-
Announcement
-
Simtropolis Returns! 05/26/2026
See here for details about our site recovery efforts.
-
Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'brass belt'.
Found 1 result
-
Multitribalism - cities and compromises
TheMurderousCricket posted a City Journal entry in SimCity: Tribalism
The completion of the first three highways (or "rigdallir" in the local language) has been an important event in New Udanani. It opened up Southern and Central-Western New Udanani to new possibilities like scientific and economic exchange but also quick transfer of people and goods. Isolated cities became connected and previously long travel times, shortened. The strip around these fast throughways is referred to as "BRASS Belt" - an acronym deriving from the names of all tribes that have access to the highways (Businesspeople, Residents, Altruists, Smileyfaces and Slackers). Today, we shall take a look at two cities laying within BRASS Belt. What makes them special is that they are all run by more than one tribe. Some of the Readers may remember the momentous meeting between the Businesspeople and the Smileyfaces. The city of Breadwinner Ponds, the fruit of their alliance, remains a combination of commerce, advanced industry and various happiness-enhancing urban features. Recently, the Smileyfaces took a lead in further development of the city. A new, large neighborhood with a residential character was started, adding to the acreage and population of the city. Most of these new residential areas are occupied by both the Smileyfaces and the Businesspeople without any cross-tribal problems. Homes and houses belong to different wealth levels too and no citizens are excluded from this new community - one of the principles that the Smileyfaces follow in their city designs. The tribe has even managed to create a tiny public beach on one of the pond's shores. The new area is quite distant from both industrial and commercial workplaces. This is why Smileyfaces decided to transform some parts of the city in order to introduce a cool and fast way to commute from the new neighborhood - a monorail line that connects Northern part of the town to the city's downtown and industrial regions. It's an impressive project if one understands how tightly-packed the urban development is in the local area. As you can also see, some of the Businesspeople shop owners established new businesses around these new transit stations, anticipating increased customer traffic nearby. Some tensions and disappointments spark up in the new neighborhood nonetheless. Some Businesspeople officials notified the government that the Smileyfaces have introduced industrial areas into the new zone. Although very small and non-polluting, the place causes strong opposition from some policymakers... Not to mention the fact that monorail line reduces the car (and customer) traffic along downtown's busiest roads. Except, of course, those in direct vicinity of the fancy, modern stations... Due to the fact that Breadwinner Ponds economy matured and stabilized, it finally became possible to modernize the city's utility installations. Accordingly, water pumps underwent major maintenance work and the old-fashioned oil power plant was replaced with a powerful Smileyface-designed solar collector. As part of the so-called "critical infrastructure" it has been built next to the local military base for additional security. Before we move on, take a few last looks on Breadwinner Ponds. The following pictures show how Smileyface and Businesspeople building styles mix with each other (and prove that the city is not just a haphazard design of a nameless mayor!). Take a look at the relaxed, leisurely and somewhat "random" Smileyface neighborhoods. Then, compare it to the more organized and formal Businesspeople landscaping. Far away, on the other end of the BRASS Belt, an important new event takes place and many Udananites are closely following the developments there. An area previously known as the "Friendship Village" was turned into a new town. What makes it unique is that it is the first town in New Udanani owned not by two but by three different tribes! Common Interest is owned by Businesspeople, Residents and Altruists. Tribes involved in the construction of this town were chosen as a result of the poll offered in this episode (thank you for your votes!). Here is a bird's view picture of this new, unusual town. If you look closely you will notice that, just as in Breadwinner Ponds, it is easy to determine which neighborhoods are dominated by which tribe. Take a look at the pictures and a moment to analyze them. Can you see walls of trees, surrounding well-off housing projects? A landscaping which helps to maintain high land values and a general elitist homebuilding tendencies? Finally, lack of industry and bland, uninteresting farms which are considered to be no more than "necessary evil" for the town to grow. These neighborhoods are inhabited by the Residents. A little bit further to the East, you can see a lively conglomerate of various commercial and shopping areas. Note that they are strategically placed near the R-3 highway exit which guarantees large number of customers and travelers. Of course, this spot is governed by the hardworking Businesspeople. Last but not least, there is a well-developed residential area in the Southeast corner of the town. It has a distinct circular shape and all basic city services that people who live there may need. A few farms are also present in the area providing not only employment but also a soothing, aesthetically pleasing landscape... Without a trace of doubt, this is an area managed by the Altruists (and which the clever Businesspeople encroached upon slightly). As you can see, Udananian tribes are keen on finding common language with each other and cooperation experiments like Common Interest are bound to become more frequent. It may still take a few years before this trend yields more impressive results, but the process as such is quite fascinating. One of the key problems for these new towns are, of course, the finances... When tribes coexist in a single town, it becomes quite a headache to allocate sufficient funds to all who ask for money - an issue that has been hotly debated among the Businesspeople. One of the ideas to boost city income is to legalize gambling but, given the controversial side-effects of such measure, the tribes cooperating with the Businesspeople have requested you - The Revered Spirits of the St'ropoli Dimension - to determine what should be done about this issue. Gambling is one thing, but there are plans which seem to be even more disconcerting then potential rise in crime... In their never-ending chase after profits and money, the Businesspeople tribe wishes to add another brick to Udananian economy. The problem is that their plan is considered to be very controversial and involves development in a special, forbidden zone... Comment replies: @Tamijo - Yes, no school busses. Kids often eat candy and junk food so more exercise will circumvent diabetes, obesity and other health problems. It's a truly Altruist method! @lynchkyle - Thanks! @TogaMasterJohn - I'm happy you like Charity and yes - those are pedmalls. Old, ploppable versions of them (I didn't upgrade NAM). They work quite well connected to transit stops but can also act as shortcuts between parallel roads.- 3 Comments
-
- 6
-
-
- smileyfaces
- businesspeople
- (and 6 more)
