Cracks knuckles.
Let me tell you about the history of their world which I have developed to explain Shinra's rise to power...
Nah I'm kidding I wouldn't inflict that on you.
An eagle eyed fanfic friend over on tumblr noticed this:
One of the NPCs in Sector 5 near the Community Center remarks: “You know my grandfather helped build the plate!” This dude is probably at least 70 or so, and it was his grandpa doing the building. That’s two generations ago.
Guys. The oldest sections of the Plate are nearly 100yrs old!
Canon Timeline cluster notwithstanding, that would put the earliest sections of the plate c1900. And the architecture of various areas backs this up.
She did a whole analysis of the different architectural styles and their comparative age. Given the loving attention to detail lavished on the air conditioners, I would not be at all surprised to find that the artists who designed Midgar did their research and want us to draw some conclusions regarding Midgar's age and history.
Two of the things I was hoping to see going on in the background of the open world were railways and roads. The party's need to avoid detection is sufficient to explain why they don't travel on the roads or railways; alternatively, they can get the buggy earlier. Or whatever.
I really love how in under-Midgar all the sectors are walled off from each other. Divide and rule! But of course the slums dwellers have blown holes in the walls or tunnelled under them, and Shinra seems unwilling, or uninterested, or incapable of cracking down. Probably all three.
In the OG, it was implied or maybe even stated that Midgar was once seven villages and Shinra built its city on top of them. They have forgotten their names, but they are still attached to their land. Those lines are gone from the remake, and yet we see some architecture in the slums, such as Aerith's church, which is clearly a remnant of better days.