tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post4540151728940565104..comments2024-03-22T03:59:39.188-07:00Comments on Dive into Worldbuilding: Psychogeography? What's that? An enormously rich worldbuilding topicJuliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-5901260297559135752011-09-09T19:54:36.073-07:002011-09-09T19:54:36.073-07:00Great post! Thank you.Geography influencing people...Great post! Thank you.<br><br>Geography influencing people and their culture makes complete sense. <br><br>I grew up in a spoke-and-wheel town, similar to DC. For a planned city, that system is ridiculous (especially when streets change names every few intersections...who's bright idea was that?). I have no sense of direction and I am now blaming it on my hometown.theemptypenhttp://theemptypen.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-59479788975598446752011-08-31T22:09:53.042-07:002011-08-31T22:09:53.042-07:00I hear you on US malls not being built with pedest...I hear you on US malls not being built with pedestrians in mind. When I was a child, I spent a year in the US with my parents and my mother insisted on walking to the local mall, because that's what you did in Germany. You walked to places less than approx. two kilometers away. Only that the mall had never been designed for pedestrian traffic and we had to always had to cross a sort of wilderness, often in 100 degree heat. <br><br>I fell afoul of the same situation, also with regard to US malls, years later as a teenager. I was visiting relatives in the US who had kindly dumped me off at a suburban mall. There was another mall within sight distance, so I thought, "What the heck! I'll go there. I don't even have to call my aunt, I can get there on foot." But even though mall No. 2 was in sight distance, there were two big mall parking lots, a Target store with a big parking lot and a road between malls 1 and 2. A road that didn't have a pedestrian crossing at that. I eventually made it to mall 2, but only after clambering through hedges and nearly getting run over while crossing the road. My aunt was utterly surprised that I had walked there at all.<br><br>As for cities with a grid layout, the idea that cities have a clearly defined grid layout does not apply to most European cities at all, which mostly have a sort of circular or starburst layout. Meanwhile, you can still tell from the street layout where the old city walls and ramparts used to be in many European cities, including my hometown, even if the city wall itself was torn down 200 years ago.Corahttp://corabuhlert.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-54901066059741965372011-08-31T13:32:54.756-07:002011-08-31T13:32:54.756-07:00The area's terrain influences the routes and r...The area's terrain influences the routes and roads, too. If you're building on the Salt Flats of Utah, it's pretty easy to put in most any layout you wish. But, you'll still have to connect it to the outside world which probably offer access at relatively few points.<br><br>Look at a Google road map of the Los Angeles area and you'll see quite a few blank areas. Why? Use the terrain or satellite view and you'll find hills/mountains.<br><br>Lakes, rivers and other bodies of water offer obstacles. If you've got a nice lake, there's probably a frontage road at least running around it; the rest of the grid might be "logical."<br><br>Old trade routes followed the contours of the land. Railroads have the constraints of low-angle slopes.<br><br>All these fun and games!Bruce H. Johnsonhttp://www.freespirituniverse.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937390557356997344.post-75586121448587420402011-08-31T12:47:38.325-07:002011-08-31T12:47:38.325-07:00Wow, fascinating indeed, Autumn. Thanks for tellin...Wow, fascinating indeed, Autumn. Thanks for telling me about it.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.com