Number and Types of Buildings in RPG Communities

[annadobritt]

I've been working on a couple of projects that have to do with communities (cities, towns, villages, hamlets) and have a question maybe someone can answer.

Does anyone know of a source that gives how many buildings are in a community compared to the population? Also, what would be the percentage of a non-adult population?

I know that some buildings served as both a residence and a business, and other buildings would hold a number of families and individuals, but trying to figure this out is driving me nuts!

I already know about the Medieval Demographics spreadsheets that are out there.

So if anyone knows of a source please let me know.


Now, here's what I came up with:


After two nights of mind-boggline and brain-draining work, I came up with the following to determine the numbers and types of buildings in a community and how to divide up the population between them. The small city of Naorlat is what I'm using for the population number.

First I found the followinginformation in the Harper Collins Atlas of World History:

Córdoba 814ad

Population approx. 500,000
471 mosques
213,077 houses for workers and traders
60,000 residences for officials and courtiers
80,455 shops

Divide 354,003 by 500,000 to get 71%. I use the 71% to figure out how many buildings there should be based on the population.

Types of Buildings:

60% Houses and farms, orchards, etc.
23% Shops and Businesses
14% Nobles and Officials residences
3% Temples, shrines, arenas, barracks, etc

43% of population lives in houses
26% of population lives on farms, etc
15% of population lives in manors, mansions, etc
13% of population lives above or behind businesses
3% of population lives in temples, guilds, universities, barracks, etc.

The following numbers come from the Naorlat population of 7215 (small city)

# of Buildings

3073 Houses and farms
1178 Shops and Businesses
717 Mansions and Manors
154 Temples, shrines, guilds, barracks, etc.

Population breakdown for buildings

3103 of population lives in houses
1876 of population lives on farms, etc
1082 of population lives in manors, mansions
938 of population lives above or behind businesses
216 of population lives in temples, guilds, universities, barracks etc.

Does anyone think these are believable numbers for communites in RPGs?

Anna M. Dobritt
FFN Staff
Freelance Cartographer

 

[Tonguez]

I'm no expert but your Manor/Mansion population is perhaps a little high - unless you are including all the staff and servants in that figure

Also isn't 154 Temples, Guilds etc a lot for a city of 7000 people?

 

[Star Gazer]

Combination Housing

I dunno Tonguez... the %s seem to be spot on...I would assume that people living in a 'Manor' house would include the servants, since some of them 'do' live there.

That's some very effective research there! You're going to make some nicely accurate maps!

As for the number of temples et. al., I would have to agree: Pick up a phone book and count how many churches you find in a particular city...dozens in even a smallish city like here in Fairfax, VA (population 50K).

People were, if anything, even more religious in the ancient past, I would expect that not having conveinent transportation (like cars) would further increase the number of 'temples' or local guild halls or whatever, since it is basic human nature not to want to walk any farther than you absolutely have to.

Just from thinking about it for a few moments, I would expect those numbers to be even higher.

The only problem I see with those numbers is the one about people living in 'combination' housing: Stores below, house above. That seems to be unbelievably low, just take a look a London or Paris in the late middle ages or rennasaince or today: Land costs have historically been so high in cities that it made very little sense to have a seperate house unless you were really rich. In the countryside, it made even less sense to have seperate workplaces and homes, unless there was a specific reason for it: Tanner, Blacksmith, Miller, etc.

As for the non-adult population, I wouldn't take it out of the population count, you're likely to end up with some very non-sensical percentages, like 38% of the population lives on farms and 80% of them are childeren.

You have to remember that the idea that a child is not just a little adult is less than a hundred years old...10 years old for boys, for all intents and purposes WAS an adult, 12-14 for girls (there's a rather delicate, and obvious, physiological reason for this distinction though).

As for actual percentages, I would go to www.census.gov to see what population age demographics are for the poorest 10% of the US population are (simulates the condtitions of yesteryear quite nicely), consider anything above the age of 11 to be an adult and get a % to add on to the population from there...hope that made some sense..

Good work though!

My 2bits.

 

[annadobritt]

Thanks for the input, Stargazer and Tonguez. I really appreciate it.

I did include the servants in the number for the Mansions and manors, since most servants lived there.

I'll be refining the numbers and I will check the census site.

I thought of using the 10% to 40% mentioned in the DMG for the non-adult population, but didn't know how to go about it.

This is on page 137.

"Depending on the dominant race of the community, the number of nonadults will range from 10% to 40% of this figure."

When I refine my work, I will post it here. I've also had some input on a couple of other lists where I posted this information.

Thanks again for the help.

Anna M. Dobritt
FFN Staff
Freelance Cartographer