Phoenix, AZ in the sun belt

[mvm0088 13]

Hello all to my first city journal! 

I was recently looking for a city to model in SimCity 4 and Phoenix seemed perfect for that matter. It hasn't too much curved or diagonal roads/highways and the default architectural styles perfectly match a US American city. In addition, setting the altitude on level 8 in god mode, yields a geography similar to that found in Arizona. Therefore, I have started to build a close model of Phoenix (the highway and road system are almost identical to the real life city). So far I have worked on two cities

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I have started constructing the central part of Phoenix, with its CBD. The city center has all types of corporations and public facilities like courthouse, stock exchange, museum, etc.

Just as in real life, close to the CBD lies the industrial district of Phoenix. There is a mix between high-tech companies and manufacturing industry. The district is bordered by several avenues and highways.

More in my next post...

 

[cmdp123789 710]

Welcome to Simtropolis!

That's a great way to start buddy! I like it... and the more time you spend in here, the more techniques and more content you are gonna find! 

Keep it up.. and again, welcome to the community!

 

[mvm0088 13]

Here comes my second post. As you can see in the pictures, the CBD is clearly delimited. Most of the city is made up by residential areas with avenues spaced each mile apart. All avenues are lined with commercial zones for shopping. Avenues and highways provide excellent means to get to the city to work. Most major transport connections are operating at full capacity (green and red on the transportation map). You can also see sims commuting from the suburb on the East of Phoenix. From the little traffic in some parts of the CBD you can see that there are still plenty of jobs for suburban sims coming in in the future, when the adjacent cities are developed.

Now to the suburbs... I have so far established one suburb to the East of the city. The suburbs are mainly residential, with cul-de-sac subdivisions in the newer developments (the older suburbs follow the standard grid layout). There are some shopping malls along the main avenues and close to the highway connections.

[cmdp123789 710]

Nice update!

Have you checked this? https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/28980-dk35-chase-tower-phoenix-az/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-644954

Might help to get a little more variation and uniqueness to the downtown skyline =)

[mvm0088 13]

Nice update!

Have you checked this? https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/28980-dk35-chase-tower-phoenix-az/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-644954

Might help to get a little more variation and uniqueness to the downtown skyline =)

Said and done! Chase tower is all in ;-)

More suburbs to the south... The subdivisions are one by one mile in longitude. The Sims commute north to the city.

[mvm0088 13]

New airport in the city. It's working almost at full capacity!

[mvm0088 13]

Phoenix is quickly expanding to the neighbouring regions. I have developed 6 large regions so far. Here the region overview! My plan for the next few days it to make the development more natural by expanding the commercial areas around the city. This way, the transition between the city and the suburbs will be much smoother. I will also cover empty areas with farmland. The next step will be to set up a south-western town to the north of Phoenix. I am also thinking of connecting cities with railroad but this will require lots of planning to fit the rail into the existing road system. From the commuters perspective, rail wouldn't be all too necessary since the highway and avenue system is excellent. I am not sure yet. What do you guys think?