Show us your Downtowns & CBD's!

[Alfred.Jones]

Very nice mjig_dudy

I look forward to your city Alek

[NikNik]

Indeed great stuff mjig_dudy. A bit dark and grim, so it may fit the show us your...ghetto's too.

Nik-Nik

[meldolion]

here is mine....
city of Tear...



city of illian:



hope you like it

[bat]

Wonderful downtown, meldolion

[Masochist]

LP_Green: Nice clean area...makes a stark contrast to the pictures that come before and after it (Fairlane500 and mjig_dudy).  I like the different BAT's showcased, and the greenness of it all.  Although the way the streets go around the avenues when they cross the sunken highway kind of sticks out (because the avenues have that grass texture under them).  But I guess that's just a nit-pick.  Cool picture overall!

mjig_dudy: Oooh, grungy!  I love that sunken rail line!  And that's a very interesting building on the right side of the picture...the one with the almost-abstract assortment of windows.  The one with the graffiti on it.  Very crouded, very dirty...very nice!

meldolion:  I like how your CBD goes right along those foggy cliffs!  I also like those apartments and buildings right next to that sunken highway.  Next time, though, please make sure to minimize those toolbars, because I would love to see the rest of that second picture.  Thanks!

[Shadow Assassin]

Very lovely. I quite like mendolion's downtown. It's quite scenic.

Very nice pics, guys. I showed this first one in the Suburbs thread, but I might as well show it here too.


Ensenada's downtown at night. This is located in the residental section, just northeast of downtown.


Brackenfell's downtown. It's a lot smaller, but has the amenities of the big city that people come to love.

You can visit Ensenada here.

[jen_p]

Wow, Shadow Assassin, that's a hard act to follow.

But anyway, here is the civic/downtown area of my latest city, Ventura:

[jaronamo70]

wow, these are really cool, amazing CBD's!   

[bat]

Wonderful downtown, Shadow Assassin

Very great civic area, jen_p!

[Alfred.Jones]

Very cool downtown areas everyone

[Masochist]

jen_p: Nice open area there!  Seems like the perfect setting for the government seat!  I especially like that park.  So simplistic, but so charming.  Awesome!

Shadow Assassin: Cool pictures!  Very New York-esqe in my opinion, what with the large parks surrounded by the tall buildings.  Don't know if that's what you were going for, but that's the kind of vibe I got.  Nice work!


Okay, so believe it or not, I actually got to work, and I have pictures to share!  This will be a before and after type thing.  Ahh, but first:

Prelude:

This is Emerald Square from my SC3KU city Power City (which I'm recreating using SC4...looking NE):


Basically, a high end shopping area, with some nice mid-to-high rise office buildings.  So that's what I wanted to recreate with SC4.

Before:

This is my first attempt at it:


Yeah.  That's right.  All I did was zone some stuff and hope for the best.  Which I didn't get.  The only part I actually worked on a bit was this plaza:


Ahh...yeah.  Let's not speak of that one again.  Either way, I deleted the entire thing and decided to start over.

After:

After trying a few things (which I didn't like at all), I finally swallowed my pride and decided to start plopping.  After a couple hours of leveling and plopping and the like, I finally ended up with something I like (the first one is facing north-ish):




The entire inspiration for this area came from the COCO Center, which has to be one of the most unique and cosmopolitan B.A.T.'s ever B.A.T.'d.:



I also wanted NDEX's Club ATOM Blue right in there somewhere, because I thought it would help establish what kind of area it was supposed to be:


Okay...so that's the story behind it.  Now for some choice shots, starting with a nighttime shot of Club ATOM Blue and the Marriot:


API World Tower and such at dusk:


Fireworks from the Mayor's House:


Sunken Malls and Raised Plazas (just north of the rest of what was pictured...):


GeoSynth Building (Geometry International) and City Hall:


GeoSynth Building and API World Tower at dusk:


Fireworks over the towers:


Shot of Random Buildings at dusk:


...And at night:



So there's my showcase.  I know it probably didn't even merit such an unnecessarily long post like this, but I was just a bit over-excited that I get to share something finally, especially after seeing so much of the good work that has been going on lately!

(By the way...is there an easier way to resize the pictures for the forums without actually resizing them on my computer  ?  If there is, please let me know, because even though there isn't, to my knowledge, a size restriction for photos, I know it can be really annoying for some people to have to bother with gigantic 1024 x 768.  Thanks!)


<Edit> Added two pictures...

[TheTeaCat]

What wonderful stuff all of you have produced. been away for a few days and it takes ages to catch up with all the wonderful stuff on here. Well done folks each and every one of you.

[bat]

Fantastic downtown pictures, Masochist!

[Giligone]

Great CBDs everyone! Masochist, Thats a great progression. At first I was like  Thats a bit rough... but then I saw how you progressed and eventually ended up with a great downtown! Very nice. And brakenfell is just great as well.

Here's my city's humble downtown. Not nearly as spectacular as some of these ones though.

[Masochist]

Nice mosaic, Giligone!  I remember this area from when you showed it on ST.  I love that peachish tower, it's very ineteresting!  And even though this is the "Downtown/CBD" thread, I really like that little housing community by the coast.  I'd like to just drive that street, maybe stop and enjoy the view.  Nice!


<Edit>I added a couple pictures to my last post...

[bat]

wonderful downtown, Giligone!

Great two pictures, Masochist!

[Alek King of SC4]

[vester]

Great works, you guys are showing. 

[NikNik]

Very nice guys.

Aleking I recognized your pics without seing your name first. I guess your pics are your trademark.

Great stuff.

Nik-Nik

[bat]

Wonderful town and river (or canal), Alek King of SC4!