A Neighborhood is a well defined subset of the city, where certain people or activities are drawn to each other. Neighborhoods are either flourishing or struggling.
A Boulevard is where the city's artistic and aesthetic offerings connect with individual citizens. Shops, eateries, arcades, and more offer visitors chances to spend money and time. A variety of sights, sounds, and smells attracts both tourists and locals.
A Boulevard is where the city's artistic and aesthetic offerings connect with individual citizens. Right now, people aren't there. Whether it's fallen from former glories, or nurturing an unblossomed seed of new ambition, it's not giving people a reason to come.
A Harbor is the home of trade and travel. It is a visitor's introduction to the city, and the city's commercial blood and breath.
A Harbor is the home of trade and travel, to and from the city. It is often the last sight a regretful traveler sees before leaving. Commercial transports - caravans, trains, or zeppelins - are run down, neglected, or underutilized.
The Marketplace is the commercial core of the city. It might include a rowdy labyrinth of vendors hawking their wares, a smoke-smothered block of forges and anvils where blacksmiths arm the soldiery, or warehouses full of grain or rice.
The Marketplace is the commercial core of the city. The vendors may be few and far between, the fires of the forge may lie extinguished, and farmers' crops may rot in warehouses - or be taken away at insultingly low prices.
The Sanctuary is a city within the city. It might be a walled-off enclave, a culturally distinct community, a gentrified neighborhood, a historical relic, or something else. Its shops, home, and infrastructure are self-sufficient, and aesthetically or culturally unique.
The Sanctuary is a city within the city. It might be an isolated enclave, a brow-beaten borough, a place to abandon the unwanted, or something else. A sanctuary can barely sustain its residents, whether due to lack of goods or intentional deprivation.
The Temple is devoted to the spiritual and religious elements of the city and its inhabitants. It might be a single colossal church, a network of holy places for every faith, or tiny shrines to tiny gods scattered across the city.
The Temple is devoted to the spiritual and religious elements of the city and its inhabitants. It might be a disgraced or amoral mega-church, a collection of squabbling rival churches, or the remnants of an older and forgotten belief system.
The Underground is what people don't see about the city. It might be literally underground, like sewers or burial chambers, or just necessary but boring infrastructure like aqueducts.
The Underground is what people don't want to see about the city. It is the filthy waterways and skull-strewn tombs. It has been abandoned or is being misused, and may be dangerous due to its inhabitants or simple neglect.
Uptown is the city's crown. It is home to the elite, including skilled creators, wealthy merchants, influential politicians, and beloved performers. Visitors might beseech an Uptown resident to fund their ventures, or seek their attention for some new idea or creation.
Uptown is the city's fallen crown. Bourgeoisie merchants with pretentions to greatness, shabby aristocrats fallen from favor, or forgotten influencers might all be found here, hunting for real power or comforting delusions.
The Warren is the hidden heart of the city. It is an organic tangle of alleyways, residences, nameless shops, side streets, historical buildings, and more. The things that make the city unique emerge from here unannounced.
The Warren is the hidden heart of the city. It is an impenetrable maze of dark alleys, boarded-up shops, narrow streets, ancient graveyards, and more. It is the city's secret suffering.