Goldiva]

robbiow is from Australia. So the idea of people liking where they live is astonishing.

LOL... To be fair, two-hour train ride away from Bendigo you have Melbourne, multiple year winner of the most livable cities in the world. Aussies protest much but overall they love where they live. But sure, Bendigo has much history and rising real estate value and no Soviet style slums, so inner city "units" - Ozzie for working class residential tower projects - would probably be romanticized.

Other romanticized mega slums... Now demolished Kowloon Walled City, and Tower of David/ Centro Financiero Confinanzas shown in TV series Homeland

 

[TotalyMoo]

Kowloon I had heard about, Tower of David no. That's really interesting, almost a bit sad that these mythical places aren't here anymore. Not saying the circumstances that formed them are in any way positive or worth it, but they would be amazing to explore nevertheless.

 

[Goldiva]

My view, having seen these Asian slums up close during my social volunteer phase, is an unambiguous 'not worth it'.

I do think we could work the white elephant towers degenerating and overtaken by homeless as a visual indicator of say, a Great Depression-ish severe prolonged unemployment that is spreading. Along the line of what Junna said above.

Or perhaps, a Policy by District, "slums/ homeless allowed". Some cities designate their squatter zones. Spawning visuals and props like burning drums, broken and disappeared window glass, colorful clothing lines...