Citta della Regina (Update 10: Westside, what side?)

[Gurra09 37]

Hello everyone! I am kind of new to this forum, have been a member for quite some time but mostly visited the Exchange part of the site to download things for SimCity. But after reading some CSL city journals I thought it would be fun to share with you the development of my newest city: Città della Regina. I am not Italian or anything, just wanted a fancy name. This first post will be some kind of introduction to this quaint little town I hope to grow into a metropolitan region.

 

Update 1: Welcome to Regina!

 

Città della Regina, or simply Regina as the citizens usually call it, is situated along a small river and driving into the city you cross a short but magnificent bridge. They drive on the left side of the road, which is a first for me in any city builder. I live in Sweden where we drive on the right, so laying out roads can be a little confusing sometimes but it has all worked out so far.
 

 

Right after the bridge is an off-ramp to the Regina Industrial Park where many citizens work. There's not much to see here, just a bunch of dirty factories and a sewage outlet. I would really like to upgrade these one-way roads at the intersection to highway ramps, but when I do they curve in weird ways turning my intersection into an ugly mess so this will have to do for now.

 

 

We continue along the highway until we reach the town itself. The highway intersects here with the Regina Avenue leading into town.

 

The Regina Avenue divides the town into two separate district: West Regina to the west and East Regina to the east. Who would have guessed? There aren't that many differences between the districts but in West Regina you're not allowed to smoke while East Regina enforces a pet ban. So if you're allergic to either dogs or cigarette smoke - pick the right side of town to live in!

 

 

West Regina is the oldest part of town, and some of the houses here have a beautiful view of the river... and of the wind power plant. But other than that, it's mostly just a small town residential area.

 

 

 

East Regina is the more populous district given that it has had more room to expand. The Regina High School is one of the things you'll find in this part of town.

 

 

Another sight in East Regina is the Landfill Site. It used to be a very rundown part of town but has grown to be home to several new commercial businesses, and house prices in the area are increasing every day.

 

Then at the north end of Regina Avenue is another residential area which also holds the town's cemetery. This place might look quite rural now but it is most likely the direction in which the town will expand in the future.



What lies ahead for the small town of Regina? Some local store owners are abandoning their businesses due to uneducated workers, and there have been rumors about a bus network being in the planning stage. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Here's an overview of the whole Città della Regina region:

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

A really good start you know. Some of the pictures had some amazing angles, and what a place to put in that landfill! Also if you want to improve the presentation then make sure each picture is separated.

[Gurra09 37]

Ln X: Thanks! I think this might be my best start yet actually even if left-hand traffic is screwing with my mind at times. And thanks for the advice on screenshots, I fixed my first post.

I really should have gone with right-hand traffic but done is done, I guess... It would be cool if there was an option to switch in an existing city, changing directions on all roads simultaneously and watch as chaos ensues when all cars are switching sides.   Anyway, here's an update on what has gone down in Regina since we last visited.

 

Update 2: Expansion, Expansion and Some More Expansion!

Traffic in the Industrial Park got a little intense so the four-lane road at the intersection was expanded all the way into the area. It's not a very beautiful industrial district but here's a photo from the inside, we only just passed it on the highway in the first update.

The Regina Avenue has been extended to the north where a new shopping district has been built. It was named Riverside due to it being on the side of the river.
 

 

To accomodate for the influx of new citizens every day a bus depot was built in Riverside with a bus network servicing Regina's four districts. Many citizens enjoyed these new services and the bus lines to Riverside and the Regina Industrial Park were big successes.


 

 

 

 

The neighborhood north of the Landfill expanded along the Regina Avenue and formed its own district - the Queen's Garden. After seceding from East Regina the pet ban was lifted here and this new district is a family-friendly area with emphasis on parks and recreation. The Botanical Garden attracts many visitors from all over town.


 

 

 

 

The Landfill has become something of a transport hub in East Regina but residents and local businesses started to complain about ground pollution. This lead to the opening of a new landfill further out from town on the tip of a small peninsula in the river, and garbage trucks have begun to move all the trash out here. Due to its location the new landfill was named World's End.

 

Traffic started to back up on the highway between the town and the industrial park, and to ease up the flow of incoming traffic a shortcut was built to allow for a direct path from Regina Avenue to the industries. The existing intersection now mainly serves incoming traffic from outside the region and outgoing traffic.


 

 

 

Sky high commercial demand lead to the expansion of the Riverside district. The dirt road that goes off in the distance is the way to the new landfill at World's End.



Residential demand was high too and some desperate souls moved in right along the highway despite all the noise from traffic. An ENT specialist (Ears/Nose/Throat) saw this as a great opportunity to open up a new clinic in the area.





The shortcut to the industrial park really worked wonders and the traffic jams that pestered the area earlier are all gone. Also, I haven't really showed off the industrial park that much so here's an overview screenshot.



Regina's wind power plant was very outdated and to be able to serve all the new citizens that had moved to the town the engineers had severely overworked the generators. But with new tax money flooding in a new advanced wind farm that could produce much more electricity began construction along the coast. It's just one wind turbine yet but there's plenty of space to build more in the future.



That marks the end of this update and here's a current overview of the Città della Regina region.

[jesper107 113]

Very beautiful! Might I ask what color correction and what map type (temperate etc) you are playing on? Love those vivid colors!

[Gurra09 37]

Very beautiful! Might I ask what color correction and what map type (temperate etc) you are playing on? Love those vivid colors!

 

Thanks! This is on a Temperate map with no color correction, just the default colors which are very nice. Temperate is absolutely my favorite map type of the three because of the lighting.

[iviaarten 534]

Some lovely pictures here. I can't imagine having to play with left side traffic

 

How are the 2 lane highways working out for you?

[Gurra09 37]

iviaarten: Well, I'm starting to get used to it now but I still make mistakes when laying out bus lines, putting stops on the wrong side of the road. The 2 lane highways are great, I actually got the idea to try them out from your Forkton CJ. Some traffic problem ensues in this update but I managed to solve them and keep the highway as it is.

 

I played quite a lot today so here's another update from Regina.

 

Update 3: To World's End and Beyond!

The ENT specialist who had opened up the East Regina Ear Clinic was not happy to know that the city made plans to build sound barriers along the highway, bringing down noise to acceptable levels.

Regina kept expanding. Some new houses were built in Queen's Garden but the real development was the all new neighborhood to the east of East Regina which was named Victoria. There are rumors around town that the new residents in Victoria smoke some weird plants, and that the police isn't doing anything about it.
 

Industry expanded too, first in the Industrial Park where some activists concerned with pollution set fire to a warehouse. Then, the lumber industry saw great potential in the new land out at World's End and the city selled this land to them hoping to bring in both money and new jobs.





The landfill downtown had finally been emptied and all the garbage had been transported out to World's End. Local authorities decided to bulldoze this old facility as it no longer had any use, and the old landfill became the site of Regina's first apartment buildings.



The new lumber industry at World's End brought lots of traffic onto the Regina Avenue which wasn't very desirable. A new highway connection was built directly from World's End, and heavy traffic was banned on the Regina Avenue.



All the new industry needed people to work there and a new residential neighborhood was developed in Riverside, close to World's End.



The highway from World's End passed through very fertile land and a farming community establed itself here, calling the land Faraway Valley since it was so far away from everything else. Faraway Valley was not just an agricultural district though. Many people saw this as an opportunity to live the country life they had always dreamt of and decided to move their whole life out there.



As Regina grew the traffic on Regina Avenue got worse and some action was taken to relieve the roads. One of the first measures taken was to connect the industrial park directly to West Regina with a new road but this didn't reroute much traffic. However, a new residential area was zoned along the new road. Removing one of the roads between West and East Regina helped though and traffic was going smoothly along the avenue again.




 

 

More people wanted to move to Regina and the Riverside district expanded some more.



The traffic problems on Regina Avenue soon came back, mostly because some heavy traffic didn't care about the heavy traffic ban. What made it even worse was that they went onto the avenue, up to the first intersection and then back out from the town again just because they wanted to use the shortcut I had built earlier between Regina Avenue and the industrial park. It might look messy but this actually solved the traffic problems and it has continued to work. Any traffic jams in the picture are there because it was taken just after the reconstruction.



Along the extended "shortcut" into the industrial park some shops were built here and even apartment buildings for people who wanted to live close to work. To make up for the horrible environment, these residents get a tax relief.



Time went by and a university opened its doors in a newly developed area to the north of Riverside, along with a new hospital and Regina's first office buildings. This new district became known as Villanorte and is now the city's third most populous district after East Regina and Queen's Garden.

The one cemetery in East Regina was no longer enough for the whole city and two new cemeteries were built, one in Victoria and one in Faraway Valley.

 

There were some employment issues in the town so more residential areas were zoned on the field dividing Queen's Garden and Villanorte, and along the road between Riverside and World's End which no longer is full of lumber trucks.





I'll end this update with an overview of the new town district Villanorte, and one of the whole city.

[PK111 19]

Looking great! Keep it up!

[jesper107 113]

Which are those great looking blue residentals? The square ones.

 

 

Nice town!

[Gurra09 37]

Which are those great looking blue residentals? The square ones.

 

 

Nice town!

 

Those are from the base game, I haven't actually downloaded any custom RCI buildings yet. I should though because there are a select few buildings that are starting to get very repetitive and annoying to see around by now.

Now I present to you:

 

Update 4: I want ALL the trains!

Regina Avenue was tormented by traffic jams, but then I remembered something that I had seen in iviaarten's Forkton CJ - one-way roads acting as turning lanes! So I implemented a few along my busiest intersections and by now they are everywhere on the avenue because they were so effective.

The farming and lumber industry had a lot of problems with fires getting out of control before the fire department had the time to get all the way out there so a new fire house was built by the landfill to serve World's End and Faraway Valley.

Now that Città della Regina had become quite a dot on the map, it was thought that the city should get a train station somewhere central to connect the city to other regions. Thus, Victoria Station was built. The station is actually located in the East Regina district though but you only have to walk across one street from there to be in Victoria. The area between Victoria Station and the Old Landfill has become Regina's bustling city center.

Another area on the map that is bustling with activity is Villanorte where new offices have moved in.

Most of Regina is growing actually. For example a new neighborhood has sprung up next to Victoria Station, and some of the roads in Queen's Garden have been paved.

The most interesting project however, is the new Metro train which is finally out of the planning stages and now connects four major hubs in Regina: Plaza Villanorte, Queen's Garden, Victoria Station and West Regina. Just a passenger train station wasn't enough, I want all the trains!

Villanorte continued to grow, being a very attractive district for new development with access to the new Metro system. Finally, the two parts of Villanorte on each side of Regina Avenue were so big on their own that the east part became its own district - Villanorte al Este. All the new housing in this area put pressure on the bus system in these districts and that's when the CRPTO (Città della Regina Public Transport Office) decided to close the Plaza Villanorte station and open two new ones: Hospital del Este and Villanorte.

Villanorte wasn't the only developing area in town though. What used to be an empty field behind Victoria Station is not so empty anymore. This new commercial district is called Railway Park, after the park that runs along the railroad. 

This new commercial zone jammed up the Regina Avenue a lot with all the delivery trucks trying to reach Railway Park. As you know from the industrial park I am a fan of making shortcuts so I built a road for incoming traffic into Victoria where delivery trucks can reach the new commercial district without driving on the main avenue. A few residents drive here too but there haven't been any traffic problems in this area.

I am really starting to hate those ugly level 2 commercial buildings that pop up literally everywhere in town. I'll have to look fore some new low density commercial buildings on the workshop to mix it up a little.

People complained about noise pollution in downtown Regina so we planted some trees along the roads to make it both more quiet and more beautiful.

A free clinic opened in Railway Park to help people out with various health problems that they might have.

Victoria expanded with new residential neighborhoods, and also this nice park whose centerpiece is a beautiful sculpture called Fountain of Life and Death.

Living right by the highway doesn't put people off in Regina, oh no. After hearing about the cheap lot prices from those who had moved to the outskirts of Victoria, the land along the highway in West Regina was soon sold off to new house owners aswell.

I really like how the Victoria district conforms to the grid but curves it 45 degrees. I am not very good at leaving the grid all behind me but mixing it up with some curves makes for more fun.

People working in the lumbermills at World's End didn't like having to travel so far to get to work, and they were happy to hear that the city had approved a new residential neighborhood at a closer distance to the woods. But they're still relatively close to the city life since Villanorte is just a short walk away.

A new apartment block was built by the Regina Industrial Park for very much the same reasons, and the metro was extended out here as not to overflow bus line 1. I see now that the metro station is hidden in the picture though.

Queen's Garden expanded with a cozy little neighborhood along the tracks.

Regina Avenue is quite a long road now, and looking from one end to another is quite the view.

This was all for today's update. Below is an overview of the whole city and a picture from one of my favorite places in town - Railway Park. There's around 17 000 cims living here now and I'm actually quite impressed that my road network is working so well with almost exclusively two-lane roads.

Edit: As a bonus I give you an overview with the districts outlined, since it's not really specified what is actually east, west and so on on the map.

[iviaarten 534]

I love the contrast between your city center and the rural outskirts. Excellent work on the park area next to the rail line as well.

 

Also love the placement of the merry-go-round in the center, never thought of using it that way, but it sure looks nice.

[jesper107 113]

Gotta love that railway bending through the trees! Nice!

[Gurra09 37]

iviaarten: Thanks! The carousel park is one of the few non-custom parks in the game that actually feel like a square or plaza other than some of the unique buildings, so I like to use them as such.

jesper107: Let's just say that if I was a cim in this town, the Railway Park would be one of my favorite places to go to. I really just placed down some trees to block out possible noise pollution to begin with but then I realised - why not make a park out of it?

Moving on to... 

Update 5: Power and Destruction (but mostly Construction)

 

The neighborhood stretching along the rail line has been expanding further out with new houses. If I were to live in my city, that red little cottage nestled in the middle of those houses right next to the rails (on the second pic) would be my dream house. So cute!

This highway entrance I built for delivery trucks feels a lot like some downtown back alley with all those shops around it now.



A demographic study has revealed that this street close to Victoria Station is one of the most senior dense area in the city. I wonder why they like it so much.



Some new industries have opened in the industrial park, and now there is also a small park for the residents. But wait, that dirt road going off in the distance wasn't there before! Where might it lead us?



If we follow the dirt road we come all the way out to a place called Outer Regina, where construction has finished on a new hydro power plant to provide lots of clean energy for the city.







There were some concerns prior to the construction of the dam that it might cause the river to flood the city. But as predicted by the engineers working on the project nothing like that happened due to the city being built on high terrain, and even those living right by the shore in West Regina can sleep safely in their homes.



This little piece of land in the industrial park has been zoned industrial forever but nothing is ever built there. These trees were planted here as temporary decoration ages ago, and they have now been turned into a permanent park as I dezoned it to no longer be considered industrial land.



In Railway Park another building project has been underway for quite some time, and now a brand new museum of modern art has opened its doors here. The many parking lots already situated nearby made it a perfect spot.



I was checking the garbage info view and somehow the garbage service had suddenly become alarmingly bad at keeping up. However, it turned out to be that one of the incineration plants had caught fire just as we studied the graphs and the numbers soon went back to normal.



The residential neighborhoods of World's End, Riverside and Villanorte have grown into each other and now nobody here really knows what district they live in.



Outer Regina has had an influx of new residents too, and those who trust the dam can buy one of the new beachfront properties which were built on land that had earlier been underwater.





There were some massive traffic problems in the industrial park and it took several tries until I came up with a solution that worked. Some industries had to be bulldozed and a massive 6-lane bridge was built over the shortcut for incoming traffic. The incoming one-lane highway only allows traffic to drive off of it now, not onto or across it, which is why the bridge was needed.



The residential area by the industrial park has been expanded with more apartment blocks and also some lower houses. Since we couldn't possibly have all of this housing be part of the industrial district, Regina Industrial Park split into two districts - the actual industrial one which kept the old name and a new residential district named South Regina.



City officials thought that the big circle with low density housing right in the middle of East Regina prevented city development, and made the drastic move to bulldoze everything. A short avenue was built through the area, along with the Regina City Hall and new apartment buildings. Everyone who used to live along the circle road got their moving expenses paid by the government if they chose to move into one of the new residential high-rises.

 

The city needed more places to dump their dead so a crematorium was opened in the Fountain of Life and Death park, and a new cemetery was built in South Regina.





The buildings around City Hall upgraded quickly and those who had lived there before weren't too mad at the city for bulldozing their old homes. The lawn around City Hall and la Piazza della Città (the square opposite City Hall) was left open for recreational purposes and is now a green oasis in the city center.



Since South Regina had a nicer ring to it than Regina Industrial Park, more people wanted to live there now and the district saw an influx of new residents.



Current overview of the Città della Regina region:



To end this update I have taken some pictures of places in town that I like.



Regina City Hall and the new avenue.



Tiny houses by the river in West Regina.



Victoria Station, with the MAM Modern Art Museum in the background.



Plaza Villanorte, and la Universitaria della Città. (City University, or rather University of the City. The idea here is that the people refer to the whole region as 'la Città' for short, since just Regina can mean specifically just the Regina districts.)



Entering the Regina Industrial Park.

[realdimension 6]

Beautiful city !

[tankmank 853]

I love the growth, it is natural and has adjusted to issues that arise. Looking forward to see how large the city gets 

[Gurra09 37]

Beautiful city !

 

I love the growth, it is natural and has adjusted to issues that arise. Looking forward to see how large the city gets 

Thanks! It's very nice to hear someone say that the growth seems natural because something I often end up doing in city builders is just stack grid upon grid in a very unnatural fashion. Sure, Regina is quite a gridded city aswell but not too extreme, I guess.

I have some bonus pics to the last update btw. I wanted to test how vulnerable the Outer Regina beachfront houses were to flooding if the dam was to... disappear.   Actually, they fared quite well. Sure, the first wave after letting out the water from the dammed up river comes crashing in over the street and all the houses but as the water flow stabilizes it's totally safe to move back in. Now of course I won't do this for real because I need the dam for electricity but it was fun to test.   

Images in the spoiler of all the chaos that never happened.

 

[89James89 1,169]

This is really nice. Completely the opposite of my style with all the nicely organised streets and layout.

 

I love how its gridded but in no way boring nice job on that!

 

Those riverside houses are cute as well. 

 

Cheers

 

James

[SimWarrior 10]

Your CBD is looking very nice, I really like the plazas you have there.

[Gurra09 37]

89James89: Thanks! I wish I could live in one of those cute tiny houses myself.

SimWarrior: I don't really know what qualifies as a CBD, but thanks.


I have a new update from la Città, hope you enjoy it.

Update 6: New Regina, home of the Landfill Roundabout

The Industrial Park got some new dirt roads hugging the entrance from the highway and some small-scale industry buildings popped up here. Some corporation named Williams seems to have bought a whole street!

A train station was built in Outer Regina with plans to connect the area to downtown Victoria Station with a commuter train, but an error in the rail intersection outside our city boundaries made the line impossible to open at the moment (and I didn't want to build an ugly temporary detour rail along the border). It did bring in some tourists who wanted to see the dam though, and the neighborhood expanded.







Regina was a hot spot for new residential development and many new apartments were built in eastern Railway Park to accomodate for more people. 











The Regina Avenue wasn't built to handle the traffic in a city of 25 000 cims so we had to rework the intersections in the oldest part of town.



All the new people living in Railway Park put a lot of pressure on the bus lines in the area, so a new station on the metro line opened in eastern Railway Park.





The city's water pumps no longer provided enough water, and half of Outer Regina was abandoned due to water shortages before I noticed anything.



A few years passed by and what is that, all the high-rise buildings beyond the art museum? Well, it's the new Victoria Business Park, providing lots of office jobs for citizens.








Just east of the business park is a new entrance to the city from the highway at a new cloverleaf intersection. City planners in Regina have a knack for putting landfills in weird places so of course there is one right in the middle of the new roundabout here. 





The big park around the roundabout is called Hospital Park, after the hospital in this new district named New Regina. There's mostly offices and commercial zones here, and it's close to the Railway Park metro station bringing the workers in from all around the city.










I love this cute little bagel shop in the middle of the park.



There's also a little residential neighborhood in the outskirts of New Regina.



Development in this district is ongoing and not too long after, the fancy avenue had buildings on the other side of it too. The most noticable one being the CRPTO's (Città della Regina Public Transport Office) new headquarters Transport Tower.





And now the landfill roundabout is surrounded by greenery.



We finally reached 30 000 citizens, which meant I could now buy that piece of land and fix this stupid mistake in the regional rail intersection.





Now the CRPTO could finally open their new commuter train line between Victoria Station and Outer Regina. Because of the trains' distinct white color (compared to most other orange trains), the line has come to be known as the White Train.



With that we leave the city for now. It has expanded quite a bit in the last few years, and below is an overview.



I know my storytelling isn't the best, but I just don't know how to explain everything without it getting boring and repetitive because the actual gameplay reasons are often very boring and repetitive. I hope you like the pictures at least.

[Sanshy6544 42]

Nice. The city is growing so nicely.

You are going very organic.

I love your Cj :-)

[Gurra09 37]

Nice. The city is growing so nicely.

You are going very organic.

I love your Cj :-)

Thanks!   The goal with this city was actually to really try and break old habits of extremely planned grids and go more organic, and it's the most fun I've had with a city builder for a very long time. I'm happy you like it.

I have an update again today, lots of things are going on in la Città these days - last time I saved 39 000 cims lived there. I just love the size of Skylines cities, and how they feel so alive. And while I own 6 plots of land in total they are far from filled, I can't even imagine how much more my city could grow.   

Update 7: More spaghetti, please!

When we left off in the last update the new commuter train line had just been established between downtown Victoria Station and Outer Regina, and it has given quite a boost to what used to be a very rural area. They even have some mid-rise buildings now! And their own sewage treatment plant, but that doesn't bring about much joy.

I didn't consider the fact that landfills bring ground pollution when I designed the roundabout park and the pollution has given the area a slightly different color scheme...

More schools were needed and the Regina Department of Education decided to develop a plan for a new elementary and high school in South Regina on existing park land. They left some of the park untouched though.

Industry boomed and the industrial park expanded with a new train yard to bring cargo in and out of the city on rail. This called for some changes in the road layout to accomodate for the trucks going to and from the new cargo terminal.

Since this new industrial zone wasn't in the vicinity of the existing South Regina metro station, the Industrial Park was connected to the White Trains network with a new train station.

All the new development lately meant that the hydro power plant no longer could handle all of the city's electricity needs alone and a power plant using modern solar power technology was built in the new industrial zone.

Regina's metro network was expanded aswell to increase public transport coverage. The one metro line was split into two, and new stations include New Regina and Victoria Business Park.

It was decided to close down the Roundabout Landfill to restore the park to its original non-polluted look, and to handle all the garbage two new incinerator plants were opened.

Traffic was getting worse in the Industrial Park and I tried for hours to rework the old "shortcut" into an intersection of Regina Avenue and the highway connecting everything together, but everything I tried ended up making it worse. Then I left it as it was because at least it was working but added these overpass ramps, and... this spaghetti-ish thing worked wonders! Look at the traffic, barely any jams anywhere!    And I do like the look of tractors flying about on the new overpasses.

I have a special love for six-lane one way roads where all lanes are used.

When the Roundabout Landfill was emptied and gone, the city had plans to just plant a lot of trees but after some thought they approved a new cemetery in the midst of all the nice and (maybe not so) quiet.

All the cute little cottages by the riverfront in West Regina had been replaced by some new modern, small-scale apartment buildings. I'm not sure how I feel about that but they don't look too bad.

Residential demand was high and new neighborhoods grew up in the outskirts of New Regina. When I saw those apartment buildings in the distance I really noticed for the first time how New Regina is built on a hill. 

Queen's Garden saw an influx of new residents too and this low density residential district has actually become one of the city's largest and most populated.

This five-way intersection in Queen's Garden has been dubbed The Starfish by those living nearby due to its resemblance to said creature.

Archaelogists from the City University had been working for a long time digging out the site of the town's historical town center, most of which had been razed to the ground when the highway was built through the area some 80 years ago, and on the site of Old Town Hall the new Regina County Historical Museum was opened - right on a small field between the highway and the industrial park.

A two-way two-lane intersection was supporting much of the road traffic between New Regina and Railway Park, and there wasn't much that could be done about that in the way of bridges or overpasses. So the intersection was widened to six lanes to allow for a higher capacity of traffic to flow through the area and it worked quite well. Another heavily used intersection in the residential neighborhood further out was turned into a bridge however since there were more space available there.

I love this view with the dirt road going under the bridge with all these low density houses, and then you have the big city buildings in the background.

Another nice view is to look up the avenue in New Regina.

I decided to take a road-trip out to Outer Regina and well, let's say that this view isn't as nice to look at.

But wait, what is this? This bridge wasn't here before!

It leads to a new harbor for passenger traffic that has been built out here on the other side of the river estuary, allowing cruise ships to dock. There's not much else out here except for a few stores, an office and the little plaza where your kids can ride the carousel while you wait for the bus.

The buses connect to the White Trains, and thus the rest of the city, at the Outer Regina station.

And that's that! The city still fits in one overview shot but it's getting more and more zoomed out for each update.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Nice, very nice. You keep this city griddy and compact but throw in different angles and kinks.

[iviaarten 534]

awww, I actually liked the roundabout landfill

 

City is starting to look really nice now she's grown a bit. I just love the look of those grade railway crossings, too bad they always turn into a traffic nightmare eventually.

[Gurra09 37]

Ln X: Thanks!

iviaarten: Haha, I liked that landfill too (landfills are fun to decorate with) but I liked the green trees better so it had to go. The cemetery makes for a great replacement though, especially since they are the same size.

Since I have become something of a Skylines addict here's another little update for you. Not as long as the others because I haven't had the time to play that much just since yesterday. 

 

Update 8: Carthage and Il Campo

First, let's have a look at an observation I made. My city dumps its treated sewage water in the dammed up river, which works, but all of it gather up in one spot right above the hydro power plant. I guess the water simulation doesn't push the actual water through the plant but rather use water spawners on both sides to emulate this. That's an all good simulation that works for me (and probably is easier for the game to handle) until pollution comes into effect and brighten up the water flow like a fluorescent. I would prefer it if my pollution actually came out on the other side...

More dam related news: a flooding incident occured! This stopped traffic in and out from Outer Regina, but it also lowered the hydro power plant's electricity production causing a blackout in the city. Luckily enough the situation soon resolved itself and things went back to normal, but to prevent another blackout in the future we expanded the solar power plant with more solar panels as a backup.





Here we are in New Regina right outside the Transport Tower, and in the distance you can see the skyline of a new district.



The New Regina Avenue has been extended over the railway on a bridge and we now enter Carthage, as the district has been named.



Carthage's main attraction is the brand new Queen Dido Science Center, named after the ancient city of Carthage's legendary founder.



There were plans to extend the metro out here but since it was so close to the existing railway system, a train station was built instead connecting the area to the White Trains network.



Carthage is mostly an office and commercial district, and is home to many high tech companies. The avenue leads all the way over to Villanorte al Este, and a bus line connects the two districts.





Carthage is not only offices though, there are some residential areas as well. This place is called the Urban Suburb, a low density neighborhood right in the middle of a high density residential zone.



In the middle of the three districts Carthage, Queen's Garden and Villanorte al Este lies Il Campo, a vast open field. Low density residential fills up the borders, and there is also an urban farming community here right in the middle of the city.








Overview pic of Carthage:



I think I'm gonna have to get rid of those white office towers I downloaded from the workshop. They look nice but for some reason they are level 2 and no other level 2 offices are high-rises which makes them look very out of place. So you can expect a slightly different skyline next time because they will all be gone.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Good stuff.

[Gurra09 37]

Ln X: Thanks.

I'm on easter break from school the coming week so you can expect some updates, beginning with this one right now:

 

Update 9: More Expansion and Oh No, Where Did the Water Come From?

As I said at the end of the last update I unsubscribed to those level 2 office high-rises that looked kinda out of place and my office parks look much better now without those towers randomly rising up. It also makes the unique building skyscrapers I placed stand out more.

Villanorte al Este and Carthage attracted many new residents  and the Regina Avenue finally connected its ends together. Not that it won't ever be extended further but for many years, the avenue continued after Villanorte without any further connections making that part unused. A small sports park with a soccer field and basketball court was built in Carthage aswell.








Bus Line 12 serving Carthage and connecting it to Villanorte al Este was overloaded with passengers since the area had grown so much. Therefore, a new third metro line was built connecting the existing stations Villanorte and New Regina with two new stations Carthage-Queen Dido and Carthage-Il Campo. 





Queen Dido Science Center was on fire but it looked more like some kind of pyrotechnics show with those neatly arranged flames.



The city decided to close down the Outer Regina sewage treatment plant to make for better water quality in the area. (or because I didn't like the way pollution travelled through the dam  )



New Regina roundabout appreciation post. This entrance to the city is still working smoothly even though it connects directly to two of the city's most dense district. And on top of that - it looks so nice! Some tractors go through here from Il Campo, adds a nice touch to the city traffic.










There was a lot of residential development these years, below are pictures from World's End, Villanorte and New Regina, where a skatepark was built.








Not only that, a whole new district sprung up too! Carthago Bridge, nestled along the rails between Carthage and New Regina.





Another flooding incident occured at the dam, and this time it flooded some residential lots. Just like last time it was over quickly and there was no permanent damage (except for that one person who died). The beachfront residents in Outer Regina saw a rising water level outside their homes though, now actually living at a beach and not just a sandy cliff.







The authorities deemed that the reason for the flooding was the opening of sewage treatment plants out at sea on the other side of the river. The plan had been to dump it out at sea but instead it had flown right into the river. Those treatment plants were immediately closed and a new one opened on the safe side of the dam.



One more flood occured though and this time the residents of Outer Regina Beach had to leave their homes for a few days. Small incidents like this was expected when the dam was built though, and there is no reason to tear it down.



A new highschool was built in Carthage right next to the sports park. I suppose they will have a well trained soccer team.



Unemployment was rising in the city and a new office park was built in some unused space by a busy rail intersection. It was named Belladonna District and connects to the city with a bridge over the highway, but there is also a road down to the industrial park with a bus line connecting it to the train station over there.











The highway going through the city has a very urban feel to it now. I like it!



There was some new residential development in South Regina.



Why are there cars parked out here in the middle of nowhere?



Ok, so this is weird. Cargo trains only have a control car at one end of the train which means they drive into my cargo terminal, and then they drive out backwards - at the same speed as if it was driving forward! They really should have given the cargo trains control cars at both ends just like the passenger trains. (If you don't think this looks weird at all: remember I'm playing left-hand traffic.)



I decided I wanted some proper skyscrapers in my central districts, Railway Park and New Regina, so the highrise ban was lifted here. To make for a smoother grading between buildings I divided New Regina into two districts: Urban and Suburban New Regina, where high rises are only allowed in the former. There aren't a lot of them yet though, it's mostly just a few commercial buildings that have leveled up that far.



A new landfill opened on the other side of the highway from New Regina, and the city named it Evergreen Hill to make it sound like a nice place. The mining company More Ore Corp. set up a small operation here because of a recently discovered ore deposit, and they are hoping the city government will allow them to expand further.



Almost 50 000 people live in Città della Regina now, and here's an overview of the whole city.

[tankmank 853]

I love how much the city has grown since i last visited, it has more than doubled i think. Looks like development might start increasing on the other side of the river or close to the harbour area perhaps 

[Gurra09 37]

I love how much the city has grown since i last visited, it has more than doubled i think. Looks like development might start increasing on the other side of the river or close to the harbour area perhaps 

Yeah, it's quite surprising that the city haven't expanded over the river much. I know that was the idea when I built that two-lane highway to the farming and forestry districts but then the city developed so much in the other direction that it has been left untouched. As for where new development is on the way, it's not on the other side of the river (yet) but here's a little sneak peak:

And when it comes to the other side of the river, the Outer Regina area by the harbor and the dam is the most likely starting point for that development since there's a train station out there and all. I don't think the people in Faraway Valley would be too happy about new suburbs starting to pop up around their rural farming community.

[SimWarrior 10]

Your city has grown very nicely.

[Gurra09 37]

Your city has grown very nicely.

Thanks!

I know I said there would probably be lots of updates but there was a slight change of plans and I didn't get to play that much. I have a little update of a few things that have been going on in la Città though. And to make the thread easier to load, I put all the updates in spoiler tags so you only have to load the pictures of the updates you actually want to read.

 

Update 10: Westside, what side?

Last time we visited the new landfill called Evergreen Hill some ore industry was on the way. Well, Evergreen Hill is its own district now! Still a small one but a certain mining company called More Ore Corporation has moved in and expanded the existing operations.

Other than the industry, there's some residential housing on one side and a small "square" (if you can even call it that) in the middle of Evergreen Hill where More Ore Corp. have their office. The More Ore Corp. finances a bus line connecting Evergreen Hill to the New Regina metro station, simply called the Green Buses by locals since they are well, green.

Speaking of offices, Belladonna District has expanded too. And not just offices, there seem to be some big... thing over there too. Well, if it isn't the newly opened Belladonna Stadium! There's enough parking for people taking their car but most stadium visitors take the metro out there. Not that you can see the station in the pictures, but it's there! I promise!

West Regina is no longer as west as you can get in Regina anymore. Nope, now there's a new district on the other side of the river called Westside! It has some nice beachfront properties, and for a while there was a tourist attraction called The Giant's House right by the wind turbine. But it was just temporary and the city decided to take it down after a few months. (I accidentally downloaded it from the Workshop, looked like a nice 1x1 house to bring more variations to those small houses but for some reason it was upscaled and put on a 4x4 lot...)

While the Giant's House was downscaled, the Westside Bridge was upscaled! Someone in the city government found out that four-lane roads magically make bridges look nicer so they decided to add some extra lanes for the sake of decoration. Nobody uses the outer lanes but whatever, it looks nice! Also, the new bus line connecting Faraway Valley and Westside to the city got a little overloaded so one of the metro lines was extended from Riverside out to Westside since it was so close anyway.

That's all we had today. Oh, and Città della Regina has finally passed the 50 000 cims mark! That's something worth celebrating, isn't it? How the city government decides to do that we might see in the next update.