Bartopolis

[jacqulina 162]

nice region pic

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

The city of Bartopolis is taking shape....

 

....time to share a story

 

and we begin with.....

history

 

In its time as a walled city Bartopolis has grown in 3 stages. Traces of the old defense lines of the different stages can still be found...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Heuvel-history.jpg align=baseline>

The oldest part of the city lies on the east side of Bartopolis hill. It was completely surrounded by a stone wall. Currently only the east wall still stands and forms a popular tourist attraction. The streets in this area are mostly south to north, parallel to the height lines of the hill.

The city expanded to the west. Instead of a stone wall, a city moat was built. It now functions as a canal.

The Saint Bart cathedral was built on the exact location of the old west gate of the city. Apart from the beautiful boulevard in front of the cathedral, street patterns are chaotic and curvy.

In the past most construction was done in wood. Several city fires destroyed those buildings and new buildings in stone replaced them.

The next wave took the city to the river. Not only the city but also the nation grew. Many palaces and government buildings rose up to control the nation and show off the wealth and prosperity.

The introduction of industrialisation and railroads eventually took the city far beyond its walls.

 

Stay tuned for some detailed pics of the inner city...

 

 

 

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

 

This is the oldest part of the city: the east side of Bartopolis Hill...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705heuveldefense.jpg align=baseline>

 

The Heuvel garderns....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705heuveleastgardens.jpg align=baseline>

 

This is the oldest church...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705oldchurch.jpg align=baseline>

 

A little overview over the south side of this part of the old town. And talk about overview... The old tower on the left is situated on the highest point of Bartopolis. You have a nice view over the city from there. I recommend a visit, even though there are some buildings towering much higher over the city....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705heuveleast.jpg align=baseline>

 

Philip Johnson high school managed to squeeze in some sports facilities in the dense and slopy old town.....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705philipjohnsonhigh.jpg align=baseline>

 

This is an area from the second growth phase of the city. The cathedral right on top of the old west gate.  Saint Bart Boulevard runs down to the west and ends at the theatre district...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705heuvelmid.jpg align=baseline>

 

Saint Bart cathedral...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705saintbart.jpg align=baseline>

 

A monument on Saint Bart Boulevard reminds of an ancient war victory...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705saintbartblvd_mon.jpg align=baseline>

 

The rest of Bartopolis Hill is just little streets that bend and curve and go up and down... Not very comfortable in a bus ride. But with lack of parking space, and cycling not really an alternative with all this uphill and downhill and only one metro line under this part of town.... Nah...better walk. As many sims do here...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705littlestreets.jpg align=baseline>

 

Time to leave Bartopolis Hill.... To the north the grand north station...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705northstation.jpg align=baseline>

 

Or to the south....the park...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1705heuvelswpark.jpg align=baseline>

 

In my next update I'll zoom in on the areas from the third phase... Lots of cool places to go to...

 

 

[Dr. Neitchskrimfrauwnmoya 7]

Your pictures are stunning!

Keep 'em coming!

You have a really beautiful european city.

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Thanks.

Difficult job too to get this city functioning. Traffic, education and all...

Sims just don't let themself be forced into ploppable homes, those get abandoned instantly, so all 200000+ sims in the city center moved in voluntarily and built their own buildings. Then try to control the architectural looks!

 

 

[Bedlam 0]

Here is a noobish question... To get the euro looking buildings you just set building style to European right?

[MrCinatit 30]

Date: 5/17/2005 8:28:54 PM Author: Bedlam Here is a noobish question... To get the euro looking buildings you just set building style to European right?

quote>

could do that, but it looks like many of Bart's buildings come from the STEX...i am betting he let many grow with teh European tile, and he plopped a few of them, as well - of course, i could be completely wrong here, as well. whatever he did, the result is very satisfying.

[jacqulina 162]

very very nice

[jasperdeman.nl 1]

OMG OMG OMG!!!! That is ubelievable! The ammount of detail is just absolutely stunning!

Im in total awe of this city!

 

Please show us more!! 

[oroen 0]

Quite a nice global effect in addition to immaculate detail. Superb!

[aasim45 1]

Great Stuff! Your city is looking fabulous !!

[sloppet 3]

great updates!! this CJ is vvery nice so far!! keep up the good work!

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Okay..well... those Parisian buildings don't pop up in the European style. You can find them on the STEX. Search for Paris.

Unfortunately, as I said, I can't get ploppable residential buildings to work. They get abandoned immediately. I added some growable Berlin buildings to my plugins. They blend well with the Parisian style. But somehow they just don't show up. I have some 1x1 New York buildings that fit in well though. And they're easy to control since they only appear on zones that are 1 tile deep. For the rest it's praying for the Sims taste in architecture. Which so far works fine.

 

Here's en example of development in the old town...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1805oldandnewdev.jpg align=baseline>

 

I'm preparing a big post now on the 'phase3' part of the old city. So stay tuned. I'll have it up in half an hour.

 

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Phase 3 in the city expansion. It marks a golden era in Bartopolis and the expanding nation. Trade and warfare brought prosperity and culture in the city. And the Sims showed it off in their architecture, which was copied later in the older parts after fires destroyed those...ummm.. a couple of times.... Okay, I made that up. Didn't destroy the old town over and over. Building it once was difficult enough. I just didn't find buildings on the STEX from earlier times.

Here's an aerial picture I took last week:

And we'll start where the Sims started... They built a city moat to protect their new wealth. Since they alreade had a river on the west side and the old town on the east side, they only needed to build it on the north and south. The northern part was destroyed when the Spanish district was built. Later more on that. Here's the southern part, from east to west...

 

This is where the new defense wall met the old, but it's all destroyed. Still a nice picture I thought...

 

Here some partial destruction for a new canal, and later a metro line. The tower marks the transition from stone wall to moat. Good that they kept that one. The water level was raised in this part to make it more attractive for the new park on the south side...

 

Sims hadn't invented the diagonal bridge yet, so here's a dam to take them out of the city...

 

Or wait... Is that a diagonal bridge? Nah... sorry...

 

Further west... New road and a metro line...

 

And further west again. Somehow it's always the railroad construction that screws up the beauty of old cities...

 

While we're here, let's take a walk along the river....

 

Saint Something church...

 

Just on the left of the image... A nice of example of how the Sims try to fit their modern buildings in the scale of the old buildings. Seriously, I didn't plop that one. But I'm gonna check out how much an apartment would cost me there. The view over the river is magnificent there....

 

Another reason to move to that place. This is just around the corner. Here, on the edge of the Spanish district, my favourite place to hang out at night, stands the Spanish monument. And there's a DKNY store...

 

Talk about shopping... the market halls... Nowadays guranteedly the most expensive place to get your groceries...

 

Every city has these buildings. Tourist seem to like them. But nothing's happening there...

 

Let's go shopping again. This is the start of Avenue May 16. It has many giant department stores....

 

This is further along Avenue May 16. The old town hall, now a guest house for foreign diplomats....

 

Finished shopping. Meeting some people on Eugene Robick Square, near the church of Saint Something....

 

Then to the park... Skip the museum today...

 

 

Got bored quickly. Here's some stuff on the way to the theatre district. The parliament and the ministry of plugin planning...

 

The only remaining fragment of the older and smaller city moat...

 

Give project developers a small parking lot and they'll build a tower....

 

Our final destination today. The theatre district....

 

Hope you liked it...

 

 

[+Guest]

this is 1 absolutely great city!!

 

just LOVE the detail of all districts...

 

great use of BATS

[Nardo69 51]

Nice old part of town ... mine look never that good ...
you gave us an expressive and intense sightseeing trip thru your nice town! More of it pls!!

[+Guest]

could you post a view of the region's transportnetwork???

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Just back from some shopping in Paris... Good inspiration...

Think about this... How do you actually get a railroad or a highway underground in an existing city?

Bartopolis has a few.... I thought I'd share a story about the biggest urban reconstruction project in Bartopolis. The 'NEW' (North-East-West) project. It was a combined project to solve some traffic bottlenecks, build a new bridge to the north and some urban renewal projects in the city. I'll show some pics of the different phases in the reconstruction.

Today phase 1: before

 

This is the urban reconstruction area. The railroad runs from the station on the left  towards the east, under Avenue May 16th, then through a park, then turns and meets an elevated station. Then along a market square and through the narrow streets of the Spanish District and across the river over a bridge. The highway from the east runs paralllel to the rail but stops not far from the station. There's no bridge connection with the districts on the north side of the bay.

 

'NEW' started with the initiative of building a  bridge across the bay to the north and connecting it to the highway to the east. The ony suitable place to build this connection was parallel to the existing railroad. But there wasn't enough space. Unless the railroad moved. And that was the trigger for a long waited for rail connection between the north station and some inner city metro lines. As the plans evolved commerce got interested in the project. Underground shopping malls and parkings could be added to the stations. Some urban renewal plans were linked to the project to develop new department stores and office buildings and to make the whole project economically feasible. The university would have to move out of the centre to make space for construction work as well.

This is the map of the 'NEW' reconstruction projects. Yellow is railroad. Green is highway. Blue is connections from the highway to the city. Orange is existing metro lines. The circles mark the stations. Everything in the white area is to be reconstructed (demolished)...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205urban-reconstruction.jpg align=baseline>

 

A close look at some of the bottlenecks....

 

A nasty rail-road crossing where the east highway ends is causing many traffic jams (not while the picture was taken)...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205railcrossing.jpg align=baseline>

 

Biggest obstacle in the project.... The railroad will go, but instead a highway intersection needs to be built in the park. The many protests against this led to some minor alterations of the project...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205northpark.jpg align=baseline>

 

The market on the border of the Spanish District. To the west (top of picture) the train runs through very narrow streetst towards the river bridge. This tiny stretch of railroad symbolized how this district had been looked upon for decades. It was a neglected area where poor harbour workers lived. For the 'NEW' reconstruction the market needed to go, but so would the train. And the city promised an upgrade of the entire neighbourhood....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205market1.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205market2.jpg align=baseline>

 

Kickoff of the NEW project with the demolishing of the McGornick building....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205demolish.jpg align=baseline>

(Who left his car parked there? [:0] )

 

Next post I'll show the digging of the underground connections...

 

[sloppet 3]

nice start.. good work so far...

I hope this CJ will become a really great Cj in the future...
The previous updates were very nice...
Keep up the great work with this CJ Good Luck!!
I hope that this will ben not my last post in this Cj... Once again good luck!

Regards,
SloppeT

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

And here's the next phase of the 'NEW' development project. We've started digging....

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205urbandig2.jpg align=baseline>

 

The railroad remained functioning as long as possible during construction work...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205railbridge.jpg align=baseline>

 

...although part of the tracks needed to be moved a bit to make place for the construction of a highway intersection...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205raildetour.jpg align=baseline>

 

Highway at the start of the ramp that leads to the new bridge...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205highwayconstr.jpg align=baseline>

 

This is the new rail tunnel entrance under construction...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205traintunnelentrance.jpg align=baseline>

 

The rail tunnel under Avenue May 16 is widened to be transformed to a highway tunnel...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205tunnelwidening.jpg align=baseline>

 

The two blocks to be demolished along Av. May 16 are still partly standing. The open space is used as a base area for the reconstruction project to limit space use at the many building sites....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205basesite.jpg align=baseline>

 

An underground station under construction where the new rail tunnel meets the elevated metro terminal station.  The new station has actually been constructed underneath the terminal station without demolishing it...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205stationunderstation.jpg align=baseline>

 

Another difficult point. There was already a tunnel running under Av. May 16. The new tunnel needed to go underneath it...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205underavmay16.jpg align=baseline>

 

No, they didn't forget to demolish that building. It stood there lonely and tall surrounded by sand, concrete and cranes for three years, a symbol to show how careful they dug through the city....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205lonelytower.jpg align=baseline>

 

...and to distract from the fact that a market square had to make place for a highway...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2205marketgone.jpg align=baseline>

 

Next post I'll show the new developments on and around the tunnels...

 

[jasperdeman.nl 1]

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time here on Simtrop! Such a interesting redevelopment portraied in such detail and beauty!

 

I really love your work!

 

Please don't make waiting for next update to long !

 

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

next episode probably wednesday or thursday

[oroen 0]

Oh I love it! Redevelopment projects are my favorite, and the detail with which you are doing this is just amazing! Just every little explanation, about where the entrances need to go, minor things that need to be displaced, impacts to daily life, everything is just very well-written and presented!

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Last phase in the 'NEW' development project. The new underground train system is working. The highway system is almost finished and the new building development projects are on their way with shopping malls, office towers and parking facilities....

An overview...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505digphase3.jpg align=baseline>

 

The new train tunnel entrance, doubling the capacity of the old railroad. The highway parallel to it is still bypassed by temporary ground level roads...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505traintunentr.jpg align=baseline>

 

Only one building of the university has remained. New development is already finished here. The tunnel is too close to the surface to allow big constructions on top of it. The buildings have been built right next to it, leaving the path of the tunnel visible...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505dev-univ.jpg align=baseline>

 

The new underground station under the old elevated station includes an underground shopping mall and parking garage. An underground bypass road is still under construction...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505undrgrmall.jpg align=baseline>

 

A new library and an office tower under construction just besides (and partly on top of) the station....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505dev-station.jpg align=baseline>

 

Two department stores on the east side of Av. May 16th...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505dev-eofav16.jpg align=baseline>

 

The redevelopment allowed for a new connection of the avenue on the top of the picture with Av. May 16th. It can be recognized in the pics of the final situation by its funny curve....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505avconnection.jpg align=baseline>

 

Development on the west side of Av. May 16th...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505dev-wofav16.jpg align=baseline>

 

A closer look. This new department store will be built partially on top of the rail tunnel...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505deptst-w.jpg align=baseline>

 

The former market square. The old elevated station will remain as a monument. It functions as an entrance to the underground station, as a museum and a luxury restaurant.

A new road through the city block bordering the area is under construction to give the hospital better access to the city. The parking area is to be replaced by a giant parking garage later, serving both the hospital and the station...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505hospital.jpg align=baseline>

 

A small office building to be constructed on top of the highway tunnel entrance...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505buildontunnel.jpg align=baseline>

 

Now that the elevated railroad is no longer used, the long awaited for demolishing of the tracks through the Spanish district is in progress...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505raildecon.jpg align=baseline>

 

Just a few months of construction left to finish the new highway system....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2505hwayconstr.jpg align=baseline>

 

Well...the result is in my earlier posts. Hope you liked the story. Next areas to be visited: the Spanish district - a tourist guide; the navy island and memorial cemetery; interesting highway intersections; Port of Bartopolis. Or... any request?

 

 

 

 

 

[rooker1 4]

This CJ is absolutely amazing, I want to see lots more.  Great job.

[jasperdeman.nl 1]

I've been waiting for this update all day !!

It's great, once again! I waiting patiently for the final result! And further development ofcourse now possible.

 

[Bart_Betrwrld 0]

Jasperdeman, I wasn't planning on posting a 'result story'. Parts of it can be seen in the earlier posts, parts will show up in the next city tours. So just scroll a bit up and down for now

[oroen 0]

This continues to be exquisite. I like the idea of demolishing old elevated tracks, as that seems to be prevalent in many real places. Leaving the old station as a monument, but also as a functional entity (entrance to the mall, etc.) is a neat idea as well.

[jacqulina 162]

awesome details,excellent use of walls/canals/pegs stuff in general,design is brilliant,great job

[Kwakelaar 92]

First time visit to this CJ, and it is one of the best european style CJ's I have seen sofar.
Not many people have been able to make such an realistic old city, and the fortifcations look great.
I also like your detailed urban renewal project. Very nice!!