I feel like the large fantasy cities we design in our world building ignore the practical need for transportation to sustain a large city without cars, horses or the equivalent can make do but they can only move about 30 people at once, to move large amounts of people several miles, you need a transportation network. In this post I will explore various ideas to integrate good transit into a magical setting because honestly I just want to do that
First up we have powering a cable car via hydroelectric mills and their dams which have existed for centuries where the wheels pull the cable car up and down a hill or up and down stream of a river instead of being used to make clothes. Basically the Cable is moved by the power of the mill and that pulls the car around the city
Next up we have steam engines, yes they are a real thing but coal and wood exist in magical settings so for longer distance lines they are something to seriously consider. Maybe magic could be used to boil the water instead of coal making the steam white and clean instead of black and dirty.
One Idea I have is basically using subway tunnels but they use like a large insect or something thats walks around the tunnels with traincars on top so basically you step onto the car and hope that you get to your station as the bug scuttles around the tunnels, it's not really an efficient idea but I think it could be charming
Streetcars which are guided by magicians who manipulate the rails to create slight inclines or declines to move the trains and will bend the metal to create connections between rail lines instead of using switches
If you want to keep it simple a canal system with ferries being pulled by rowers or magic operating all across the canals is a good way to move people around the city if you want to take inspiration from cities like Amsterdam
For a floating city, consider using miniature airships powered by people controlling the wind with magic, this could veer into steampunk territory depending on the design of the ships but if you keep it simple it could have a unique fantasy look
A wide aqueduct across a city with a floating train running through it where magicians alter the flow of the water to move the floating train up and down stream
Maybe like ships that move through the dirt or sand roads of a city like water thanks to magic that makes the earth around the ship become liquid and turns it back into something solid as it leaves. People have to make sure to stay the sides as it passes and it creates an interesting hazard for protagonists new to the city
Little shuttles that move up and down the side of a mountain by harnessing the power of water flowing nearby to turn cranks to move it up and it would have parachutes or feathers to slow down the fall as it goes down the mountain
Harnessing the blood of a sleeping giant made of earth or the sap of an impossibly large tree to move vessals up and around an area could be really interesting to explore morally in a city
