Update 4 - October 2018 Census
Replies are at the bottom...
Prologue
The Kellan Metropolitan Area, sitting on the Eastern Coast of Vancouver Island at the south end of the Discovery Passage, has went from being a small fishing village, and the former site of multiple winter resorts, to one of the most prosperous cities on the entire North American continent even though it is nowhere near being one of the biggest. While the region's population boom that commenced in the early 1980s did come to two abrupt declines, one due to the Great Recession and another due to the 2013 floods, the region's population has since started skyrocketing again- gaining over 376,000 people since 2015. As with all other population booms, Kellan's has introduced a great shift in demographics causing a valley once dominated by agriculture and dubbed the "Salmon Capital of the World" to now be referred to as the "Silicon Forest". Obviously, the boom can't last forever and it is in fact expected to peak in the 2020's before finally coming to a halt, but that still feels like forever for the residents who already live here and have to deal with the aftermath...
Blank shot of the region
Blank shot of the region's transportation network
Image of the region showing all city limits and their respective subdivisions.
All the freeways and highways of the region, now updated with the latest progress shot of the region
An updated version of the regional light rail map, now much more detailed.
Density heatmap of the region, highlighting the unusually high densities of the Business Triangle* (and to a lesser extent, Sapien) that, while considered normal in some places of the world, are very parallel to the sprawly neighborhoods full of single-family homes and/or low-rise apartments that most people on the North American West Coast are used to.
*The Business Triangle, which is highlighted by the highest density area (Purple color) in the North Valley, consists of Radiation and the Downtown, Lakefront District, and Gresham areas of Kellan. While West Chandler is officially considered a part of the Business Triangle (despite the fact its inclusion makes the Business Triangle no longer appear as a triangle), West Chandler is a bedroom community which makes most people exclude it from the definition of the Business Triangle.
Things to note about West Chandler
West Chandler's extremely low median age, rent, and home prices (and even income as shown in the chart at the bottom) can be explained by the fact that the city's municipal government has enacted a series of laws and programs in the mid and late 2000s that have turned the city into what many now refer to as a "Youth Paradise". The city's rent control is incredibly aggressive, with even the seemingly luxury residential towers in the western part of the city still being made up of mostly affordable housing units populated by young (and presumably, poor) residents. More will be explained more in a future update dedicated to West Chandler as the story of how West Chandler became what it is today is quite interesting.
Population chart highlighting the fast growth of the region with the metropolitan area gaining over 1,170,000 new residents between 2010 and 2017, that's an average of over 167,00 people per year! The City of Kellan itself has gained 186,907 people since 2010, it may seem like a lot but is much lower than the 570,000 people who moved into the city between 2000 and 2010, which is due to the fact that the region's population boom was offset by the Great Recession and the Great Flood of 2013. While Kellan's economy bounced back quickly after the first event, the second started a chain reaction of factors that led new residents to seek growth in Kellan's suburbs despite the fact that, at the time, rents and housing prices in Kellan were exceptionally cheaper as supply far exceeded demand until only recently.
Same chart as above, only the City of Kellan is excluded to better visualize the growth of other cities in the region that was not well shown in the previous image due to Kellan's disproportionate population size.
This is an income chart showing the Median Household Income, Median Family Income, and Median Salary that I included simply because I couldn't fit it into the individual city images above.
Replies
Seppi93 | Yes I did, and thank you. Took a while to make but the ending result was pretty great 
vaughanwiliams | Thanks, and not very. Sometimes when I have maps with a lot of trees it might go a little slow (which is why, as you can see above, there are some unfinished city tiles that have zero trees) but other than that the only time I truly notice is the long load and save times. Thanks to SC4 Launcher, however, I still don't really have to worry about mods that much.
kschmidt | Thank you, it's a shame not that many people know the University of Clayhurst exists, it is light years better than the in-game university. And the little car traffic is simply because the in-game mechanics prevents people from traveling between more than one city tile. In real life, the streets would likely be filled with cars trying to either get to the freeway from other tiles or trying to get to the Business Triangle.
T Wrecks | Yes, I've been aware of the Maxis repetition in lower density commercial and it often ruins a lot of my photos. While I do care about it I've hesitated from downloading additions and alternatives due to the fact it doesn't seem to solve my repetition problem as they seem to always overtake Maxis buildings. It's the same reason I always set R$ and R$$$ tax rates to 20% so only R$$ can grow, middle-class residential lots not only obey zoning sizes but also aren't repetitive, both unlike R$ and R$$$. It's probably just a problem with my game (or a mod problem) but that is why I still use Maxis commercial despite hating it so much.
kingofsimcity | Yes haha. It's a pretty notable feature of big American and Canadian cities to have certain major arterial roads with high-rises, and sometimes skyscrapers, in low-density neighborhoods.
compdude787 | To be honest, that interchange was originally built the wrong way which is why I was so careful to not show it in any pictures. When it's fixed I'll show it in a future update 
citybuilder234 | Photoshop. Lots and lots of photoshop.
waybig | It is a model of the real-life YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno, CA by the great mattb325, which can be found here.
-
16
-
1
-
1
4 Comments
Recommended Comments
Sign In or register to comment...
To comment in reply, you must be a community member
Sign In
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In NowCreate an Account
Sign up to join our friendly community. It's easy!
Register a New Account