Critique my region plan! (An overview)

[alexr19]

I'm on the verge of starting a new region, but I've never planned one out before starting. So, I figured this time I'd try something a little different. This post is just an overview of what I've planned so far. The real nitty gritty stuff will come later. For now though, I've decided that this region will be centered around Chesapeake, a city I'm envisioning spreading across four large tiles and divided into quadrants, like a certain capital city. 

Here is a map of the region:



Basic city plans ordered by target population:

Chesapeake 2M
NE - 750k, seat of government, grand buildings, museums, embassies, "central park" and waterfront park, plazas and mall, $$$ residential and office, top 5 university, mostly midrise, high-rises at NE intersection with Potomac and at SW "Four Corners" region
SE - 650k, $$$ residential and retail predominant, $$ along border with SW, some $$-$$$ office, waterfront park, top 5 university, mostly low and midrise with exception of NW "Four Corners" region
SW - 350k, industrial, seaport, $ residential predominant, $$ along borders with NW, SE and Suffolk, mostly $ retail, densest at NE corner ("Four Corners" region) which will form an exclave of $$$ affluence
NW - 250k, solid $$-$$$, more suburban feel, higher density (edge city-ish) in SE corner ("Four Corners" region) south and east of James Creek
Winchester 550k, mid-sized city, small fairly dense downtown transitioning rapidly to suburban density
Passamore 300k, highly populated $$-$$$ suburb, denser along border with NE-Ch and at southeast intersection with Sandy Springs (high-rises), transitioning to suburban density to N and W, high concentration of I-HT
Reston 250k, highly populated $$-$$$ suburb, well-planned, denser near southeast border with NE-Ch, high concentration of I-HT
Hopewell 200k, old small town on grid, fast growing $$ suburban from Winchester to north and Passamore to south
Calverton 120k, old small town on grid, new rapidly-sprawling $$ suburban
Sandy Springs 100k, chic $$$ suburban, denser toward Potomac & Chesapeake and at SW intersection with Passamore (high-rises), island preserves
Suffolk 90k, denser near border with SW-Ch, blue-collar/industrial, $-$$ toward SW transitioning to solid $$ with pockets of $$$ heading south and east
Brookville 90k, rapidly growing suburb of Winchester, developed along eastern border with Winchester and southeastern border with Wills Creek
Kecoughtan 85k, $$ sprawl, extension of highly desirable Reston, high concentration of I-HT
Tuckahoe 80k, denser near border with SE-Ch, $$ in west transitioning to $$$ heading east
Poquoson 80k, old small town on grid, new rapidly-sprawling $$ suburban, $$$ at river
Potomac 50k, 200k jobs, edge city, dense cluster of high-rises at NW corner
Calvertville 40k, rapid growth, $$$ suburban along river, typical $$ suburban sprawl transitioning into rural w/ (horse) farms to west, growing I-HT presence
Wills Creek 40k, $$ suburban along southeast border with Reston, eastern border with Hopewell and northeast border with Brookville, transitioning into rural to W
Susquehanna 40k, $$-$$$ suburban, developed along southern border with Sandy Springs and along western border with Hopewell up to about Plum Creek (body of water "cutting" into Susquehanna), transitioning to rural to N and E
Bloomfield 30k, $$ suburban along western border with Winchester, rural to S and E
Weyland 15k, rural, agricultural, burgeoning suburb w/ I-HT in south
Nansemond 10k, rural, agricultural

(Very) Basic overview of interstate system (please excuse the crudeness  )



So let me know what you think! What makes sense? What doesn't? What can be improved? What should be removed or altered? Looking for any and all ideas!

[Lach77]

Looks interesting - I like your foresight in planning a capital city region that will contain all the tourist attractions, gvt buildings etc. The only thing I would be careful with is your transit networks. Don't forget that loops between regions can cause that bug where sims will infinitely commute in a loop between 3 or more cities.

[rooker1]

Very interesting indeed.
If you would like, I could move this to the MD section, (Recently Published) looks like this will make for a great Mayor's Diary.
I really like how you have planned.

Robin

[noahclem]

Looks very promising 

As advised already, you'll want to keep transit connections near corners limited to avoid the commuter bug. I also question if it makes sense to have your central city take up four tiles--certainly not because that amount of space is unrealistic, but because it can be frustrating jumping back and forth between tiles that share neighborhoods. I'm working on an area like that right now and while I think I'll eventually get the result I want it's been a hassle.

In my region I moved the tiles around so they tended to cover a distinct area better and so I could have 6 tiles with neighbor connections to the central tile. Moving the tiles also helped me keep borders, especially the three-tile and four-tile corner areas, on natural dividing areas like large hills and water. The process took a bit of work but I'm really glad I did it now.

I think you'll find that a pre-planned region is a great way to get the most space consuming networks (ie RHW and rail that includes all wide-radius curves) to look the way you want without having to destroy whole neighborhoods and realign tons of other routes. On that note, your transport network so far seems pretty well laid out. My biggest suggestion there would be to also consider where you want your major non-freeway roads going, and where you want your rail routes.

I hope you take Robin's suggestion and start an MD with this soon 

[alexr19]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I had totally forgotten about that eternal commuter bug  I've been able to avoid it in my current region of all large tiles so hopefully I'll be able to do that here. Does it kill your city if it happens? I tried re-arranging a map once and ended up with blank spaces in the map  But I guess it might be worth it to try again.

As for the MD, I'll see if it's worthy after I get started.