Why do we like cities? Wouldn’t we be
more happy living in a cabin in the
mountains maybe for some however the
reason we like them so much is because
cities are complex
cities give us a new place to explore
cities are a symbol of economic
opportunity and a fresh start ladies and
gentlemen my name is matt i work in
project management in the field of
architectural engineering and in this
video i’m going to be showing you how to
plan a minecraft city before we get
started if you could hit the like button
for the youtube algorithm it makes it so
i can make more videos like this in the
future i would also ask that while
watching if you enjoy this content
please consider subscribing
this video will be referencing the city
of andia on cubed community which was
planned and still in the process of
being built by myself and the team on
cube community you can visit the city
using the ip on the screen
this is the same city reviewed by
corrales andy’s yoda and city beautiful
dave from city beautiful is a real urban
planner and i highly recommend his
videos
links to their channels are in the
description if you do check them out be
sure to leave a comment saying alpine
sent me
the city of andia is built in cubed pack
so please download the texture pack in
the description before you explore it in
game
india has an urban planning document
used to develop the city messy cities
are not pleasant to look at so the
better plan the city is the better it
will turn out
every great city should have a vision
statement india’s vision statement is
the goal of andea is to be a walkable
atmospheric realistic contemporary city
in the downtown core with various styles
of architecture set in zones around the
city
many sections of andia are inspired by
real world cities such as toronto
vancouver barcelona marseille and los
angeles the very first step is to
determine the type of map you’re going
to use personally i find an island works
best
world painter is a free program used to
generate custom minecraft worlds and is
the go-to software for professional
minecraft city builders
please only use superflat if you intend
to build incredibly tall towers please
keep in mind that there is a 256 block
height limit in-game
some of the tools that you’re going to
use while building your city are google
maps google street view and different
urban planning documents if you are
playing on a java creative server they
likely have a plug-in called dynamic map
this is incredibly helpful for planning
large projects and roads
india is planned around sustainability
which affects the number of roads size
of the public transportation network and
the general feel of the city
considerations should be made regarding
the climate what climate are you in
temperate tropical use your real-life
city references to find out what type of
trees and greenery they have in that
area
another feature of andea is that it has
a proactive response to homelessness
with significant social safety nets and
infrastructure projects in place
such infrastructure projects include
communal housing scattered throughout
the city
india also has limits on house and
apartment sizes to prevent significant
price inflation if you don’t control the
prices of housing it will skyrocket and
become a city for the rich if it becomes
a city for the rich no one will want to
work the lower paying jobs for the
simple reason of not being able to
afford the cost of living
road networks are an essential part of
any modern day city i recommend five
block wide lanes plus one for road
dividers however you can have smaller
roads for lower density residential
areas
cars are typically three wide and larger
vehicles such as buses or trucks are
four to five the absolute maximum slope
should be five run per one rise on hills
where you have no other choice otherwise
aim for a one to twenty ratio
when making a sloped road gradually
slope the roads into the hill do not go
from flat directly into a steep road
your roads need to make sense if you
think your road network is confusing
have a friend try and navigate it keep
in mind where your citizens live where
they work and how they will commute if
you are on an island you can assume
there’s a mainland somewhere nearby
outside the map
india assumes there is a mainland to the
west and two bridges and international
checkpoints are planned for the north
and south end of the island you should
not have a crazy amount of highways
going through your city one or two
through the edge of the city is fine
however try and avoid having them
through central areas if you need to
have one through your city try and hide
it you can use trees have it lowered or
raised cover it with buildings or
greenery another option is to have a
loop around the exterior of the city a
highway loop can be very effective when
mixed with public transportation by
minimizing the use of highways and roads
your city’s citizens have two options
they can either move to another city or
use public transportation you’d better
hope your public transportation
infrastructure is top notch this will be
discussed later in the video
interchanges are used when one highway
switches to another the key point of
interchanges is to make it so vehicles
never have to stop
exit ramps are used when you want to
exit a highway onto a much slower street
please ensure you have sufficient length
to join and exit these ramps
weave lanes are also very helpful for
constricted spaces it drives me insane
when large highways turn into an
intersection please don’t do this use
exit ramps
highways should have a bare minimum turn
radius of 100 blocks realistically
engineers will try and avoid tall to ram
impossible
if you have to go through mountains
having your highway curving through
valleys is much more pleasant to look at
rather than tunnels all the way through
significant elevation changes may also
require a split of the divided highway
or having one side higher than the other
if your highway is near buildings please
use a sound barrier or trees to block
the noise
personally i prefer trees since they are
green and provide much more texture to
the cityscape
a great way to decorate highways is to
have overhead signs speech signs highway
information signs exit signs truck
weighing stations and toll booths
another benefit of toll booths is that
it creates an incentive for citizens to
take public transportation
bike lanes and trails are imported to
keep your city happy and healthy
well-designed bike lanes have a clean
unobstructed path aside from street
light intersections
overhead pedestrian and bike lane
bridges are a fantastic addition to any
city
if you have bike lanes near roads mark
them with green pavement please have
some sort of divider between cars and
bikes this technique prevents accidents
you may use planters greenery trees or
almost anything else you’d like
split paint markings should be used when
crossing a perpendicular road
for main trails it is nice to split up
the walking and biking trails to give
more space
the biggest takeaway is keep the bike
lanes and trails separate and
uninterrupted when possible bus lanes
and transportation only roads are
important in major cities you can plan
for bus lanes to be shared with bikes
since buses make frequent stops
make sure you plan out your bus routes
before you build them in real life bus
routes get really complex really quick
however a simple planning technique is
to have buses that run north south and
other buses that run east west obviously
this may change depending on the
orientation of your roads
andea uses a red texture for bus lanes
and has bust lane symbols for the actual
buses if your city is large having
double length or two floor types on the
main roads makes the city feel more
dynamic
transportation and emergency vehicle
only roads are also very useful having
them in ground provides separation from
regular traffic which makes public
transportation significantly faster for
main roads please do not have them on a
coastline have them set back from the
coastline and use it wisely in heavily
populated areas you may artificially
extend the coast do not spam the city
with major roads space them out and have
smaller roads connecting them since main
roads carry more traffic it is likely
that there will be more pedestrians
therefore is a good idea to have
on-street parking as well as first-floor
shops do not have random turns in your
main roads for no reason it looks very
messy and poorly planned a good
technique is to use one or two lane
roundabouts for potentially congested
roads
for vehicle bridges don’t have huge
suspension bridges for small crossings
keep them realistic
grid networks are commonly used in north
american cities i recommend having no
more than five to eight city blocks in a
row before a change otherwise the city
will become very boring very quick
real cities can get away with breaking
this rule because there is no render
distance limit in real life it is useful
to have a road occasionally on a
diagonal or on a curve to break up a
city
large cities using grid networks will
often have smaller access roads behind
buildings for deliveries and garbage
collection
some of these roads go through the whole
block others only a bit this allows the
main grid network to look pretty and
keeps the mechanics hidden out of sight
styling your roads will make them look
amazing india’s road markings are based
on a typical north american city
white lines for same way traffic and
yellow lines for opposite way traffic
major to mid-sized non-highway roads for
public use should always be lined with a
blend of medium or tall trees smaller
trees may also be used but don’t have
them so low that they block the driver’s
line of sight
don’t spam them have just enough so your
citizens feel enclosed but not
overwhelmed
trees give a player-sized perspective to
your city and amplify the true size of
buildings
main roads should always include
overhead street lights alternating on
each side of the road spaced at 30 to 40
blocks per side
adding banners on streetlights also adds
a lot of texture to the human scale
brass strips should be placed along
every road unless there is a significant
space constraint the edge of the
sidewalk adjacent to the road should be
roughly 50 to 80 grass with your choice
of one meter tall greenery with the
occasional tall fern
please do not make your greenery two
blocks tall unless your goal is to
completely separate the street and
sidewalk i recommend a mix of grass two
types of leaves ferns one or two types
of white flowers and one or two similar
colored flowers
main roads should also be decorated with
benches garbage cans fire hydrants
planters with greenery different signs
crosswalks and bus stops where needed
on-street parking should always be used
in areas with high pedestrian density
such as shopping areas downtown sections
or tourist attractions
please be careful with your greenery
near street parking people need to get
from the sidewalk to their cars
little details help such as parking
meters parking signs or disability only
parking spaces parking meters should be
placed one for every two parking spots
power lines may be used in mid or low
density areas please do not use them in
high density areas pretend they are
underground
the underground metro should be planned
to serve frequent stops throughout the
city depending on the size of the city
you can have somewhere between one to 15
metro lines andea has four metro lines
one light rail transit loop and one
intercity train line
also a pro tip go into spectator mode
and fly underground to make it much
easier to plan and build underground
networks
anything underground should be planned
around the metro network do not
interrupt it
you can also have metro lines that go
below water provided the water isn’t too
deep
above ground monorails light rail
transits or magnetic levitation trains
are a great method of transportation and
it also makes your city more dynamic
these lines should be used in
conjunction with the underground metro
and act as a high speed version of the
metro
these trains should be slightly larger
than metro trains and should make less
frequent stops
a general rule of thumb for every five
metro stops there should be one above
ground train stop at the same station
this planning technique makes it so that
these trains are used for quick transit
while the metro is to get you to your
final destination
if planned correctly it will be
significantly faster to take public
transportation rather than drive
creating a greener and more sustainable
city the greater toronto area is a
fantastic example of this concept
you should plan this above ground train
in a loop around your city connecting
the midsections of each outline metro
line
india has an underground intercity train
in the central park area attached to one
of the main metro and light rail transit
stations these trains should either have
one or two stops in your city at major
stations before heading out into the
distance
make your city walkable if you can’t see
lots of detail in an 8 chunk render
distance it is too spread out
you can have large buildings but in
areas where you have sidewalks
everything on the ground should be human
scaled this means don’t spread out a
bunch of buildings
you should have small trees benches
trash cans and other things the same
size as your player
dedicate a section of your city for
downtown industrials airport and single
family residential if you want
here are the current districts in india
with lots more on the way we currently
have northern marina southern marina
central district financial district
bellevue expo industrial hidden hills
and north point if you really want your
city to be great you should write a page
or two about the city’s history please
be creative with this india’s history
goes something like this the andean
people have lived on the island for
centuries however french settlers
invaded the archipelago from 1896 to
1904. the french built a port city in
what is now southern marina there was a
canadian occupation from 1922 to 1930
and plenty of industrial buildings were
built however many of them were
destroyed in world war ii
legend has it that canada’s prime
minister at the time invaded the andean
archipelago because quote it was too
cold in canada
buildings from both these occupations
can still be found around the city
during these two invasions the andean
people built a vast network of bunkers
connected by underground tunnels in the
northern mountains which is now a
tourist attraction
between the end of the canadian
occupation in 1930 and the end of world
war ii in 1945 india saw little economic
growth as it was recovering from the two
occupations and damages of world war ii
however after the end of the war india
saw an exponential growth in finance
manufacturing and higher education
institutions
this led to a significant increase in
trade tourism and construction
now that your city has a history we can
use that to develop the architectural
styles of each district let’s use andia
as an example the financial district
uses a contemporary modernist and
generally canadian style taking
inspiration from toronto and vancouver
it has lots of white gray and blue
towers defined by a significant amount
of glass facades curtain walls and white
balconies following a parametric design
a grid road structure with access roads
is used in this area
the towers are relatively uniform in the
vertical direction which signifies order
and control
lower brick buildings are included to
add warmth
northern marina is a contemporary
canadian style district
it is defined by white black and grey
towers uses bricks for lower portions of
towers and row homes and includes a
significant amount of first floor retail
shops and on-street parking
it also includes a cruise terminal that
proudly hosts minecraft’s two biggest
cruise ships
if you visit them beware because they
will easily lag out your computer
central district uses a blend of styles
such as contemporary french and eastern
north american architecture this
district contains andia central park
which has the coolest sign you’ll ever
see
there are lots of low rises but the west
end also includes mid and high rises to
make central park feel enclosed
southern marina is a southern french and
southeastern spanish style with a
contemporary twist in places
it generally follows a warm orange
glowing feel blended with green trees
blue water and white contemporary
structures
corrales and andy zioda noted that the
city felt cozy and atmospheric
this is a carefully planned design
element using a warm color palette and
the feeling of enclosure from the french
style buildings boats on the water and
the marina as it angles inwards it was
well planned to be a walkable human
scaled and overall comfortable area
making it a fantastic tourist attraction
we have plenty more districts in the
city but i’ll leave those for you to
explore
height maps are important because they
make the city feel like one entity
rather than a bunch of scattered
buildings if we look at real life
examples we can see cities generally
follow a line here is toronto and here’s
new york city
random placement of high-rises in
non-designated areas results in a
chaotic and uncoordinated look
the density of your district should be
directly related to the building heights
unless it is a historic area
if you have an airport planned for your
city make sure there are no tall
buildings that may be in the way of
landing or departing aircraft
in this picture from the urban planning
document the red signifies taller
buildings orange is medium and yellow is
medium low
having a city of only skyscrapers is
terrible for pedestrians if you do this
i will personally shame you
when planning an area for high-rises
don’t have two high-rises blocking each
other’s view have them set up diagonally
to make it feel a little more open
please remember height maps indicate an
average billing height please include
lots of low-rises and mid-rises to add
texture to your high-rise areas
view corridors are an advanced urban
planning method used to deliver a
top-notch city
view corridors are a planned path of
empty space through an urban area which
ends with a focal point
they are carefully planned and should be
protected
many real-life cities use this usually
to focus on buildings or a natural
landmark
having specific bylaws for builders and
parts of the city can help a lot
consider using the stepped style of
building where instead of a one-wall
skyscraper you simply stagger the
building backwards as it goes up
this will make the build feel much
taller than it actually is make your
city more complex give it more texture
and most importantly not block sunlight
on the street
using point towers also does wonders
point towers are commonly found in
vancouver and consist of a base with the
tower set on top
these bases are usually two to five
floors and can be shops office spaces
townhouses or anything else that would
make the city feel more engaging to
pedestrians
now that you have planned your city we
can talk more about the little details
because they are just as important if
not more
here are some general tips
if you have world edit use it i have a
basic world edit tutorial coming soon so
hit that subscribe button
even if you don’t play on a server
single player world edit on java is
really easy to install
make your city have elevation changes
make it feel enclosed use retaining
walls and slight inclines don’t make
your city one big hill
elevation changes should use stairs for
pedestrians
concrete is commonly used however don’t
use it in excess a good tip is to cover
the concrete with greenery
it is also great if you use these
elevations to frame a focal point
urban parks are a fantastic way to keep
people happy i also have another video
regarding that
try to avoid empty view corridors keep
render distance in mind india is planned
for a maximum of 32 chunks but if you
use optifine you can have up to 64 which
makes for great screenshots
keep a relatively consistent color
scheme throughout districts and use
other colors as accents colors affect
moods so use them wisely
green makes you comfortable orange gives
off warmth and blue gives a sense of
calmness
mix these three together to create a
fantastic city
for roads and paths use diagonals and
curves remember when in doubt use a
squared plus b squared equals c squared
yes your eighth grade math teacher was
right the pythagorean theorem has useful
real life applications
be careful when you make diagonal roads
diagonal buildings look great but are
significantly harder to build
filler buildings are essential cities
with too many iconic buildings look
messy
these filler buildings don’t have to be
bland but keep them relatively
repetitive and blocky for the top
seventy percent
for the scale of buildings you should
have a minimum of four block high
ceilings otherwise you will not be able
to fit interior details
you should have a minimum of two blocks
between floors unless we are clever and
use trap doors on the ceiling
this allows you to place lighting on the
ceiling without affecting the floor
above
make your city feel alive use cars
trucks buses trains other city vehicles
cranes planters benches smaller
pedestrian lights garbage cans signs
small advertisements places for bikes
markets tables and chairs with umbrellas
small patches of greenery food trucks
helicopter pads and bus stops my
favorite way to get inspiration for
street decorations is to use google maps
trees trees trees greenery is essential
cities without greenery are terrible
types of trees that you should have are
small narrow trees such as palm trees
tall narrow trees medium sprawling trees
for density small sprawling trees for
texture and small bushes
you should build 10 to 20 tree templates
and use them throughout your city
if you use default trees in your city i
will find you and i will pelt you with
timbits yes that is a threat
use patterns ground patterns and open
spaces can be an effective way to get
scale
use one texture pack personally i think
cubed pack is the best for java city
building there’s a link in the
description
cube’s pack also uses biome dependent
textures which allows for more blocks
than your average resource pack
spread hidden gems throughout your city
hidden gems are often the best part of a
city
andea has more than one underground
nightclub hidden in some really weird
spots see if you can find some
fields inspired by real life can add a
lot to your city however i would
recommend staying away from very iconic
buildings such as the cn tower
some ideas for you to include in your
city are
medium and large parks border crossings
airports hospitals police stations fire
stations government buildings schools
universities small urban parks different
types of parking such as above ground
underground and parking garages and much
more
for large cities aside from street side
parking please avoid above ground
parking lots 95 percent of the time they
are ugly and terrible
some inspiration sources for your city
include google maps google street view
exploring andia and game pinterest and
instagram cough cough follow me overall
if i only had to give a few pieces of
advice i would say
one make the city feel human scaled
using small details like trees and
benches
two make it complex and lay out a plan
before you start and three stick to a
theme and only vary the architectural
style when changing districts
above all when in doubt use google maps
ladies and gentlemen thank you all for
watching please hit the like button for
the youtube algorithm so i can make more
videos like this in the future
if you want to help build in the city of
mandia you can join cubed community
using the ip on the screen
once you are in game you can apply for
builder by typing forward slash apply
and following the instructions
once you are granted the rank of builder
and have demonstrated sufficient
building skill you may ask staff to
build an india
everyone including guests have access to
full world edits even if you are not a
builder you can still have a plot in the
guest plot world to improve your skills
