Canopy Hills, Cosmoplay

Canopy Hills (Japanese Hiragana: キャノピー丘; Japanese romanization: Kyanopī oka; Traditional Chinese: 天幕山; 2013 population 47 779) is a city in central Cosmoplay Region in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. It is a part of the most populated prefecture, the Kyōto (Japanese Hiragana: 京都) Prefecture. Located 45.5 km southeast of the Royal Watersauga crown colony of Port Run, and 13.6 km northeast of the region's capital, Canopy Hills is the third largest city in the region, and a critical part of the Greater Cosmo Area. It serves as a bedroom community to the region's capital city, though maintaining a certain degree of commercial activity in the area.

Canopy Hills is named after the hilly ranges that run through the middle of the city, named after the same name "Canopy Hills" or the "Canopy Mountains". The highest point of this mountain range stands at 712.5 m above sea level (the Mayoral Peak). Much of the population resides in the northern foothills. The southern foothills are rocky and cliff-like plunging into Lake Canopy, though the Canopy Hills Highway run through the area. The mountain is sparsely populated and offers a spectacular view of the city. The southeastern parts of the city is Lake Canopy, and Nathaniel Island on the lake forms a community within the city as well.

Canopy Hills is composed of four boroughs, the old town, and the "three new boroughs designated by colours". The four boroughs are Canopy Hills, Pinksborough, Greensborough, and Bluesborough. The city has a long history. Started in the 12th century, the city was once the capital and the biggest city of the region. The onset of the world wars has nearly destroyed the city, resulting in the city's designation of a "capital city" stripped. In the recent years, due to the strategic position of the city, the city has substantially grew. Today, it is one of the most populous city in the autonomous country.

Etymology
It is believed that a settlement first began in the northern foothills of the mountain range of the city in the 12th century. Then, tree growth was noted as very dense along the foothills area, and provided relief for the nomadic population during the hot summer days. The hills in the area was then named "Canopy Hills", and the settlement under the mountain range followed.

History
Human activity has been recorded in the area dated back to the 9th century. This is most likely caused by the eastward spread of population during the First Kingdom of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. Settlements remained to be nomadic and no permanent settlement has been recorded until the 12th century. In 1131, the nomadic tribe of Cantonese population has settled in the northern foothills, and created a village named "Canopy Hills". The village was shortly abandoned, and re-occupied by the Japanese in 1154, when the Japanese sea explorers landed in the region and settled along the foothills.

The village quickly grew and became an important hub for Japanese culture and language. In 1531, when the Cosmoplay Region was created within the kingdom of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, the city was the only population centre in the region, and had a population of 60,000. It was designated as the capital city of Cosmoplay Region beginning 18 February 1532, and was assigned as a city status on 5 September 1532.

The city continued to grow with an influx of Japanese population and also the continued westward movement of the population in the kingdom. In the 17th century, in light of the collapse of the first kingdom, the city was on the verge of being occupied by a foreign force. With the strong fortification of the city and the resistance of the Cosmoplay Region army, the city did not fall into the invading "western forces" hands. It remained to be an area effectively governed by the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, under the Region of Cosmoplay. It was also suggested that after much of the kingdom has been seized for colonization, the king escaped to Canopy Hills for temporary refuges.

In the midst of the war, the city continued to see an increase of population, and had transformed into an important hub for technology and culture. As the western forces begin to retreat from the kingdom, the city had a population of 135 000 and became one of the wealthiest city in the kingdom.

The city remained a large proportion to be of Japanese heritage. This had became an easy target for Imperial Japan to plan for an invasion. In 1910, Imperial Japan annexed the majority of Cosmoplay Region into its territory. A large portion of the Old Town Canopy Hills was destroyed under bombfire, and the surviving parts of the town are renamed in Japanese. Under the Japanese control, much of the original citizens, in particular the "foreign population" (people who speak other languages than Japanese), were required to travel back to their homeland. The city's population drastically decreased from pre-war 130 000 to 20 000 within a year after Japanese initial control of the city. During the Japanese control of the city, the Japanese created a new community of Pinksborough (then named ピンクシティ, literally the City of Pink). The community is reserved for military personnel and for people of higher social status. The community was generally wealthy and has became the symbol of "wealthy" to citizens in the city. The Japanese remained in control of the city until the end of the world war in 1945.

After the world war, the city is returned to governance by Cosmoplay Region under the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. After the war, less than 10 000 people remained in the city. After the new Cosmoplay Region is re-created, the government of Cosmoplay Region decided to move the capital to a newly constructed town iMacRockingAwesome. As such, the development speed of Canopy Hills remained to be slow for the next decades.

In the 1980s, as Cosmoplay's only metropolitan centre, the capital region, is growing rapidly. An increase of housing demand began to boom in areas surrounding the capital region, and Canopy Hills became a premium destination for the extra housing demand as existing infrastructure exist to hold a large population. A housing boom began in the late 1980s, resulting in the creation of the new community Greensborough (Japanese Hiragana: グリーン·シティ; Traditional Chinese: 綠城) just east of the existing urban area. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, further communities are developing in the western parts of the town, which resulted in another new town, Bluesborough (Japanese Hiragana: ブルーシティ／青城; Traditional Chinese: 藍城).

With a rapid increase of population also bought an increase of commercial business activities. In 2007, the municipal council decided to create a new central business district along the upslope areas near Greensborough. Constructions are ongoing to this day, but have since seen many businesses moving in, and has became one of the most important commercial centres in the region. The commercial growth was further fuelled by the construction of the Canopy Hills Greensborough International Airport, which completed and opened in 2009.

Geography
The city is divided into four boroughs, or wards (Japanese: 区 -ku), each designated by a colour. These boroughs are to the north of the Canopy Mountain Range, where most of the population are. There is a thoroughfare, the Canopy Hills Parkway that runs alongside with the mountain range, and while there are housing here and there on the mountain, most of the range is uninhabited, with sightseeing lookouts here and there. Towards the south of the mountain range, there are sporadic settlements, including the major settlement of Hillside and Nathaniel Islands. They are enlisted as part of Bluesborough.

List of Boroughs

 * Canopy Hills / Kyū-ku (Old Town; Japanese: 旧市街; Traditional Chinese: 舊城區) - the original site of the city. Much of the original city was destroyed in the war, and some parts of it is being rebuilt. The destroyed areas are now a part of the Canopy Hills Industrial Estate located immediately to the west of the residential areas. Much of the tourist attractions are located here. The old town is home to the least people and the smallest out of all boroughs in the city.
 * Pinksborough / Pinku (Japanese: ピンクシティ; Traditional Chinese: 粉紅城區) - An upscale community created during the Japanese occupation in the 1930s. Decors of the community, such as the sidewalks and the road pavements, are generally in pink, to highlight the upscale characteristics of the borough. The area is mainly residential, though in the recent years, there is a significant number of businesses settling along the Pink-Green Throughway (a major road that runs through the centre of the community). Further, most of the administrative facilities of the city is located here, including the city hall and the mayoral manor.
 * Greensborough / Gūrinku (Japanese: グリーンタウンエリア; Traditional Chinese: 綠城區) - A new mixed-land use and environmentally-friendly community built in the late 1980s, and completing in mid-1990s. The area is home to the new central business district of the city ("New Downtown"), as well as the Canopy Hills Greensborough International Airport. The community has surpassed Pinksborough in 2011, in coming the largest population centre and the area with the largest employment sources. A high tech industrial area is also planned in the area. Buildings and decors are generally in green to echo the environmentally-friendly theme of the borough.
 * Bluesborough / Burūku (Japanese: ブルーシティ/青城; Traditional Chinese: 藍城區) - A new subdivision divided out of the area west of Pinksborough, and includes a vast area of residential housing. Streets are named in numbers. Bluesborough is colour-coded as blue to correspond with Lake Canopy, as the new subdivision covers the areas near the lake as well. It is the largest area out of all boroughs in the city. It includes the communities of Hillside / Yamashida (Japanese / Traditional Chinese: 山下) and Nathaniel Island / Shima (Japanese: 島上; Traditional Chinese: 離島).

Demography
With the rapid development of the Cosmoplay's capital region, the population of Canopy Hills is on a rapid rise too.

According to the recent census in 2010, the majority of the population in Cosmoplay (over 60%) speaks Japanese natively, with up to 90% of the entire city speak it everyday as a lingua franca, or as a second language. The recent influx of foreign immigrants has given way to a sizeable English-speaking and Korean-speaking population. Approximately 10% of the population speaks the kingdom's official language, Cantonese.

The city's officials estimate that there are 49 000 residents as of early-2013, while a census estimate that there are 47 779 residents as of January 2013.

Transportation
The city has a complex road network, which has a relatively long history when the city was home to about 200 000 people. The Canopy Hills Highway links the city with the region's capital, as well as to serve as a link between all the boroughs in the city. The highway traverses the Langham Gap (Traditional Chinese: 朗豪峽) to connect with the southern portions of the city.

There are relatively steep roads that are opened to only private vehicles in the summer, and closed in the winter due to hazardous conditions. These roads are often found along the mid-foothills of the mountain range.

Nathaniel Island formerly had no road access. The Greensborough - Nathaniel Bridge opened in 2007 allowed direct road access to the island. There are also ferry services connecting to the island from Yamashida / Hillside.

There is also an intercity-rail line, which connects with the region's capital, and traverses the same path as the Canopy Hills Highway.

The city is served by air by the Canopy Hills Greensborough International Airport, which offers daily regional flights and kingdom-wide flights, as well as occasional flights to international destination. The airport is connected to the rest of the city by a complex metro system, the Canopy Hills Metro, which offers 3 lines of metro and stations across the boroughs of the city (except Bluesborough).