So pretty much i am researching, how cities start, from the very first road/railroad track built, and their progression and expansion down to skyscrapers next to sky scrapers.

However, I am obviously not very knowledgeable here. So any assistance, help, or pointing in the right direction will be greatly appreciated!

I am looking for:

  • Good Resources
    • Chronological timeline of road development (demographics showing buildings is a PLUS!) of a city, preferably close to the beginning stages.


  • Proper Tools
    • Ive been using paper maps with overlays of terrain elevation printouts from google maps, but aligning scale and even time is a PAIN... And using overlays of tracing paper to sketch out sages...
      • Maybe an easier way to do this?

    • Any alternatives to 3DEM? Seems its development has ceased. I know of terragen, DispGen, and TerraConv ....

  • Proper Terminology
    • I'm getting close but i have yet to really nail the term for what i am looking for. Something related to Urban Morphology and morphological evolution of a city...

  • Background
    • I know why they start (desired land/resources), i know what sustains their development (local resources, imported goods), i even know what shapes the development (terrain, distance from resources) i just dont know HOW they start? lets go back to say... pioneer time of horse drawn carriages.
      • Does it start with a use beaten path from the first settlers? Which leads to a finished/paved/NAMED road. Which leads to a small down (e.g. "Perfection Valley" from the Movie series "Tremors"). Which leads to a railroad track being lain? Which then leads to mass immigration and settlement?




Sorry had to type this post up twice... Never the same or as well done as the first time. -_- The one time i dont save backups of a post damn browser crashes...