L'Anneau-Monde

The idea of an enormous artificial ring as a habitat is so unique—I'm curious whether Larry Niven envisioned it from the start or developed it during writing.

The world-building is so detailed and vast that I wondered if the scope made it harder to connect with the characters at times. How did others experience this?

Some concepts feel ahead of their time, while others seem dated. Did the technological ideas influence real-world science or just stay in fiction?