Visualising the LAPSSET Lamu Hinterland development Plan proposal

For many Cities xl is just another $40 video game for strategy game lovers..(which i happen to be too). But to me Citiesxl is much more than that…its a city building simulation game that i find one of the most useful tools in my brainstorming of urban ideas. in itself it is just a game, but by the fact that it is a fully moddable game (it can be modified as per user’s wish and with consent of the game developer) it becomes a very useful tool. To do that first one has to learn of course the modding of the terrain. So how useful is it for an urban designer/planner?how can one utilize it for real life examples?That is what we seek to explore in this 3d conceptual model of the LAPSSET lamu metropolis in cities xl.

First and foremost we had to create the terrain. this was achieved using DEM (digital elevation models) which were then converted into a heightmap and using citiesxl map editor patched into the game as a mod/patch file. for the texture of the map i used the JPC conceptual masterplan of lapsset and bing satelite imagery maps with the roads highlighted so as to be able to remap them in cities xl. the Lamu city we will build will be a new urban fabric and we will use citiesxl functionalities to analyse the city.