MrBrightside

Welcome to the Projects - large social housing estates built during and after the great depression to cope with increasing homelessness all across Banlieue. They are affectionately called "Crack Stacks" by most Banlieue natives, which might be some kind of black humor since these buildings are home to about 300.000 people... No wonder Banlieue licensed more liquor stores between 1970 and 2009 than the whole state of Oregon. The pictures I'm going to show you were mainly taken in the port area of the city, but there are quite a few spots where they can be found. Next We have an office center quite close to where the previous panorama was shot. It's one of those soulless parts of town that gets most of its attention at night when desperate men come to the many strip clubs in this area... And last but not least we have a project which I'm currently developing on another coastline Hope you enjoyed the mosaics...it took me quite a while to make them. And' I'd be grateful if you could tell me whether I should keep the texts or not. _____________________________ Replies First off, I'm glad this CJ got such a positive reception..so thanks for that. @Jeh7497: Thanks, the region is actually larger than what I showed so there is more to come. And thanks a lot for the first comment! @Keep-Up: Thanks! I have never been to Cleveland as I'm from Germany, but I have briefly visited DC and originally had something in mind like the DC metro area with sprawling suburbs and some public transport, but then I figured that it might be interesting to build some really ghetto style cities..The DC area has however greatly influenced Banlieue's public transport which I might show in the following update. @TekindusT: I actually looked at your most current CJ and really liked it. Especially the use of the LA River which I have too, but I haven't found a use for it yet. Anyways, thanks a lot for your time and the kind words! @Dethsrow: Well, I hope you like this update then! Thanks!

Futurist, I love how the changes in density are visible from region view and how the more denser areas stick to the arterial roads. Also, I see that you're from Houston, are the winding river and the bay somewhat based on it? I'm just asking because I also once had a project where I based my region on greater Houston. Anyways, I like it, keep going!

Elavery, awesome work. Is it one large tile or even more? Seems immense! 9988, I like the choice of buildings a lot, but the picture has been sharpened too much in my honest opinion.. Here's an older mosaic from me from a region I have stopped playing about 6 months ago: I think it conveys some suburban 'flair', but it lacks details and there's too little traffic on the freeway unfortunately..

So this is one of my first humble attempts with the RHW. I was always afraid by its complexity, but it was imperative for the project I'm working on. Does anyone recognize the interchange? It's not entirely accurate, but it's fairly close.

That Salt Lake City recreation is looking absolutely gorgeous, I love the sprawl and the way it accomodates the landscape..great job 12231989 I made some progress on my sunbelt region which has now (using residential halver) some 470.000 inhabitants, and with the adding of two more minor business centers San Jacinto and Richmond Beach capacities for more than a million. I find it really difficult to get an appealing regional view as well as an individual style to each tile. Whatever, I'd like to know what you guys think.

@The Duke: It's a Bat by Ill Tonkso, you can get it here: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=17987 Here is another Downtown of mine. Fairfax' South Downtown. I built this city in a rather texan style. The CBD boasts about 160k jobs. Full size: http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9184/sdowntown.jpg

This is Downtown San Jacinto. I went for a medium density appearance, basing it loosely off Downtown San Jose which has height restrictions for the buildings due to the CBD's vincinity to the airport. I hope you like it.

Not just the boni upset me, it's the way the financial markets work. Intended as a place to trade stocks of productive companies and let people participate in decision making, stock markets have evolved into something out of control. The courses are no longer influenced by production of any means - it all comes down to psychology. Furthermore, the existence of more money in the financial markets than products in the world is scary. Another big problem is the profit oriented economy. Companies traded in the biggest stock markets strive for higher profits since this, according to them and their shareholders, is a sign for a healthy company. Might be. The problem is that in pursuit of profits, many actual problems are procrastinated and investments and modernizations fall as short as workers' rights in the third world. I'm not for socialism as defined by Lenin, but I believe that capitalism is uncapable of an equal spreading of wealth, or at least a spreading of wealth which is congruent with the productive power of a person. economy needs to work for the people, and not in reverse..

Berlin for sure Firstly, it's cheap (way cheaper than Rome, Paris, or London) so it's not as gentrified which leads to a greater diversity and more "underground culture"..the clublife is supposedly the best in the world (and I am quite sure it is ^^), we have excellent public transport (subway, commuter rail, an extensive bus network and probably the most elaborate tram network in the world), and cultural institutions are among the best in the world (Museum-Island)..I just love Berlin, although I liked Rome a lot, too..

Here's my contribution, Fairfax Intercontinental, loosely based on George Bush Intercontinental in Houston. The Runway/Taxiway layout is quite accurate, I changed the terminals however to fit the scale of SC4. I hope you like it. Overview: And some general shots: I'm open to critique so if you think anything is not so realistic, please let me know ^^

Here are two shots of the city I'm currently working on. I aim for a style similar to cities in the south of the US, especially Houston. So it's just a lot of low density sprawl...At some Point I want it to have 500.000 inhabitants, but transit times are already killing me... This is about 3 months of work as I try to get it as realistic as possible.. region view so far: Transport view:

As I'm interested in photography, I have quite a few cityscapes shot that can also be seen on my deviantArt account (raider92.deviantart.com)...Here are some of the best that I've taken. San Francisco Minneapolis And lastly one of my hometown Berlin.

As I'm interested in photography, I have quite a few cityscapes shot that can also be seen on my deviantArt account (raider92.deviantart.com)...Here are some of the best that I've taken. San Francisco Minneapolis And lastly one of my hometown Berlin.

any graphical program that supports layers. I used Paint.net, which is freeware.

@TekindusT: Does it work now? I use Opera and it looked fine all the time.. @_marsh_: EL Rail Facelift mod by some japanese batter. look for moonlight at the SC4D LEX ;) @thepokemaniac: I feel really honored now. It's a pity those old modular airport lots don't have diagonals.. @Jeh: Thanks my friend..and thanks for you regular visits.. @thefinalrune: Thanks a lot!! :D

Mgyeldell1, this is a pretty nice map, I would use a bigger resolution however, so you have more space for station names and so on Here is the transport map from my current CJ.. Full Size (2200*2050) here: http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4301/mp2nu.jpg

I have almost finished the map from the last update so here we go. This is just a thumbnail, if you are interested, you can see the whole map (2200*2050px) here: http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4301/mp2nu.jpg As you can see it's not quite done, the commuter rail layout isn't done and some geographical names are still missing. Next I'll show you some mosaics that give a brief overview of Banlieue's infrastructure: This is Banlieue Independence International, once hailed as the most modern and efficient airport in the United States..that was in 1961. Since then, the terminals have been renovated once - in 1977, but due to limited space the airport was never extended. Today the total passenger number is lower than ever before since most travelers prefer Dulles or JFK over Banlieue Independence. Even the construction of the Metro station in 1980 couldn't improve the Airport's competitiveness since it is just too small and outdated for the modern business man. So it's just remaining as it is with no perspectives for the future - like most of Banlieue. Welcome to the generic ghettos of LaSalle City/Eastside Banlieue. The Metro station that can be seen marks the end of the purple line (so this is on the opposite map of the map than the airport). The Metro, Expressbuses, and Ferry have an incredibly important role here. While driving through the whole bay to downtown would take over an hour, the ferry needs about half the time for the same trip. However, this is the part of town, nobody should be visiting for fun. You go there for three reasons: 1. you want to buy crack from the local dealer, 2. you want to sell crack to the locals, 3. you are on crack and live there. The area around the metro station is considered one of the most shady in Banlieue (and there are a lot of shady places in Banlieue). The police doesn't patrol around the area anymore since it's too dangerous. The Banlieue tourist board recently stated that no tourist should go there during any time of the day after 15 tourists had disappeared there in january 2010. I guess we don't want to know what happened to them. ________________________ Replies: @TekindusT: actually, no! I was mainly inspired by my hometown Berlin's maps which are similar to that. Thanks a lot for the kind words! @IrvingTwoSmokes: Thanks a lot! I made it using Paint.Net (Freeware), a lot of patience, and 50 layers or so @Jeh7497: Thanks, I used Paint.Net which is like a simple version of ps. @BusTicketUprising: Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the kind words. I used jeronij's Seawalls that can be found on the BSC Lex over at Sc4Devotion @ iGod: haha, thanks! I wouldn;t consider myself really good. there are way better maps out there..all you need is a lot of patience @_marsh_: Thanks, I'm really glad to hear this! @soccerderek: You're very welcome. And you're always welcome to ask again. Hope you enjoyed the update.

The Banlieue Public Transport Authority is one of the successes in this run down city. Since its foundation in 1977, an extensive subway system was created which corresponds with the previously existing commuter rail and buses. There are about 100 subway or elevated rail stations with an overall capacity of 3 million passengers per day (which is not reached quite yet). They effectively funnel the workforce from the suburbs into the city which relieved congestion from the poorly planned freeway system. Since I'm not quite done with my subway map, I'll show you a thumb of what it looks like right now. In the next update we'll look at the subway a little closer. Here a piece of the map in original size. The whole map is right now 2000*2000px. As you might see, there are still some adjustments to be done. Hope you liked the teaser and come by for the next update ______________________ Replies: @TekindusT: thanks for stopping by again. concerning the bridge I have to say that it's a new construction and the busiest bridge in the whole metro area (some 8000 vehicles says the traffic info thing). I think it makes a nice contrast to all this devastation. I will, however, consider your advice for upcoming bridge projects..thanks! @DCMetro34: Thanks..I'm glad you like it. I hope you like the upcoming updates since I took most of my inspiration from the DC Metro system @ Trabbuco: Don't be jealus my friend, it's all about learning from other people. @Jamonbread: thanks a lot, I hope you stop by for further updates! @Keep-Up: man, I loved DC..especially the contrasting architecture (Georgetown <> Crystal City) it actually inspired me a lot for the CJ. @IrvingTwoSmokes: Thanks a lot..and I hope I can keep it up as well @ Paul5: Thanks a loooot! @soccerderek: it depends on which seawalls you use. Your terrain has to be even (i use the god mode tool for the big stuff and then the mayor mode level tool). Turn the grid on and to get it perfectly even, use single street tiles. Take a look at the omnibus, there are some good tutorials about that @ dimipol006: Thanks a lot. I hope I can keep the promises

Banlieue is an American themed city somewhere in the rustbelt of the east coast. Crime is high, wages are not, but Crack prices are still comparatively low. While it is on the bottom of probably any statistic concerning life expectancy/government transparency/GDP per capita (you get what I mean, quality of life in general), it is not a complete loser city (I'm looking at you, Detroit). It is estimated that Banlieue is home to the most flourishing drug market in the States and it's also the city with the most social housing capacities. After all this negativity, we want to take a look at Banlieue's more...liveworthy places.. Condos like these are a privilege, home to a small elite that generates 78% of Banlieues tax income. Some of them are said to have more than one bank account on the Cayman Islands and in Switzerland.... The architectually diverse downtown is one of the gems within the moloch; it has been subject to dillapidation over the past few years, however The city itself is constantly shrinking since people who can afford it move to the suburbs, on the other side the metro is constantly growing, uncontrolled with more and more generic office centers popping up along the freeways. Those are huge concrete deserts, stuffed with soulless workers forgetting their bitter fate in consumption. Here we have one close to the seaport in an area which is still quite urban. Here is a short overview of what the city looks like in transport view...right now it consists of 4 large and one medium map (the freeway in the sea). Enjoy and tell me what you think..the next time I'm going to focus on one certain thing..perharps sarcasm.

Thanks guys! And yoshi, the light grey line is commuter rail or normal ground rail and is supposed to link downtown to the suburbs in opposite to the subway, which doesn't reach out that far.

Wow, all these maps are really awesome and inspiring..Here's a map I made for my city banlieue..perhaps for an upcoming CJ or so..don't know yet. It's by far not finished as some station names are missing and some of lines aren't terminating within the area the map shows so far...just showing what I've got so far.. Full View here: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/51215dd9cc.jpg

out of the cities I've been to: 1. Berlin 2. San Francisco 3. Minneapolis 4. Prague 5. DC I've been to so many countries in Europe, but haven't seen cities like Barcelona, London, Paris, or Amsterdam...

wow great downtowns everyone. here's the seaside downtown of Fremont. The main cbd is a couple of kilometres further inland and provides almost 1 million jobs.

I have been reading this thread for a while and all these downtowns gave me great inspitations. I guess now it's time to post mine Fremont is my newest and most realistic region, which is, however, still being developed. The Eastern Part of Downtown and Young Park The northern border of Young Park Midtown and Wright Station; Midtown is the old Downtown part and has smaller skyscrapers, but is popular among tourists for its many shops, cafes, and easy accessibility. North Downtown and I-64 cutting through it. I-64 is one of Fremont's most important Freeways __________ And Victor Valdes, great job putting all these German-styled bats in one city. I'm from Berlin and it looks quite similar!