River Broad

The River Broad is a stretch of river within the decontaminated zone.

In rough order of location:

Three Courses Park - a woodland park where two smaller rivers meet to become the River Broad. The park is built mostly but not entirely on decontaminated land, and both of the source rivers define the legal boundary of the land ruled by Hope City. Professor Normal's house overlooks the park.

The C Marina - A place for posh people who own yachts, with a couple of miles of scenic river around it. Named after a suburb of the old City that used to be around here. These days, only local historians have any idea what the C actually stands for.

Waterfront - An upper-class district of the city, with bars and restaurants along the waterfront. Some of these places will serve food and wine to people on boats.

The Interchange - The river and canal meet under the shade of graceful rail bridges, specifically designed to give shade without blocking out the sun. There is a small city park here, between the canal head and the station. It's a common place to meet, because it's accessible from both major rail lines, as well as the river and canal.

The New Marina - Hope City has very little trade by boat, but what there is takes place here. The boats normally arrive by canal, as the River Broad is not navigable downstream of Hope City.

Goldsmith Bridge - Considered by most to be the navigable end of the river. Between here and the Merrywether Bridge, the river is considered to define the boundary of the city itself. The bridge carries the express rail line, which runs directly to the city centre rather than stopping at the Interchange. Under the arches, there are often criminals selling goods or services of some kind; the less built up lands on the far side of the river make it easy to get away.

Industrial District - Not actually a city district for administrative purposes, but a large area of factories. There are laws about allowing chemical discharge into the river, but they are widely flouted. By the time it's passed through this area, the water is quite possibly toxic. Nobody in their right mind would want to run a boat here.

Milton Docks - A district constructed on the site of docks in the Old City, but there are no docks here. The river is bordered mostly by bare walls on the city side, with occasional places where you could walk alongside if you wanted to. A high crime area, nobody would live or work this close to the smell if they had a choice. Many of the buildings here have a nautical theme, as an intentional nod to history. Some architects intended this to be a functional port, but their dreams never became reality because:

New Futures Park - The river was contaminated with toxic and radioactive waste during the blast. Here, Mayor Clarke set up a facility to show the world her revolutionary decontamination process, and the museum still exists at the centre of a completely revitalised piece of parkland. But the change in quality is clear, because the park is along the border of Hope City, and no effort has been made to clean the river or its banks on the other side of the imaginary line. When it became clear that the park would always be in sight of an irradiated no-mans-land, people stopped coming. Soon, even the park authorities stopped caring when the Industrial District started putting even more effluent into the river. Now, the museum demonstrates their technology on some ponds off the side of the river, but nobody acts to stop the water slowly poisoning the park again.

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