This has been bugging me for quite some time now, have any of you noticed what looks like sidewalks close to houses? I have no idea why those are there since you can't ride horses in town and cars don't exist... So does anybody know what those things are or why they're there?

While the gameplay might not allow horses in the cities presumably the city planners weren't aware of that fact

I'm pretty sure the Imperial city isn't intended to be horse free within the lore and setting but it would have caused problems to allow horses there in the actual game.

Hey, Cyrodiil is a magical place. You never know what you may see. I figure the cities' builders were just thinking ahead. http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/Acadian6/ScreenShot483.jpg. :lmao:

To look pretty, plus alot of people like having frontage to keep clean and nose at the neighbours.

That said horses would be trotting around towns and cities in Oblivion, if it were not a game.
I can only guess that having horses enter cities would leave open having them enter caves as well.
Due to having either or entry points not both at the same time.
Which would either bug up the game or make it quite annoying in parts.
This however is all my own opinion nothing else.

Sidewalks were invented so that people didn't have to walk in the mud. It has little to do with horses.

There's a sidewalk and a street, and having horses being able to enter cities wouldn't be that complicated, they wouldn't be able to enter dungeons because the doors are usually to small, I'm sure there's a mod for that though, to bad I'm on xbox

Why not? It makes the towns look better in my opinion.

Check it out anything small or large can fit through a door, to enter another cell, thats why storm atronachs are both a boon and curse in caves.
Plus you have to be mounted to get the horse to go through, its your characters action they take into consideration always and size has little meaning.

I had a modded character recently who could not when mounted on the priory horse leave the stable due to height and the low croosbeam.
Add to that often I get a bugged mounting glitch when on a hill a near to boulders, thats resolved by FT...
Now imagine being in a cave unable to dismount, with no option to do anything that is one possible reason no horses are allowed in indoor cells.

It seems more natural to have a major road for carts and horses, and sidewalks to move out of the way.

It's just that Bethesda didn't get to the carts.

But a lot of architecture, in the real world, is often for aesthetic value and not necessarily for some practical use.

Mud. And horse pooh. I think horses, cows, sheep and all the other animals that were roaming the streets of ancient cities had quite a bit to do with the development of sidewalks. Not to mention the fact that there were no real sewer systems back in the day and people just emptied chamber pots out of their windows.

Then where the hell did Baurus send you in the the tutorial? Disney Land?

The thing is, people would dump refuse out their windows, so it'd land right on the sidewalks...

Shouldn't there be a pit with grates instead or something to drain fluids into the sewers? I sure hope that citizens don't have to use the sewer entrances just to empty their buckets...

I meant on Earth. But, the Imperial City is the only city in the game that appears to have a functioning sewer system. Have you read the Guide to Bravil? Doesn't sound like there are any sewers there.

edit - Here is a direct quote from the book: "Beggars and thieves lounge indolently on balconies overhanging the streets and dump their refuse directly upon the unfortunate passers-by ... " I don't think she's talking about emptying the kitchen garbage.

edit 2 - and another quote: "The climate is damp and the atmosphere foul because of the fetid channels of the Larsius River that serve as Bravil's sewers." So I don't think Bravil has anything resembling the sewers of the I.C.

You're right in the dumping part, but sewers have been around at least since the Roman empire...
York, London, Paris, Rome all have sewers dating long beyond any TES relevent timeline, they still dumped waste but expected it to wash down.
On a relevant note motor vehicles were considered an ecologically friendly alternative to horses, due to not having fecal waste spread all over.
Horse [censored] however was a prime source of fuel for houses, for cleaning hides for leather ( though dog [censored], and chicken crap was better ), and also used as fertiliser with human waste as well.
Many lower class people kept themselves fed by scauaging this and other foul detritus, even quite recently so, post war sometimes.

Edit: Tanners however were well paid, but had to live and work on the outskirts due to the aroma they carried with them.
And had some pretty nice / nasty tan lines up their arms.

Chorrol has sewers too, you can't access them, but you can see them in the mine next to the town.

Anyway, horses and other animals would in reality be in the towns, it's just not present in the game.

I really wish they'd at least add some carts or something, or make cities an exterior instead of an interior, I mean seriously why do we have to go past a loading screen to enter a city, I know it has something to do with the amount of items in a certain cell but I'm not saying the houses just the entrance to the city itself, I hope they have this in TES5,

Ancient Roman cities had sidewalks despite the fact that in most cities, delivery carts were only allowed to run in the city for limited periods of time during the day for safety as well as noise abatement reasons. Drainage systems similar to modern drains were typically incorporated into curbs.

Pavements, not sidewalks.

Pavements were created so that M'aique wouldn' be able knock people over with his uber, epic running. People use the pavement, while M'aique uses the road.

If you pay attention to the sound effects while in the Imperial City, you'll hear horses trotting on the streets and carts being pulled...

Which is odd when you consider that of all the major cities in Cyrodiil the Imperial City is least suited to horse transport. I'd go so far as to say it's totally unsuited. Almost every district has steps spanning each roadway at one or more point. Horses and carts would have difficulty with those steps. That being the case, how are supplies delivered to the various shops?

Lack of horses and/or other beasts of burden in the Imperial City can be easily justified from a role-play perspective, due to the very nature of the city. It's the jewel of Cyrodiil and administrative center of a mighty (?) empire. At one time it was a more-or-less open city with flat streets (no steps). Animals moved people and supplies with little hindrance. As the city grew in wealth and importance the sight and smell of animal droppings, along with the constant noise, became increasingly distasteful to an ever more urbane citizenry, who eventually banned their use altogether. Over time to city was compartmentalized into walled districts. Those formerly flat streets were paved and repaved, and those steps added, eventually becoming broad pedestrian thoroughfares no longer fit for hoofed traffic.

Of the lesser cities, I'd say Skingrad would be unlikely to allow unrestricted animal transport within its walls other than the passage between the two East and West gates. Their use in Cheydinhal would be somewhat restricted by those covered wooden bridges. Bruma's layout isn't very horse friendly...I can see them having limited use there. Leyawiin, Chorrol, Anvil, and even parts of Bravil seem better suited to horses. All cities, again excepting the Imperial City due to those steps, should realistically allow animal-drawn supply carts and/or wagons.

-Decrepit-

I agree. I makes everything neater and better looking. I'm sure back then, or in that time, horses where aloud and the street in that game where like the streets we have here. For transportation purposes and the sidewalks were for citizens to walk around and not get ran over.

I would of thought Skingrad would be rather horse-friendly, its streets aren't exactly narrow, theres no steps, and the roads aren't windy at all.

Like most other people have been saying, if it was IRL, the cities would have horses and carts and faecal matter on the streets, and you'll note that every city (bar Bravil) has a sewer system, which is obvious in Chorrol, because of the grating outside Northen Goods and Trade, and the fact that you can see them from crumbling mine.

To handle drainage,you won't have to walk in a flooded thoroughfare...use the sidewalk.

Duh! I meant to mention drainage in my first response, but ... :facepalm:

-Decrepit-