City of Havana

Template:Infobox City Template Havana was a prominent city in the Survival 2 world. It was founded on September 2nd 2017, the same day the Survival 2 world was launched. It is located ~1500 blocks south of Spawn and can be easily reached via the railway track departing from Spawn Station. In Havana you’ll arrive at Grand Central Station which is the centre of the SRN (Survival Railway Network) and the NTN (Nether Transport Network). Havana also provides the basic needs for the starting player: food, wood, stone, maps (Great Survival Map project), enchanting, etc.

Style

The stylistic objective of Havana is to create a urban, dense and 'lived-in' city with a summery and welcoming atmosphere. There is no intention to replicate real life Havana, but several aspects have been used as inspiration.

Building topography regulations are in place to achieve this:

• Buildings must be built without gaps between them, unless otherwise discussed. Frequently, blind walls are required.
• Buildings must consider their surrounds before themselves.
• Multi-story buildings are recommended.
• Green-space should be limited and deliberate - 'spare' space should be occupied by urban features.

Aesthetic ideas are suggested to achieve this:

• Modern era - 19th and 20th architecture.
• 21st century, Art Deco, or Neo-Gothic elements may fit.
• Bright colours! Usually, through terracotta or concrete.
• Warm and summery palette/elements. Eg. Sandstone, parrots, palm trees, etc.

City Layout

Havana is generally designed to be as accessible as possible. Roads have clear view of where they go, and sewers provide boat travel. Character routes such as small paths and tunnels are usually left to inside of the blocks that roads create.

Most of Havana land is unclaimed. Various configurations of trust settings are created when wild land is built on. There are 3 areas which are more moderated, requiring explicit trust from a mayor to build in. These are:

City Centre

In the City Centre are basic facilities, as well as public buildings such as Grand Central Station, City Hall, SRN HQ, Art Gallery, Art Museum, Library, Post Office, and Department Store.

Very first sketch of Havana layout, by _edo, in June 2017

Industrial Area

This area houses the (automatic) farms you would expect to find in player bases, and provides those to the citizens of Havana, to be used in projects in the city. Citizens are trusted players who have helped out with certain building projects within the city.

Citizen Area

To be able to build here, you must have proven yourself to the city, by helping out with projects within it. Here you'll be able to find houses and role playing builds by Citizens. There is much more freedom of building in this area.

How to become a Citizen

Havana Citizenship requires a player to have built a building (or contributed to multiple) that can can be used or enjoyed by the public. This extends to most buildings in in the city that aren't for personal use.

Below is a step-by-step explanation of the Citizen application procedure:

• Read the Havana forum post and get yourself familiar with Havana’s building regulations - and aesthetics
• Talk to a Havana mayor or builder
• Join the Havana discord server. The mayor or builder will send you an invite.
• Decide on a public build you’d like to realise in Havana and suggest it on the Havana discord server
• Design your build project in a creative world and show screenshots in Havana discord
• Build it.
• When complete, let everyone know in the Havana discord server.

History

Conception

Havana was conceptualized in June 2017 primarily by _edo, with Brianetta and darparniox. The city was born as a response to the wider Spawn area, after the trio held frustrations during the building of Spawn Station as a SRN delegation. Havana was intended to be a much more practical and cohesive settlement than Spawn.

Plans for the city centre were refined and building styles experimented with in the following month. Skelleton123 and then Aeghu were recruited in this process and the city centre was almost entirely finalized by mid-August and ready for Survival 2 launch.

Early Days and the New Year

Survival 2 launched on the 2ⁿᵈ of September and construction of the city began immediately. The central plaza, Noob Square, and a temporary base underneath was the first to be built. The iconic 'Ren on a hill' statue, Grand Central Station, and Havana City Hall were all complete or close to it nearing the end of September. Activity had begun in the desert industrial area of the city. Two iron farms were built by marbou9, who became the first citizen of the city and would join the city council soon after.

Before the end of the year, the recognizable Promenade was built, as well as the beginnings of the city block alongside it, with many urban builds, such the El Floridita cafe. Three brothers, herocreep221, heroblaze224 and ScaryMJDiamcreep built an awkward cookie factory in the north which was remedied somewhat by a design overhaul. A zoo further west had been laid out with some inhabitants, bathhouses built, and the first embassy of the world built by the Akkaran mayors.

Building activity was steady but slowly declining in the following four months. Large builds included botanical gardens that were built next to the zoo, the SRN's Headquarters in the city centre, Havana Library opened, as well as the Art Museum with all minecraft paintings.

Post Base-tour Rush

First server base tours for Survival 2 with ReNDoG were recorded on the 21ˢᵗ of April. The Havana base tour was the first video to be released onto Youtube on the 24ᵗʰ and created one of the biggest new player rushes in server history. Much of the attention of was on Havana itself and the city became a hive of activity from new and existing players, and buildings under construction at any one time exceeded five for weeks. The resulting months builds included significant expansion to the western roadside and police, hospital and fire buildings, the addition of the slums, two roman builds in the east, a large hotel at the northern end of the city, Havana map art gallery, what is believed to be the server's first phantom shelter, and water treatment facility, among other builds. During this time, a writing competition was also run through the Havana Library, by Sam_Argos.

Through June, July and August activity steadied but was still constant, as newer citizens grew into the city community. During this period, much of city activity was catch-up work and tying loose ends from the previous busy period.

Later Stages and Survival 3

The latter stages of the Survival 2 world saw a revival of activity from the older members of the city, adding to and generally finishing up old projects. The Havana fortress was expanded and walls built, and the Department Store finally furnished. A long-planned post office was built, and several city blocks received buildings with the intention of completing them. The large minecraft version building was constructed. A long time after the other two had been banned, the final cookie company brother resurfaced and caused angst among the city council, which was partially resolved with trust arrangements. A treasure hunt was held to mark the 1ˢᵗ anniversary of the city, with good attendance.

Activity in the city continued until the final day of Survival 2. The Hydropolian embassy was completed only 12 hours before the closure of the world. Final goodbyes were sent and citizen pictures were made on impromptu seating in the final week.