Joburg

[Simtastico 0]

Hi everybody!

I've been around the Simtropolis forums for a while now but I've never really contributed with anything.. untill now that is!

so.... I present to you, city of Joburg!

Joburg is loosely based on the real city of St. Petersburg, I use the map of the city and I've tried to use the real city as an inspiration but to do it in my own kind of way. The map I use is really huge and it will probably take me a while to complete it, but I felt like this was the right time to start, so here we go!

By the way, I would like to thank these people/groups for their amazing work: Prepo, Ferox, Odd from sweden, Haarlemmergold, Suplado, Porkie.

[Simtastico 0]

In the inner area of the City of Joburg there are over 5,500 streets, 16 plazas and 32 squares. Flower market square is probably one of the more important ones. First picture shows the most well-known intersection in the city, mostly because of the unique buildings in the area but also because of it's high crime rates. As in other large east european cities, Joburg experiences fairly high levels of street crime and bribery. The casino which lies close to the flower market adds to this fact and is known for attracting criminals. Even though, it remains as one of the most popular tourist attractions.

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End of first update. Hope you liked it!

[politicman 1]

Great start !! Keep it up !!

[jjune4991 1]

wow. that is really cool looking. i love that little fake/animated map on the side. i looks like a map in a theme park or something. it looks really good.

[nihonkaranws 88]

That is really nice! I recommend you change the yellow line to white though. That will make it look more European. Anyway, keep it up, and good luck!

[Smarty218 2]

Great start! Nice to see you've entered the world of CJing!

[nickjbor 0]

I like the terraforming in your region.

where did you get the european-looking houses?

[sims co. 0]

Wow! Amazing work on the W2W style. You've created a genuine European city!

Great work!

[gabry85 2]

Great start, the city layout looks very realistic, excellent region!

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull start my friend and looking very nice so far keep up the good work.

[artoxb 0]

great start!

I'll be following this cj.

regards

[waway625 72]

nice use of diagonal buildings! lookin good there sir

[Benedict 3,119]

Very impressive - I'd love to see a larger version of that map in your collage - looks like it is incredibly detailed.

[ky72x 13]

Excellent start to your CJ, this is exactly the kind of thing everyone like to see - beautiful pictures right from the beginning. Very nice use of the diagonals, and I really like how you've used the underground parking entrance in the last picture. Looking forward to much more!

- Kyle

[dfnva 34]

Nice to see a CJ from you as I've seen you post in CJ's a lot. I like your use of W2W and diagonal buildings that look distinctively European.

Dan

[Schulmanator 5,787]

I love it! This is the kind of CJ I like best. I want more!

[Simtastico 0]

politicman: thanks, I will try to follow up my start with some more good pictures

jjune4991: I am glad you liked the map, hopefully there will be some more of that soon!

nihonkaranws: Yes I agree.. that would be better, tried to change it but doesnt seem to work. What file should I download?

Smarty218: Thanks for the welcome!

nickjbor: Most of my houses I get from the stex, I've been looking through all of it..

sims co: yeah I like to build my inner city areas with a w2w style, I think it looks more genuine Glad that you liked it!

gabry85: My city layout is in some way similar to the real st.petersburg so credit goes to the city planners

jacqulina: thanks, look out for more!

artoxb: Nice, my first fan I truly hope you will follow my cj and that you will enjoy it!

waway625: thank you sir! Diagonals rules!!

Benedict: I will try to post a larger version in the future.. I hope it will be detailed

ky72x: Thank you thank you.. Diagonals are the best around, wish I had more of them! Glad you liked it!!

dfnva: Yeah, I've been posting some lately.. thougt it was time for a CJ of my own now I hope it looks european!

Schulmanator: I am really glad you liked it, I will try to do an update soon!

[Twenty20 28]

Excellent start with a beautiful region, very nice city with many coloured european buildings, it looks realistic

[TheJakal 0]

Wow looks really nice. i love the realisticness of the screens shown and all the diagonal building work.

Cheers

TheJakal

[Simtastico 0]

In this update I will continue to show some more of the older parts of the city. This particulary area is called "Chernyshevkaya" which is the same neighbourhood as shown before. Close to it runs the river of Neva and since this is a typical tourist area I will follow up with yesterdays pictures. Already we have seen the flower market and the Casino intersection, today I will give you a guide to shopping in the area. Enjoy! And be ready for more..

The quantity and quality of products available in Joburg has improved dramatically over the past decade, with the most prominent changes noticeable in inner city areas, where a number of new hypermarkets and Western-style shopping malls appeared in the last several years. Mustek Mall is one of many!

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End of update. Hope you liked it!

[Abc987 3]

Oh, wonderful! It's great to see some work from you, I've always wanted to see some and this did not disappoint! Fantastic start, I look forward to more!

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, great old town! I like the choices for the buildings!

-bbfan02-

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Nice work with the European buildings and ridiculous, impossible to traverse street layout (at least it seems that way to North Americans such as myself).

[Simfan34 11]

I am REALLY, REALLY, REALLY coming to DETEST this CJ! You don't know how BAD this makes my CJ look! I mean, those professional graphics look right out of a tour guide! New Burgundy is horribly embarrassed...

If you can't tell, that was sarcasm.

[JanYpe 17]

That is a very goodlooking start. That cathedral really looks huge.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

That is a fantastic start. You really pull off the European look effectively! I'm half convinced I'm looking at some historic Eastern European metropolis! The diagonals are great, and it almost feels like they wind around like in real life. Once again, fantastic!

[ky72x 13]

The effect you've used on a couple of the pictures in the last update looks incredible. It really gives them a old, historical feel. Your selection of trees makes the rugged shoreline look simply beautiful. Although it's a bit out of place, I really like that shop. Kudos for giving it ample parking behind it, too!

- Kyle

[Simtastico 0]

jrhnemo: glad to hear you liked it! I also feel like this was a good start and I hope it will continue in the same way

bbfan02: Yeah, I like it myself too

edmonton_stinks: Mmm, europe and north-america is different in many ways.. espacially when it comes to city-planning, most cities here are so old that is why they have less grids..hmm.. which I like

Simfan34: hehe, good thing you told me it was sarcasm.. Thanks and I must say, New Burgundy is awesome as well!

JanYpe: Thank you, the cathedal not only looks huge.. it is! I like the design of it, kinda different..

NMUSpidey: I am very glad that you think it "almost" looks real.. next step is to make it look real Thank you your post!

ky72x: hehe, I agreee.. might look a bit out of place. But I like to try different things and perhaps it will work better next time!

[jacqulina 162]

beautifully planned and put together my friend wonderfull work and pics

[Simtastico 0]

So, moving on.. here are some more pictures of the cathedral and buildings surrounding it. In the city this is as stated before, the most popular area amongst tourists. Mostly because of the cathedral it self, but also because it is more or less close to everything essential to see. Which makes it the perfect place to start a citywalk. Later on I will continue to show some more tourist attractions.. but for now, here is the cathedral!

 

St. Erica's Cathedral was originally the city's main church. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of the most impressive landmarks in eastern Europe. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Erica's still dominates the skyline of Joburg. 

The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church was closed in the early 1930s and later reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.

Foreign visitors should buy entrance tickets just inside the right-hand door in the southern facade (not at the street-level ticket booth). It is also recommended that you climb the 400 steps up to the cathedral's colonnade, and enjoy the magnificent views over the city.

Finally here is a view over what I've shown so far of the city..

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End of update. Hope you liked it!