Ethan surveyed the grouped buildings below from the top of the high ridge close to the town's northern slope. Crude roads wound through crooked rows of houses, constructed carelessly and without order, like rivers. Alleys were full of straggling chickens. In the open, wastewater trickled. This place required structure, not just new roofs and walls, if it was ever to prosper.
Ethan declared, "I want to lay everything out."
Lina, who had become more interested in his strategies, looked up. "Map?"
Indeed. streets. Blocks. public areas. farmland. Room for residences, marketplaces, and workshops. He gestured downward. "If it's just chaos, it can't grow."
She paused. "People won't like having their houses moved."
"I'm planning for the future, not demolishing what already exists."
Ethan drew his first draft on old parchment using chalk and charcoal. a basic grid with adjustments for water flow, sunlight, wind direction, and terrain. There is a circular plaza in the middle, a civic hub encircled by marketplaces, meeting rooms, and other buildings. Like spokes, roads would extend outward and intersect with broader lanes that delineated neighborhoods.
He explained his vision to doubtful villagers over the course of the next few days as he marked paths with ropes and pegs. Few initially understood, but their faces changed when he showed them where cleaner wells would be dug, where crops could grow next to houses, and where drainage would flow.
Elderly men gave a nod. Markers were carried by young boys. Lina assisted in painting symbols on the zones.
He was pulled aside by a town elder. "You seem to be reading the land."
Ethan grinned. "No. All I'm doing is listening to it.
That night, under lantern light, he worked on the first urban design blueprint for a sustainable town. streets with drainage and cart capacity in mind. trees that provide shade along major thoroughfares. There are public restrooms close to each block. even land reserved for rail lines and schools in the future.
It was no longer just rebuilding, it was rebirth.