Springwood - City Journal w/ video

[TheGamingGrace]

Well, this is my first time posting, creating a thread, and creating a city journal! Let's see how this goes..
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The city of Springwood, founded in a by gone era (last Monday), rich with history (that's yet to be built), and teaming with life, stories and intrigue (that's not quite there yet). Welcome, on behalf of the city council, we hope you enjoy our great city.
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So, I've just started building this city, it's a mixture of planned and organic growth. I am by no means an amazing city builder, and by no means amazing at Cities:Skylines (which I am sure you'll pick up). But please, come along on my journey as I build my first large scale city and record the shenanigans along the way! Advice, feedback, criticism - it's all welcome, and encouraged! I am also filming my escapades, so feel free to watch my journal, read my journal, or do both at the same time. I'll start with my first video, then pop in some pictures as soon as I take them. Oh, and think of some story to tell in between!

 

[TheGamingGrace]

___ENTRY 2 - WE HAVE PICTURES____​

Hello everybody, and welcome to our first official entry into the city journal of Springwood. We recently paid a fancy penny to some new dangled 'graphic artist', and in return they made us this wonderful banner of Springwood's skyline. We'll use it to mark an entry into our journal (get the most bang for our buck!).

Well, where do we start? I suppose at the start will be useful. Springwood will be a city of grandeur and planned civility. The essentials are laid down, so there is a good place to begin. Just the other day one of the interns came in with a photography device and offered to take pictures with it of Springwood and its developments, how grand!? So now we have pictures!

Here is an overview of Springwood:​

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You can see the grand ambitions of springwood, carefully coloured in this picture (again our fancy 'graphic artist', we spared no expense). The red section is the planned CBD of Springwood, the centre of town. The yellow is the planned main industrial area, rich in oil deposits. The green is the planned inner city park, 'Clyde Park', named after a very famous resident with quite the story to tell (maybe one day we'll tell it). And the blue is the planned residential areas of Springwood, ranging from high-density high-rise, to low-density suburban sprawl. The first settled suburb of Springwood is the inner city district of High Park.

High Park in all its glory. An inner city, high-density high-rise suburb famed for its parks:

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The High Park skyline (left of bridge) from the opposite side of Angel Bay, with the Bay St Bridge:​

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The Bay St Bridge (when eventually connected to something on the other side), forms an important spine for Springwood, connecting the city to the western suburbs across Angel Bay. High Park stretches from the Bay St Bridge, north along the shoreline (to the left of the bridge). To the south (right of the bridge) are the entertainment districts Bay Strip and The Wedge.

Bay Strip and The Wedge are famed nightlife and tourist destinations in Springwood. Home to many bars, restaurants, clubs, gaming rooms and hotels:





The area is also home to the Springwood Quidditch Pitch. A premium sporting venue, playing host to professional Quidditch games, including games in the Quidditch World Cup! People of Springwood, Springwoodiens, are passionate Quidditch fans:



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South of the city, and across the Sparrow River, is the main industrial areas of Springwood. We'll explore this area in depth in later entries (when it's built).

The region is rich in oil deposits, with some early business established:



It is also home to the Springwood Nuclear Power Plant. Responsible for all of Springwood's current energy needs. It is situated out on a tiny island in the Torren River called Pine Isle:

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So that just about rounds out this entry. It was a small insight into Springwood, and the grand plans that are in place for its future. Came back for the next entry in which we build the decades old University of Springwood, let in some more residents and get the public transportation bones laid. Thanks

Lets end on a night aerial of the city so far. To the right is north, left is south:

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Thanks for having a read. This is my first every city journal, so feedback is welcome. I'd like to keep it up so if anyone has any tips of how I could improve etc so that people want to follow and I can keep it going, much appreciated

 

[muttonnoir]

Nice job, thanks for sharing

 

[TheGamingGrace]

Thanks a bunch for the nice comment muttonnoir
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__ENTRY 3 - A UNIVERSITY, RESIDENTIAL EXPANSION, AND PT__

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Welcome back to our wondrous city journal for Springwood. Some big things have happened around town, so lucky I work at the council because I am your host through this city journal process. Oh, and lucky the intern is really good at photographing things (though when I look at them, I'm not entirely sure how they are taking them...?). It's been a dreary few days around town weather wise, the other day it rained for an entire day and night!

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But, never the less, construction around Springwood has been going at a cracking pace! The University of Springwood, the oldest and most prestigious university in all the land, opened yesterday. Its hallowed halls are rich with educational history and its alumni grace some of the most important of world stages, including sport, politics, film, and science to name a few.

Fear not! It can't rain all the time:



Some of its professional sporting fields. Many of the worlds finest sportswomen and men mastered their skills on these very fields:



This aerial provides a fantastic overview of the University. Props to the intern for capturing this, and we don't even pay them!
Starting at the carpark at the bottom left, moving right across Professors Park is the Administration Building (green roof), next door again to the right is the Science Building (red stripes), above that is the Education Building (little building), above again is the Medical Building and the University Training Hospital, across to the left is the Arts Building (older building with red roof), and finally the Sporting Fields fill out the back of the University campus:


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As well as the University construction, the new neighbourhood of Belmont has begun to take shape. This new district runs along the eastern edge of Clyde Park, just behind the University. In fact, the first buildings can be seen in many of the University photos you've just looked at. Housing has been very popular in this new neighbourhood, mainly due to its close proximity to the University and its affordability because it is further away from the water.​

You can see the new residential buildings taking shape here. To the left (west) is the (future) Clyde Park and beyond that the Wedge and Bay Strip districts:



In the centre of Belmont is a popular square that hosts markets and community events, next to that is the Belmont Church for anybody who is church inclined, and surrounding these are a few local shops:


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Well as the masses begun to get better educated, and the new neighbourhood expanded, our focus at the council turned to Public Transportation. We pride ourselves on being very car minded here at the council, and what we mean by that is, we don't want Springwoodiens to have to rely solely on the automobile to get around. That is why we invest heavily in footpaths and bikepaths throughout the city. But, we have also recently completed the beginnings of the city-wide PT network. Unfortunately our super-pricey-fandangled graphic artist hasn't delivered the goods yet in terms of the network map, but our always faithful Intern has taken a few photographs for you to peruse. So, the current Springwood Metropolitan Transportation Network (SMTN) consists of:

Train:
Springwood Port and Industry (SPI) Line
Regional Line
Airport Line

Metro:
Wedge Line

All Train lines and most Metro lines pass through or originate from the Springwood Central Station. You can see to the right a blue SPI Line train having just left Platform 1, and still at the Station on Platform 2 is an orange Regional Line train:



The Wedge Metro Line is the first of many planned inner city metro lines. It runs from the Central Station down through High Park, Bay Strip, and ending in the Wedge District. This is the High Park Metro Station, one of the busier stations on the new line:


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And with that we come to the end of the entry for this time. Hopefully we will have our new transportation network map ready for the next entry. We hope you have found this little insight into Springwoods development as fascinating as we have found it, truly. I'll leave it here with a fantastic aerial (actually no idea how the Intern took this!?) of Springwood so far. Until next time.

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For anyone who isnt interested in reading this journal, you can also watch it happen for reals in my video journal:

 

[muttonnoir]

Nice update. Enjoy hearing the narrative that folks develop as the backstory for their city. CS is such a cool game allows your creativity to fly. Have you tried the various seawalls and walkways available on the workshop?- they look fantastic and really finish off the coastlines/riverbanks They also conduct electricity and work as parks, Also a set that look great in an industrial harbour setting. I can't do without them

 

[TheGamingGrace]

Thanks again muttonnoir for more feedback!
I must admit, seawalls/coastlines are my downfall. I downloaded some of the different assets but just couldn't make them do their thing in my city. I'll really have to get my act together and give them another go.
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__ENTRY 4 - TRAIN TRAFFIC!__
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Word on the street is that lots of Springwoodiens are enjoying the new public transport options. Our own council reports show a great uptake in passenger numbers so far, which is a great result. Future expansion is well into the planning stages (as are the new network maps and network logo). However, with more of our fantastic Springwood now readily accessible, we have seen an exponential increase in regional trains coming into the city. Unfortunately, the companies that run these services are out of our jurisdiction in terms of control, and their company policies have led to some 'issues' in our Springwood.

In short, congestion on the rails:
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Now, we do love tourism in Springwood. In fact, we have many policies at the council to promote Springwood's tourist destinations, with grand plans for many more. However, these particular regional trains are coming into Springwood in droves, and unfortunately, are only carrying a handful of tourists and are otherwise empty! Now I'm not sure how these regional train companies are funding this business model, but that's not really our concern, the train traffic that this is causing however, is. You can see in the above picture, the blue trains serve the SPI line (our local Springwood service), all those orange trains are regional (causing all the problems), and finally those few industrial trains, well, that is a mistake on our behalf at the council. Better planning should have been implemented to get these trains off the tracks for local services from the start.

So after many months of planning and budgeting here at the council, we are proud to offer our solution. The 'Regional and Industrial Duplication Project'. In short, we are duplicating all the track used for regional and industrial services and separating them from our local Springwood services. It's one of the largest infrastructure projects to be undertaken in Springwood since the construction of the planned road network. So here is the process of constructing the 'Regional and Industrial Duplication Project'.

The first stage of the project was to relocate the Springwood Port and Industrial (SPI) Train Station so that a dedicated track for the SPI Cargo Station could be built. In this picture you can see the SPI Train Station with the current track and road layout. Directly across the road is the site of the new station, with construction about to start:


Once the new station was completed (the one with power), a new rail tunnel was constructed to join the station to the Springwood Oil Fields (SOF) Train Station. This allows a separate route for passenger trains to industrial trains. Now demolition started on the old SPI Train Station, track layout, road layout and old rail tunnel. It was decided that the original rail tunnel which carried both the passenger and industrial trains would be decommissioned and the track brought back above ground now that it is only servicing industrial trains:


Demolition well under way (all the construction and demolition has caked this stretch of road with dirt!):


After a year and seven months of construction and demolition, the new SPI Train Station is fully operational (with one of those pesky regional trains! Why!?). The old tunnel is gone and replaced by the elevated rail that services only industrial trains. The old elevated roadway has been demolished and moved to the other side to accommodate the new elevated rail. Finally, the main road has been cleaned and the trees replanted (the grass is yet to grow back..):


Stage two involved the connection of the new SPI Train Station and rail tunnel to the SOF Train Station and then continued separation of the industrial and regional services from these two local stations. The layout of the original SOF Train Station and Cargo Station were kept and a separate rail was constructed for the Cargo Station to separate it. The new rail tunnel was then connected with the recently separated Train Station. With less involved, this stage only took five months:
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Stage three was more complex and involved duplicating the rail bridge over the Sparrow River. This was also one of the more costly stages of the Project. You can see in this picture the start of construction for foundations of the new bridge. The site office for this project is the little square building in the middle between the two cranes:


Surprisingly, the new bridge was completed on time and under budget after one year and one month of construction. The old bridge is the one on the bottom, the new is on top:

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Stage four involved duplication of the rail line as it cuts through earmarked residential land next to Springwood CBD. The decision was made to keep the new industrial and regional track elevated from the new bridge through these future suburbs. It will help with new road construction and linkages through the new suburbs. Though the original tacks, now for local services, were kept at ground level. Perhaps a poor planning decision, we'll have to wait and see as the suburbs form:


The fifth and final stage involved the separation of the junction that branched the original line north through a tunnel to Springwood Central Train Station and east out into the region. This was one of the main congestion points on the old lines as all local, regional and industrial trains converged here and tried to head in different directions. A new junction so that regional trains can head to Springwood Central Train Station is currently under-construction further east along the new regional/industrial tracks (however, no pictures of this were taken). The new elevated flyover is well into construction here:


It was a very delicate operation as the tracks were kept in operation the whole time (those damn regional trains everywhere!):


Finally, after nearly four years of construction the 'Regional and Industrial Duplication Project' was complete with the opening of the new flyover, completing the separation of regional and industrial trains from local Springwood services. To the east (right of this picture), just past the highway (you can see in top right corner), is the new junction to connect regional trains to Springwood Central Train Station, though no pictures were taken of this construction (technically it was outside of the RID Project):

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So that's an in-depth pictorial history through the construction of the 'Regional and Industrial Duplication Project'. It has been a big and busy few years for us at the council here, so we hope you enjoyed!

 

[TheGamingGrace]

__ENTRY 5 - NEW SUBURBS, SEAWALLS AND TRAMS__
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Welcome back everyone returning to our Springwood city journal here. Or, just plain welcome if this is your first time gracing us with your presence. We have been quite the busy little bees here in city hall over the past few weeks, much expansion and construction has been undertaken! But thankfully, oh faithful intern has been there to document it all, so without further chit chat, let's jump straight into this entry.

First off, here is a lovely sunset photo of the city as it stands at the moment (I believe the intern may have purchased a drone or something, they're not this tall..). As you can see, development has completely filled the main peninsula the city rests on. Also, and much to our delight, engineers in Springwood have suddenly realised how to create seawalls, so an extensive seawall construction project has taken place. Now, they encircle the entire city peninsula giving it a wonderfully finished look, hurrah: ​

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You can see in that photo that the suburb of Belmont has been completely finished. It's quite the trendy and happening suburb, being next door to the University and all. Four new suburbs have also been developed along the eastern edge of the city, to the right of Springwood Ave (the main big road that turns into the bridge). These new suburbs, in order, are the Theatre District (the foreground), Sterling, Eastland and Bridgeport (at the top, bordering the main highway). Let's start with the most interesting, Theatre District:

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Standing pride of place, and rather out of place for some, is the Sparrow Hotel & Casino Tower (it's the giant blue and white tower for those that have trouble spotting it..). Some local residents of the area, particularly in Sterling as it wraps around Theatre District, aren't the biggest fans of this complex. In fact, many protested over the initial plans for the complex and then during its construction. However, the powers that be (mainly those in the tax and treasury department) are all for this rather large Casino. As for my position on it, I can't really say, being in the council and all. The Theatre District is also home to many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, entertainment venues, smaller hotels, and of course the Grace Theatre. The namesake of the Theatre District, the Grace Theatre is Springwoods premier theatre venue. Housed in a modern building along the waters edge are four separate theatres of various sizes that play host to musicals, plays, ballet, opera and live music:

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This nighttime photo captures it in all its lit up glory. At the end of the pier in front of the Theatre sits a small, but highly in demand restaurant by one of Springwood's finest chefs. It's the place to be seen after a performance at the Theatre or a night out in the District.

Above the Theatre District is the suburb of Sterling. Predominately residential, it consists of high rise, high density housing along the border with Springwood Ave, and becoming low rise and low density as it heads toward the waters edge. Above Sterling is the suburb of Eastland. The two are very much the same in terms of residential components and density:

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In the picture above is the Eastland Church and Cemetery. This forms the border between Sterling (to the left) and Eastland (to the right). You can see the makeup of the suburbs as well, low rise near the water and becoming denser and taller the further they head inland (the top right, just out of photo is the start of the CBD).

Above Eastland is the suburb of Bridgeport. This is a high density, high rise suburb and borders directly with the Springwood CBD. It is a very wealthy, high class suburb with its excellent connections to the city, high calibre hospitals and schools, many parks, as well as an enviable waterside lifestyle. It's home to many of Springwood's rich and famous:

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The above photo shows the centre of Bridgeport (the CBD to the left and looking down towards Eastland, Sterling then the Theatre District). It also shows the main rail line that cuts down the east side of the city. The line on the left is the Springwood Port and Industry Train Line (that disappears into a tunnel heading toward Springwood Central Station), and the line on the right is the completely separated Regional and Industrial line, it heads off toward the bottom left of the photo then out across the Sparrow River.

Above Bridgeport is the main Highway into Springwood. After it crosses the Sparrow River (to the left), it delves into twin tunnels as it travels underneath the CBD and re-emerges on the other side. Its main connection to the CBD is just before the tunnels here, at the Springwood Circle. When the Springwood engineers sort out a few technical hiccups, it's planned for a great monument to stand in the centre of the Circle and welcome everyone into Springwood:

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Above the Springwood Circle is the newest of suburbs, Powerhill. Being north of the main highway and train lines (bottom of the picture), it is the first suburb to be outside of the city proper. It is predominantly residential, with a mixture of high density at the end closer to the city, tapering off to low density and low rise as it moves away from the city. The Old Springwood Power Station is the main feature, and namesake, of Powerhill. It sits atop a hill in the centre of Powerhill (original name, I know..):

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The Old Springwood Power Station is one of the original buildings of Springwood and was used to supply power before the new Nuclear Power Station was constructed on Pine Isle, down south of the city. It still stands today, commanding quite the presence in the city, and is included on the Springwood Heritage Register. However, politics plays a prominent role in why it is currently empty and derelict, no one wants to fork up the money to repair it and repurpose it so the city can use it once more. It's a very hot topic when election time rolls around. You can also see the old pier that was used to transport the coal to the Power Station. It's in a more series state of disrepair because the foundations for the rail bridge over the Sparrow River were built directly in front of the pier, making it difficult to reuse.

Here is another lovely sunset picture our intern took to round out the current look into Springwood's newest suburbs. It's taken from the opposite direction to the previous picture, this time from the north above Powerhill and looking south down over Springwood:

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One new addition to Springwood that we are all very happy and excited about, you may have seen pottering around in some of the photos. It is the new Springwood Tram Network. One of the cities chief public transport consultants recently took a holiday to the snow, and when they came back they were so enamoured by a local tram network they saw there, they instantly designed a network for Springwood. And alas, we now have trams!:

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The trams currently service the inner city and city areas. There is a central tram circle around the Springwood Central Train Station, and four main lines branch out from there. They are the Wedge District Tram Line, Belmont Tram Line, Theatre District Tram Line and Sterling Tram Line. Then there are two cross city lines, the City Circle Line and Theatre District/High Park Line. The Tram Network is coloured purple, the Metro Network is coloured green and the Train Network is coloured orange. We've also been told at the council that the Springwood Public Transportation Network (SPTN) is still currently working on their logo and creating network maps (they're not the most technical/creative people).

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And that rounds out our journal for this entry. Thank you for reading if you've stuck with us this far into Springwood. We'll leave you with an aerial photo of Springwood as it stands today (yes, someone took it during the daytime when all the others were night, the council has taken the appropriate action and that person has been fired. Don't worry, it wasn't the intern):

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I've also got my video journal for Springwood if you'd like to get a more in depth look at my city. Plus, there are some nice shots and time lapses of the city at the end.

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Also, I ask for some tips in the video journal, they are:

- Tips for the stabling yards next to the Central Station. I'm not the most savvy with mods and assets but if anyone could point me to some good ones for placing around train lines, I would super duper appreciate that. Mainly, good concrete fillers. Is there anything like the parks from Cities XL available? The random space fillers, they were the best part of that game!

- I have made two assets that don't appear to show up in the game. One is the new abandoned factory prop that came in the latest update and I've used for the Old Springwood Power Station. I created a unique one for my city but it doesn't appear next the original one in game, nor in the parks or landmarks menus. Second is the Arc De Triomphe, I created a unique one to place in the Springwood Circle but only the original in game one appears. In the manager sub-menu it says I need the Snowfall DLC to use my version of the Arc...

Thanks in advance for any help !

 

[muttonnoir]

Your city is developing nicely. Interesting that you play virtually mod/asset free which I must say is a very different game from a heavily modded one! I play with 40 mods and 1600+ assets and they greatly enhance the game experience- each to his own. There is a collection of fillers- agricultural land, gravel, tiled & concrete and of various sizes available on the workshop- look under props sub menu. Creating dedicated passenger and cargo rail routes is a very wise move that should fix the nightmare scenario of trainmaggedon! There is a relatively new mod that allows you to control where and how many trains spawn from each station. Love the time you've invested in creating a narrative backstory for your city which helps to create some character and life to the project. Thanks again for sharing the progress, always great to see how fellow gamers explore their creativity through Cities Skylines.

 

[TheGamingGrace]

Thanks a bunch muttonnoir for your help and nice words
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Well we're back in Springwood. Thanks for coming back, or welcome if this is your first time. We've been very busy at the council lately, quite the expansion of the northern suburbs has happened, we've introduced buses to Springwood and some new attractions like Springwood Zoo and Springwood Stadium to name a few. So let's jump right in!

Firstly, we have the new Stadium District:


The upper left (off screen) is the CBD and directly left is North Springwood. The Stadium Precinct consists of (going clockwise), the Springwood Exhibition Hall (light green roof), to the right is the Springwood Arena, next to that is Springwood Stadium, and below left is the Springwood Convention Centre (dark green roof). The Stadium Precinct hosts the majority of Springwood's premier sporting events in the two sports stadiums, and conferences and events in the two Exhibition and Convention buildings. To the right of these facilities (just out of picture) is the night life and hotel area of the Stadium District that caters for all the people after they've attended something in the District.

Here is a night picture, with the Springwood Exhibition Hall in the foreground, and the night life and hotel area to the left of Springwood Stadium:


The next major update we've had here in Springwood is the expansion of the northern suburbs. Here is an overview of this expansion:


This night time picture is taken from the northern most point of the new suburbs, looking back at the Springwood CBD (upper left). Here is a daytime picture (form the opposite direction):


You can see the Springwood Central Train Station (SCTS) in the left foreground, with the new Stadium District just to the left of that. The built up, high-rise area directly north (above) the SCTS is North Springwood and is essentially an extension of the CBD, served by the same tram and subway network. The main train line running through North Springwood and on through the northern suburbs is the Wilson Hill Line. We'll delve into each new suburb, but in short we have: above North Springwood is Paloma Heights, above that is Regent. To the right of North Springwood is the expanded Powerhill, above that is Wilson Hill, and beyond are future planned suburbs (yet to be named).

Here is a photo of the expanded Powerhill, majority of expansion has been low-rise, detached housing heading north:


Above Powerhill is the new suburb of Wilson Hill. The final station on the aptly named Wilson Hill Train Line, the suburb is a low-rise residential suburb. It's home to a small town centre with all the essentials, it is also served by the new bus lines. It consists of everything to the left of the four lane avenue:


Paloma Heights is above North Springwood, bordered by Wilson Hill on it's eastern side. It consists of high-rise, mix use were it borders North Springwood, and gradually becomes low-rise residential the further north it spreads. It's served by a train station, metro station, tram line and bus lines. It's a very popular inner city suburb, some would even say it's rather 'hip'. It's the main built area in the centre of the picture, bordered by the four lane avenues:


It is also home to the Springwood Zoo, a very popular destination for both locals and tourists alike. The Paloma Heights Train Station and Metro Station are both to the left in this picture, with the Paloma Heights Tram Line running down the right side of the Zoo. In the upper right of the picture is Lady Paloma Square. It has a statue of Lady Paloma at it's centre, a famous saint for the people of Springwood:


The next suburb is Regent:


Regent is the main centre for the northern suburbs. It consists of a low-rise residential area with a commercial, retail and office based centre that also has essential services for the northern suburbs. It is served by Regent Train Station as well as Regent Metro Station which is the northern most station on the metro network. It is also a local bus line hub for the northern suburbs, with many lines originating and ending at the Regent Town Square (centre of picture), which is also home to the train and metro stations:


The main commercial and retail centre of Regent. The Regent Church and Cemetery at the top, the Regent Shopping Centre to the left, and to the right (out of picture) is Regent Town Square and transport hub:


These are the Regent Ovals and Skatepark. Some of the essential services and facilities that Regent offers the northern suburbs:


These houses form the limits of Regent at the base of Grace Hill, and are also the northern most extent of urban Springwood. You can see the CBD off in the distance, to the centre left you can see a train travelling along the Wilson Hill Train Line, in the centre is the Regent Stables, a popular destination for the nature starved residents of central Springwood:

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Well that's everything for this entry folks. Thanks once again for having a read. Things are progressing rather rapidly in Springwood, so we're trying our hardest to stay on top of it all here at the council! And speaking of the council, word on the street is the CBD is all finished and should be our next focus. That means we'll be on show! The Springwood Council House and Town Hall await you in the next entry

As always, here is an aerial overview of Springwood so far:

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If anyone would like, you can also watch a lovely video of me doing a video city journal for Springwood. Yay, video!

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