To illustrate their ideas. The goal of those concepts arts was to show us deforestation thing, not the roads.
When creating concept arts, artists are not concerned by game limitations.
Very well put, thank you!
Yes, these are concept artworks that were created during the initial concept phase for the game jam. Their primary purpose is to give us a feel for the scenario/setting we're working on and to visualize some of the ideas we put in writing. These are done all the time when we're creating new content for an Anno game (and ofc when creating the game itself).
As with all concept art, this does not mean that what's getting developed in the end will look just like this - but it is possible that some of these early ideas might make it into the final thing.