Westfield gets proper hotels next to Beachwood Park by giving the area a district with the tourism specialisation and high-rise commercial zoning, plants tree lines with Prop Line Tool, turns a congested street into a one-way, upgrades the highway to three lanes with sound barriers that measurably cut noise, passes 40,000 citizens, adds campus buildings and squeezes in taxi stands.
What happens in this episode
Episode 23 extended Beachwood Park. Now it gets hotels, along with a few traffic and noise fixes.
How it was built
High-rise hotels
A new street gives hotel guests easy access. To get proper hotels, add a regular district first, switch its commercial specialisation to tourism, then zone high-density commercial. Low-density gives smaller hotels. Soon a Choice Hotel, a Hotel Intercontinental, souvenir shops and nightclubs appeared. A couple of buildings got historic status so they stay. I explain the whole process in the hotels tutorial.
Tree lines
With Prop Line Tool, rows of trees go along the park fence and streets. You could plant every tree by hand, but this makes beautifying much easier (PLT tutorial). A crematorium covers the new area.
A one-way fix
A two-lane street was a traffic problem, but rebuilding meant destroying a district with a tiny roundabout. Instead it becomes a two-lane one-way, with trees moved aside, no parking and no pedestrian crossings. Pedestrian overpasses went in, but nobody used them, so they came out again. Elsewhere a modified standard intersection got trimmed down.
Sound barriers
The highway through the city is upgraded to a three-lane highway with sound barriers. The noise info view showed a clear improvement. Citizens shouldn’t suffer because a highway runs through town. Westfield passed 40,000, and at 42,000 another tile unlocks. I’ll pick the one that connects two parts of the city, mainly for mass transit.
Campus and taxis
The universities reached new reputation levels: libraries, an art club, commencement offices, academic statues, an IT club and a School of Travel. A taxi depot and taxi stands near the universities and districts went in. In Japan, New York, LA, San Francisco and Toronto, taxis come and go almost anywhere, so the stands are squeezed in with Anarchy. A park upgrade added gazebos, which you’d see in many places in Japan, plus food trucks and restrooms.
Video chapters
- 00:00Hotels by the amusement park
- 03:33Historic buildings and tree lines
- 07:11Crematorium and planning a new road
- 11:02A one-way and pedestrian bridges
- 18:43A modified standard intersection
- 26:46Three-lane highway with sound barriers
- 30:5740,000 and choosing the next tile
- 34:38Campus buildings
- 38:27A taxi depot and taxi stands
- 42:12Gazebos, food trucks and wrap-up
Clicking a chapter starts the video above at that point.
FAQ
How do you get high-rise hotels in Cities: Skylines?
Paint a regular district over the area, set the commercial specialisation to tourism, then zone high-density commercial. Low-density tourist zoning only gives smaller hotels.
Do highway sound barriers reduce noise?
Yes. Upgrading to the three-lane highway with sound barriers visibly improved the noise level in the noise pollution view.
Where should taxi stands go?
Near universities, busy districts and parks. Real cities rarely have neat taxi ranks — taxis stop almost anywhere — so I squeeze stands into existing streets.