Overview

This project is a procedural city generation system developed as my undergraduate dissertation, exploring how large-scale urban environments can be generated dynamically and efficiently using algorithmic techniques. The system focuses on producing believable city layouts through road networks, zoning, and modular building generation, while maintaining performance suitable for real-time applications such as games and simulations.

The project investigates procedural generation as a solution to the high cost and time investment required to manually create expansive urban environments.

System Description

The city is generated entirely at runtime, with each execution producing a unique layout. The generation pipeline begins with road placement and expands outward into districts and building plots, forming the structural foundation of the city.

Buildings are generated procedurally using modular components, allowing variation in scale, orientation, and architectural features without manual authoring. The system is designed to be flexible and extensible, enabling changes to generation rules without restructuring the entire pipeline.

Key Features & Techniques

Road & City Layout Generation

• Procedural road network generation used to define city structure

• Road placement influences building orientation, spacing, and zoning

• Layout rules designed to produce readable, navigable urban spaces

Procedural Building Generation

• Modular building system allowing variation in height, footprint, and form

• Buildings adapt to surrounding roads and plots

• Geometry generated programmatically rather than placed manually

Zoning & District Logic

• City areas divided into functional zones to influence building style and density

• Zoning rules create visual variety and prevent uniform repetition

Performance & Scalability

• Designed to handle large numbers of buildings efficiently

• Generation structured to support real-time execution within Unity

• Focus on balancing visual complexity with runtime performance

Design & Research Focus

The project evaluates procedural generation as both a technical and design problem, addressing challenges such as repetition, scale, and visual coherence. Particular attention was given to maintaining city readability while allowing randomness to create variation.

The dissertation contextualizes this work within existing research in procedural urban modelling and real-time graphics, linking academic approaches to practical game development needs.

What This Project Demonstrates

• Strong understanding of procedural generation principles

• Experience designing complex generation pipelines

• Application of computational geometry concepts in a real-time engine

• Ability to translate academic research into practical systems

• Large-scale system design with performance considerations