Castejón

Castejón

*Castillón* (Aragonese)
Castejón Castillón (Aragonese)
Metropolis
	Castejón Metropolis
	Left to right: Llanito aerial view, Tamarix skyline, Plaza Ampurias, Sol station, Salto Bay Bridge, Chistén barrio, Confederal District, Mission Sant-Maloù, Baliscan Cabildo, Estadio Olímpico
	Flag Coat of arms Logo
	Nickname(s): Cosmopolitòpolis ; ("The Cosmopolis")
	Motto(s): En nuestro comunidá confiamos, en solidaridá empujamos ; ("In our commune we trust, in solidarity we thrust")
	Anthem: La Joven Guardia; (English: "The Young Guard")
	The "Core Commune" of Castejón
	Communes of Castejón Communes of Castejón
Sovereign state	Balisca
Seat	Castejón Centro
Boroughs	12 Alquézar, Hisbanya, El Capitán, Charxes, Espansión, Coruxón, Ampurias, Trinacria, Llanito, Sástago, Limón, Tamarix;
Government
• Type	liquid democracy
• Body	Metropolitan Council of Castejón
Area
• Metropolis	7,950 km2 (3,070 sq mi)
• Land	6,038.4 km2 (2,331.4 sq mi)
• Water	1,911.6 km2 (738.1 sq mi)
• Metro	11,832 km2 (4,568 sq mi)
Elevation (AMSL)	27 m (89 ft)
Highest elevation	98 m (322 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2020)
• Metropolis	23,328,795
• Estimate (2023)	24,479,594
• Rank	1st
• Density	2,900/km2 (7,600/sq mi)
• Megalopolis	35,343,242
Demonym(s)	Castejoneros (m), Castejoneras (f)
Demographics
• Languages	Kurupiran, Baliscano, Ladino, Mozarabic, Sabir
• Ethnic groups	65.7% Baliscans; 34.3% others
Postal code	080xx
Area code	+500 (B) 1 (C)
IHDI (2023)	0.836 very high
SDI (2022)	233.67 exemplary
Major airports	Concordia Airport; Alunzaro Airport; Diodoro Marqués Airport
Commuter rail	Castejón Metropolitan Rapid Transit (CMRT), AVB
Rapid transit	Castejón Metropolitan Rapid Transit, ComMuni
Active transport	LUMEN, Bici
Symbols
Bird	Magpie tanager (Cissopis leverianus)
Flower	Fairy iris (Dietes grandiflora)
Colour(s)	Red and white ;

Castejón (meaning "small castle"; Aragonese: Castillón; Kurupiran: Apúchína; "gathering place"), officially the Metropolitan City of Castejón (Baliscano: Ciudad Metropolitana de Castejón; Kurupiran: Ñande Pindó-Apúchína), also known as the Castejón Metropolis (Baliscano: Metrópoli de Castejón) is the capital and largest city of the Baliscan Confederation. The city makes up the central portion of the Alpujarra in the south-east region of the island of Atlantida. With a regional population over twenty-four million people in 2023, Castejón is the largest metropolitan area in the Baliscan Confederation, the Americas, the Western Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the largest in AIN. An Alpha+ global city, Castejón has risen to become a center of cuisine, fashion, business, and contemporary arts in the Americas. In addition to being a highly multicultural area, it is one of the world’s most livable cities. It is known for its preserved eclectic architecture and rich cultural life. Most recently, Castejón hosted the 18th edition of the AINVision Song Contest in 2021. Castejón is a cosmopolitan metropolis that is home to hundreds of ethnic and religious groups, contributing to its culture as well as to the dialect spoken in the city and in some other parts of the country. This is because since the 19th century, the city (and the country in general), has been a major recipient of millions of immigrants from all over the world, gradually forming a cultural mosaic.

Until 1883, the loosely coupled confederation did not have a central political organisation. Issues thought to affect the whole Confederation were the subject of periodic meetings in various locations. The Articles of Confederation (1810) provided few details concerning institutions, and this was not discussed until the 1826 Confederal Congress in Alessandria, but was largely ineffective, as all Bayaran regions except Carpinchera boycotted the congress. The Bayara secession and mobilization against the Congress led to an early termination without an definitive agreement. Around the same time, Castejón was considered to be the frontier of the fledgling confederation, a settlement in the "middle ground" in between cultures, peoples, and beyond state control. It gradually came to be called the "place of no gods", as it was suspiciously viewed as an aberration by many both before and after independence due to its flamboyant and cosmopolitan culture. Bayaran armies conducted an ill-fated campaign to capture the Alpujarra in 1827, which culminated in the Siege of Castejón and saw the intervention of the Maroon Confederacy on the side of the Confederalists.

After years of debate, shifting demographics, and negotiations and reconciliation between the confederations of Indigenous peoples, the Maroon Confederacy, and the post-colonial republics, the 1883 Confederal Convention symbolically recognized Castejón as the "cradle of the confederation". This de facto established the city as the de facto capital, and as a prototypical confederal compromise, the Congress agreed to the location of other administrative institutions, such as the Polytechnical School (1854) to a diverse variety of communes across the Confederation.

The city is the most substantial economic engine within the nation, with a diverse economy in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. 25% of the city is designated or protected green space, one of the world's highest proportions. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media cooperatives and convention venues. Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Today, the city is known as the heart of the Baliscan tech industry due to the concentration of tech companies, alternative finance, consumer electronics developers, and gaming corporations. Castejón has emerged as a global pioneer into Adaptive reuse, urban regeneration, eco-economic decoupling, climate drawdown and economic degrowth. The city has consistently ranked highly as one of the world’s most livable, reflecting its commitment to the compact and 15-minute city concepts, district heating, well-developed public transportation systems, comprehensive social protection policies, and a progressive cultural and political climate.

The term "Castejón Metropolis" is coterminous with the "Castejón Region". The process of urban sprawl between the densely populated city and the immediately surrounding satellite cities has formed the Alpujarras Megalopolis (Valparaíso, Amposta, Yerba Buena, and several smaller communes). Continued population growth around this region has additionally created one continuous conurbation named Concordia (Baliscano: “concord” or “harmony”) stretching from the plains of Tukupi to the Atlantic coast of Luzamontaña.

History[edit | edit source]

Indigenous settlement[edit | edit source]

Irapirangu, an indigenous chieftain of the Kuarupíba tribe that resisted early European exploration of the Alpujarra.

Various indigenous peoples have a rich and ancient history in the Alpujarra, which is now part of the modern city of Castejon. This region, nestled in the picturesque valley amongst the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén, has been inhabited by various indigenous communities for thousands of years. Among these communities, the Kuarupíba, a branch of Kurupiranga (a Tupi people descended from mainland Brazil and Pindorama) have played a significant role in shaping the cultural and historical tapestry of the region.

The presence of the people in the Alpujarra can be traced back to prehistoric times, with evidence of human habitation in the Alpujarra dating back to the Paleolithic era. Archaeological discoveries, such as cave paintings and stone tools, attest to the presence of early human settlements in the area. The Kuarupíba people are known for their remarkable craftsmanship, creating intricate pottery and decorative objects that showcased both artistic abilities and advanced techniques.

As the centuries passed, the Kuarupíba established a well-structured society with a distinct cultural identity. They developed a complex system of governance, based on communal decision-making and a deep connection with their natural surroundings. From 1438 to 1533, the Kuarupíba were dispersed across a large portion of western portion of the island of Atlántida, known to them as Semlikkan (meaning "cold land"), centered on the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén, utilizing both violent conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. At its largest, pre-colonial settlement of the Kuarupíba extended as far south as the Strait of Ivorra.

Notable features of the pre-colonial society in the Alpujarra included terrace farming, stonework, extensive road network crossing mountains and valleys, finely-woven textiles, use of knotted strings for record keeping and communication, agricultural innovations and production in a difficult environment, and the organization and management fostered or imposed on its people and their labor. The surrounding area provided abundant natural resources, including fertile land for agriculture, forests for hunting, and rivers teeming with fish. They additionally mastered sustainable agricultural practices, cultivating crops such as corn, beans, and squash, which formed the basis of their diet.

Spanish colonial efforts[edit | edit source]

Spain—before that, Aragon—had for a long time been sending their convicts across the Atlantic to the American colonies. This trade was significantly expanded during the Eighty Years War. In 1515, navigator and explorer Fructuós Oriol Juanico navigating in the name of the Aragonese Crown, was the first European to reach the Salto Bay. His expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the local Kurupiranga tribe in what is now the city's Charxes borough.

Ambròs Joaquim Almazán, a Andalusian Morsico convicted and expelled from the Crown of Castile, led a group of around 80 escaped convicts south across the Western Plains, arriving at what is now Limón on 18 February 1533. The expedition deemed the location unsuitable due to the relatively hostile reaction of the indigenous tribes to their arrival. The first settlement not established by indigenous people's within what is now Castejón was Guardafui (literally "Look and escape") . The settlement founded by Almazán was located in what is today the Sant Dídac barrio of Espansión, east of the city center. The settlers later erected a 12-foot wooden stockade was built in 1534 to protect against raids by the Indigenous tribes.

The settlement was not founded on the initiative of any imperial authority. Maps from this time show no prison buildings; the punishment for convicts was typically hard labor rather than incarceration, but serious offences were penalized by flogging, expulsion or death. Surinyac sent exploratory missions in search of better soils and fixed on the western region as a promising area for expansion and moved many of the convicts from late 1568 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life, leaving Salto Bay only as an important anchorage and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming, but a building programme, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Guardafui's status as a frontier town meant that it was largely outside the control of the Spanish Crowns leading to an increasingly widespread anti-royalist sentiment. Catharist immigration.

From its earliest days, Castejón depended primarily on piracy and trade with the well-established indigenous communities of the Alpujarra, before shifting to illegal smuggling and ties with the Hesperian League as the Europeans consolidated their footholds in Balisca. During most of the 18th century, Spanish ships were menaced by pirates and raiders, often originating from Salto Bay and the Maroon Confederacy.

Baliscan independence and civil war[edit | edit source]

Napoleon I, the Emperor of France, forced the King of Spain, Charles VI and his son, Ferdinand VII, to renounce the Spanish throne in favor of himself in the Abdications of Bayonne. Napoleon in his turn, handed the throne of Spain to his brother, Joseph Bonaparte. Although the Spanish world almost uniformly rejected Napoleon's plan to place his brother on the throne, there was no clear solution to the lack of a king.

Jospe

Following traditional Spanish political theories on the contractual nature of the monarchy (see Philosophy of Law of Francisco Suárez), the peninsular Baliscan provinces responded to the crisis by establishing juntas. The move, however, led to more confusion, since there was no central authority and most juntas did not recognize the claim of some juntas to represent the monarchy as a whole. The Junta of Seville, in particular, claimed authority over the overseas empire, because of the province's historic role as the exclusive entrepôt of the empire.

On 4 May 1809 afrancesados in Castejón attempted to seize control of the settlement and declare their loyalty to Bonapartist Spain against the rule of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray (1803–08), who had been appointed before the French invasion of Iberia. Royalists in Castejón formed a relatively small minority, mostly consisting of Spanish and Italian Catholics, while being overshadowed by those who were largely apathetic or hostile to the plight of both the Spanishs and the fledgling republics. Royalist sympathizers, typically traders whose wealth and influence had declined since the uncoupling from imperial rule, placed their hopes not in the seemingly illusory promises of fair treatment by the new regime, but rather in the rewards and wealth they could secure through fidelity to it.

The uprising was violently crushed by the Defense Cabildo, ending with the Barcanal Massacre on 17 May 1809, in which at least 68 civilians were . The city was considered relatively open and tolerant to refugees and dissident activity since the first self-liberated slaves who had transversed the region on their way to the Maroon territories.

Popular sentiment swiftly turned against the Spanish crown, shortly after the revolt was crushed. Popular support was eroded by the strict rationing imposed by the army. During the night of 16 September 1814 the Great Fire of Castejón broke out in Castejón's Ampurias barrio. The fire destroyed about 10 to 25 percent of the buildings in the city, while some unaffected parts of the city were plundered. Many people believed or assumed that one or more people deliberately started the fire, for a variety of different reasons. The Royalist leaders accused revolutionaries acting within the city, while many in the lower class blamed the royalists for starting the blaze as retribution, along with the army's failure to prevent the plundering. The fire had long-term effects on the Spanish occupation of the city, with sympathy for the revolutionaries rapidly growing.

These tensions came to a head with the blowing up of the Spanish frigate Calatayud, anchored in Salto Bay, by anti-Imperial sympathizers in the summer of 1815. The decisive defeat of a Royalist army at the Battle of Barra Alta (around thirty miles west of Castejón) and closed the Sarranèl passage to a potential evacuation. This proved to be the final blow to the royalist forces in Southern Atlántida as they faced potential encirclement within the Alpujarra. The royalists began their withdrawal from the city on 28 June 1816, eventually sailing down the Guadalquivir and out to sea.

This event was one of the most significant in the Resistencía, and many armies left the region to fight the diverse strongholds of royalist resistance, with varying levels of success. The government was held first by two Juntas of many members, then by two triumvirates, and finally by a unipersonal office, the Supreme Director. Formal alignment with the republicans was declared by the Defense Cabdilo in 1816, at the Congress of Mercaderes. Castejón managed to endure the remainder of the Iberian American wars of independence without falling again under royalist rule. Salto Bay rapidly became the epicenter of a massive movement of refugees

Siege of Castejon[edit | edit source]

The Bayaran secession and mobilization against the Confederal Congress led to it's early termination without an definitive agreement. Around the time of the outbreak of the Baliscan Civil War, Castejón was considered to be the frontier of the fledgling confederation to the Maroon Confederacy, effectively a settlement in the "middle ground" in between cultures, peoples, and beyond the control of any republic control. It had already come to be known as a "place of no god", as it was suspiciously viewed as an aberration by many both before and after independence due to its flamboyant and cosmopolitan culture.

The Bayaran armies invaded the Alpujarra in the spring of 1828, with the goal of gaining a mountain pass through which they would be able to directly threaten the Hesperian mainland and sever any potential land routes an invasion of Bayara itself. The Bayarans easily swept south and besieged the settlement of Castejón. The siege was broken on 23 March 1829 following the intervention of the Maroon Confederacy on the side of the Confederalists, and the Bayarans withdrew.

Confederal district[edit | edit source]

Following the end of the Baliscan Civil War, a confederal convention took place in Castejón beginning on 9 July 1836. The city and it's scenery made such a favorable impression on the delegates, that at the convention's end it was determined that Castejón would serve as a "middle ground" from which all confederal entities could be concentrated. This would later be emerge as an autonomous "confederal district".

Plantemos as nuestras raíces aquí en Castejón. La ciudad ye la casa de meyo de los pueblos oprimidos de tanto l'Anciano como o Nuevo Mundo; o terreno común de totz los pueblos d'o mundo.
"Let us plant our roots here in Castejón. The city is the half-way house of the downtrodden peoples of both the Old and New Worlds; the common ground of all the peoples of the world."
— Rafel Morató, Cerdanyan delegate to Confederal Convention

Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory of the district: the port of Sástago in the northeast, founded in 1616, and the planned town of Amanar, founded in 1621. During 1836–37, a team under Michi Esposito, including Esposito's brothers Aloys and Josep and Sanyanian astronomer Igwenagu Berrelleza, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every kilometer point. Many of the stones are still standing throughout the city.

The "District of Castejón" was established as an autonomous territory, outside of the administration of any of the Baliscan republics. The "core" of the District were made up by the present-day Espansión, Ampurias and Sástago boroughs, now known as the "core boroughs" of Castejón. The city developed in the post-civil war period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the Alagón river. At the time the city was facing a large influx of refugees displaced during the fighting of the civil war. Heavily influenced by the reform minded Confederal Congress, the groundwork for the expansion of Castejón into a compact city on a "complete and humane" scale was gradually expanded.

A new urban plan for the confederal district called for the construction of a new barrio on the west bank of the Alagón, planned to provide accommodation to 50,000 refugees that had arrived from Bayara. On 12 July 1837, the three commissioners overseeing the progress of the expansion Coruxón (meaning "the owls"). The same day, the entire confederal district became the District of Castejón. The Confederal Congress held its first session there on 4 October 1838.

The Confederal Congress adopted the District of Castejón Organic Act of 1840 which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. Further, the area within the district was organized into two counties: the districts of Espansión to the east of the Salto and the commune of Ampurias to the west and south. After the passage of this Act, citizens living in the district were no longer considered residents of Araucaria Territory, which therefore ended their representation in Congress. Following the confederal ratification of the Afro Atlantic Charter, the city received another influx of people, the vast majority being liberated Africans who were seeking passage to the Maroon Confederacy. Many of these migrants eventually settled near the outskirts of Castejón, establishing thriving communities, such as Llanito (which was later absorbed into Castejón), and Yerba Buena, along with some of the first ethnic enclaves.

After years of debate, shifting demographics, and negotiations and reconciliation between the confederations of Indigenous peoples, Araucaria, and the republics of Balisca, the 1883 Confederal Convention symbolically recognized Castejón as the "cradle of the confederation". This enshrined the de facto position of the city as the confederal capital. Simultaneously, Araucaria joined the Confederation, bringing the island of Atlántida under one political entity for the first time. As a prototypical confederal compromise, the Congress agreed to the location of other administrative institutions, such as the ? (1854) to a diverse variety of communes across the Confederation.

Immigration and expansion[edit | edit source]

Beginning the the late 19th century, the city emerged as one of the major gateways into Balisca for incoming migrants. It's peripheral regions were progressively transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a confederal and international trading center, as well as by increasing immigration from the Mediterranean world, South Asia and East Asia, respectively. The city adopted the Commissions' Plan of 1911, which expanded the street grid of Coruxón to create a new borough, Charxes.

However this era brought a number of societal issues that were too numerous for the communes and cantons to effectively confront. Housing and sanitation were the most pressing issues, and the the outer fringes at the time were particularly notorious for informal settlements, overcrowding and inadequate sewage management systems. The influx of people far outstripped the existing supply of housing and placed increased strain on the city's sanitation network, which was already lagging behind keep up with the existing population.

Historically, settlements in the Alpujarra were concentrated on or around hills, and during the immigration wave of the 20th century, these communities remained overwhelmingly populated by Baliscan-born nationals. As a result many migrants were forced to live in unsanitary conditions, leading to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhus. The inadequate transport network also led to traffic congestion and longer commuting times, further exacerbating the problems in the cities.

In response to these issues, cooperative movements based on the concept of "do-ocracy", in which they seize authority over these issues autonomously in the face of government inadequacy. This was often through consensus-driven communal meetings, coordinating their efforts to improve their living and working conditions of their communities. These broad movements later turned to wider cantonal and the confederal politics, establishing increased representation in the metropolitan and confederal councils, from which they successfully pressed for laws that enshrined and protected the rights of migrants.

They also pushed for the continued development of the metropolitan transportation system to connect the burgeoning outskirts with the economically dominant center, eventually leading to the adoption of rapid transit.

Consolidation[edit | edit source]

In 1920 the metropolis was elevated to the status of an community, but with significantly more political competencies than it's counterparts. The catalyst for this transformation was set in motion during the the later years of the Cosmocazo, characterized by an extended and intricate grassroots campaign, accompanied by a comprehensive array of public relations efforts spanning the entirety of the 1890s through the early 1910s. This persistent and well-coordinated endeavor laid the groundwork for a substantial shift in the administrative landscape, reaching its culmination with the formalization of the new Metropolitan Charter of "Greater Castejón". This legislative milestone played a central role in facilitating a significant consolidation, fundamentally reshaping the region's administrative framework.

The consolidation, as outlined in the aforementioned charter, bore the hallmarks of a comprehensive restructuring effort. The core boroughs situated in the valley were already well integrated with each other, albeit without a unified framework. This new jurisdiction now encompassed almost the entirety of the Salto Bay, an expansion that significantly influenced the administrative construct.

Within this expanded jurisdiction, the metropolitan administration materialized in seven distinct boroughs. This integration, extending beyond mere administrative rearrangement, represented a paradigm shift, broadening and clarifying territorial boundaries for the first time, setting the stage for subsequent organizational and structural adaptations at the confederal level. In this reconfigured landscape emerged a seamlessly integrated governing body—a collaborative and cooperative administrative structure—now acknowledged as the contemporary Castejón. It is interchangeably denoted as Castejón or the Castejón Metropolis, embodying not only an administrative metamorphosis but also it's cosmopolitan identity.

In 1924 the Metropolis and it's surrounding areas were struck by a earthquake with a M_w magnitude of 6.3, which killed over 8,000 and injured over 120,000 more across the Alpujarra, and caused substantial damage across the city.

As the Metropolitan government attempted to rebuild the devastated capital city, they initially drafted a comprehensive reconstruction plan, but soon concluded that they lacked the budget to carry it out. And so, in areas where neither the metropolitan government nor the country’s real-estate and transportation mega-cooperatives could properly fund reconstruction efforts, whole neighborhoods instead rapidly rebuilt themselves. Working on a small scale, residents rebuilt homes and shops using scraped-together funds while relying on little more than their collec- tive grit and inventiveness, and black markets full of micro-entrepreneurs sprung up around the city’s major train stations. These neighborhoods were not initially planned, per se—they emerged, and their ramshackle, spontaneous spirit can still be felt today when walking Castejón's backstreets.

This approach was adopted out of harsh necessity, but the resulting neighborhoods developed a striking charm: intimate townscapes with exceptional vitality and livability, featuring a fine-grained urban fabric comprised of numerous small buildings. Before long, Castejón's post-earthquake spontaneity gave way to more methodical planning measures designed to impose at least some measure of order on the city’s development, but in doing so they invested little effort in changing the character of these postwar neighborhoods.

Annexation of Trinacria[edit | edit source]

Following lengthy negotiations, the land that later became Trinacria was annexed by the Metropolitan City in line with the results of the 1975 Trinacria referendum, with 68% in favor on a turnout of 46%. The Metropolis additionally approved the payment of $225 million (around $1.1 billion in 2021) to the affected Araucarian and Bayaran regions that granted the Metropolis the right to construct and subsequently maintain water reservoirs within their territory for fifty years (1975-2025). The political controversy surrounding the construction and acquisition of these reservoirs set the precedent for grassroots opposition to further "pipelining" expansion of the Metropolis, and signaled the beginning of a new era of local activism in the Alpujarra, by misappropriating environmental protections for NIMBY political purposes.

The new borough's ambitious development goals required an unprecedentedly large workforce, which also sparked a population boom in communes bordering the Metropolis, transforming them into commuter towns. Amongst these was Amposta, León and Yerba Buena. This was aided by the expansion of AVB service in the Alpujarra. In the late-1970s, grassroots groups and the cooperatives of the Baliscan Railways Group worked to increase cantonal efforts to prevent further expansion of car-centric infrastructure with long term development of commuter links being central to the goals of Trinacria's. This coalition strengthened to continuously support the development of new mixed-used new areas alongside their existing and new routes and stations and adjust their train schedules in order to provide existing and prospective commuters with convenient work-commute routines.

Development was severely hampered following the 1982 Tava Morotí earthquake, with resources having to be diverted to help with recovery operations. The project was again hampered by south Atlantic tropical cyclone Amara that next year, a rare storm in the Southern Hemisphere which battered the Concordia conurbation.

Primarily populated by individuals unable to afford home prices in the more dense boroughs across Salto Bay, Trinacria quickly developed a radically localist YIMBY mindset towards development, especially towards affordable housing for migrants, transit, and opposition to private car usage. However, NIMBYism (known locally as SPAN; Sí, pero aqui no - "Yes, But Not Here") from a small number of groups in Trinacria, including several members of the local development council. This led to delays regarding new housing construction, transit expansion, bike infrastructure as the disputes underwent reconciliation efforts. NIMBYs often called for restrictions on buildings' shadows, concerns over car traffic, parking and crime as reasons for opposing projects. Housing cooperatives, and migration advocates argued that new housing construction would make housing more affordable, thereby pre-empting displacement, personal financial burdens, and rejected the expansion of car infrastructure into the new borough. Thanks to grassroots activism, YIMBY arguments ultimately prevailed.

Communal efforts promoting the borough with its subsidized housing prices and public transit accessibility picked up in the late 1980s. In 1989, the Castejón Housing Authority waitlist had reached over 312,000 units, and over 200,000 plots of land. The Housing Authority, in partnership with dozens of real estate cooperatives, and with the backing of the Baliscan Secretariat of Development, embarked on the Programes Un Millón Más (PUM; "one million more program"), an ambitious plan to build enough housing units to accommodate a million new residents. Land acquisition for the project was controversial, with the Castejón government having to resort to the process of "communal acquisition" in protracted legal battles in an attempt to overcome NIMBY delay tactics.

The Authority and its partners initially opted to revive the practice of constructing hundreds of mid and high-rise apartment blocks, popularly called multo altos throughout the city. The blocks were varying in design and height, but were all expected to meet certain requirements: to comfortably house at least 500 people, have laundromats, recreation centers/parks, water, waste management, and electrical services and earthquake shelters. By 1995, the Castejón Housing Authority, increasingly unpopular and saddled with lawsuits, was dissolved and replaced with smaller, borough-level cooperatives. From that point, these decentralized cooperatives were largely in charge of the program, and shifted in favor of mixed-use developments that were grouped together to form their own self-contained communities. The communities found substantial success, and was soon replicated in cities across the Confederation.

PUM surpassed its goal in October 1997, and with much fanfare was declared completed by Metropolitan Council at a public ceremony together with the worker cooperatives involved in the development. The city's population at the time of the project’s completion had surpassed eleven million and was continuing to increase.

Recent[edit | edit source]

On 2 February 2015, tropical storm Bapo formed in the South Atlantic. Initially forecast to stay offshore and to only be a weak tropical storm at peak intensity, Bapo instead underwent explosive intensification to reach peak winds of 165 mph (270 km/h), the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on the SSHWS. It made landfall on 5 February at peak intensity, causing massive flooding along with land and mudslides across the Salto Bay and low-lying parts of the surrounding regions. Once inland, the hurricane quickly weakened before dissipating the following day. Most damage and fatalities were caused by high winds and the destructive storm surge to coastal areas of the Concordia area, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines (most notably in Mercadero). It flooded numerous other low-lying areas of Ampurias, Expansión, and Limón. Electrical power was lost in many parts of the city and its suburbs. It was the most powerful storm to hit Balisca since sulcarano Amara in 1983. A shelter-in-place order was issued for several barrios surrounding Sant Dídac after several cranes were toppled by winds and glass panels started being blown off the side of the buildings. It was widely reported that trees had been uprooted throughout the city and power lines had been downed by the storm, temporarily leaving an estimated four million without power.

The city went into lockdown on March 2020 amidst the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of December 2021, Castejón has experienced the most deaths of any locality in the coronavirus pandemic in Concordia, which itself has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases of any area in Balisca. During the first wave, one-third of total known Balisca cases were in the Castejón Metropolis.

Economy[edit | edit source]

In 2020, the metropolitan gross domestic product amounted to $1.394 trillion with a GDP per capita (PPP) amounting to $64,524, making it the most powerful city by gross GDP in Latin America, and the third most powerful in the world in 2022, after Tokyo and New York City. The greater Concordia conurbation (which consists of adjacent parts of the neighboring communities) had a GDP amounting to $1,902 billion (equivalent to $53,815 in per capita terms).

The economy of the Metropolis is based largely on small and medium-sized cooperatives dealing with services and commerce; of the 190,480 cooperatives or enterprises in the city, 80.6 percent are engaged in commerce, transportation, and diverse services, 6.5 percent in construction, and just 3.8 percent in industry. At the 2020 census, 59.5% of occupations in the metropolis were in market services (12.0% in wholesale and retail trade, 9.7% in professional, scientific, and technical services, 6.5% in information and communication, 6.5% in transportation and warehousing, 5.9% in finance and insurance, 5.8% in administrative and support services, 4.6% in accommodation and food services, and 8.5% in various other market services), 26.9% in non-market services (10.4% in human health and social work activities, 9.6% in public administration and defense, and 6.9% in education), 8.2% in manufacturing and utilities (6.6% in manufacturing and 1.5% in utilities), 5.2% in construction, and 0.2% in agriculture.

It has a "very high" rating on the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, earning a score of .879 in 2022, the second-highest score for a sub-national division in the Baliscan Confederation (after Macaio), and the highest in any sub-national division in Latin America. Additionally, the 2021 Social Development Index determined Castejón to be the most socially developed region of Balisca. The Metropolis has the highest living wage (per hour) in the Confederation, which was most recently raised to in $55.15 in 2022. However, incomes are typically much higher due to reservation wages supported through collective bargaining power by trade unions. Castejón overall has an average poverty rate of 4.2 percent, which is above the national rate of 1.67 percent.

Notable Baliscan enterprises based in the city include the Auster Corporation, Almercado Co., León Inc., Baliscan Airlines, the Baliscan Railways Group, Castejón Communications (Castel), the Castejón Broadcasting Collective, and the Baliscan Aerospace Corporation.

With 16% of its area covered by forest, Castejón has extensive growths of coigüe and lahuán, especially in the mountainous eastern and southern communities of Llanito and Trinacria, respectfully. Trinacria contains substantial old growth mountain ash. Decreases in the price of timber, increases in the cost of production, and growing opposition from environmentalists have resulted in the complete elimination of Castejón's output. In addition, pollen, is a major allergen for the nearby population centers. Salto Bay was once a major source of fish, but the practice of commercial fishing was successfully banned via a 1992 referendum after years of advocacy by the Alpujarras Movement. Since then, most of Castejón's fish consumption comes from artificial sources.

Tourism has become a significant contributor to the metropolitan economy over the last two decades. In 2019, 13.6 million international and 420 million domestic visits to Castejón were made; the economic value of these visits totaled 90 billion USD (around 130 billion sol) according to the Metropolitan Government. Many tourists visit the various downtowns, stores, and entertainment districts throughout the neighborhoods of the Metropolis' boroughs. Cultural offerings include both omnipresent Baliscan pop culture, drug and sex tourism and associated districts such as Navajas and Capitoline Hill, subcultural attractions such as Newseum center, as well as museums like the Cooperative Museum of Castejón and the Museum of Indigenous History.

Social protection and mobility[edit | edit source]

Castejón has a broad-reaching social protection system based on the Baliscan model, which ensures that all of Castejón's residents receive tax-funded social care. Expenses to vital medicine is fully funded, and some non-vital medical treatments can potentially be funded, through Castejón's collaboratively-developed social card (carta social).

The social card also automatically registers with the Cosmo co-op system, allowing the individual access to a variety of communal and cantonal cooperatives, including: community gardens, work sharing, self-managed social centers, learning co-opsand schools, transit information, and childcare cooperatives. In 2022, 92.4% of the metropolitan population participates in at least one of the co-ops integrated with the social card. All residents of Castejón above 18 years of age can apply for government-provided social protection if they cannot sustain themselves or their family.

Approval for the communal social card is almost automatic, and once approved the individual is immediately registered to the cantonal voting roll , and this system has been extensively developed over the last ten years. For those that are severely sick, they will receive some financial support throughout the extent of their illness and not just for the maximum of 1 year as previously. Their ability to work are usually re-evaluated by the municipality after 12 months of illness.

Castejón has the highest pensions in Balisca, and some of the highest in Latin America. The lowest-income group before retirement from the age of 65 receive 80% of their pre-retirement income in pension and miscellaneous subsidies.

Administration and politics[edit | edit source]

In 1836, the District of Castejón was founded, consisting of the surrounding rural and mountainous areas to secure the strategic mountain passes to the north and northwest to protect the city in event of a foreign invasion (the 1826 Siege of Castejón was nearly successful), and it expanded progressively over the 19th and 20th centuries. The last changes to the limits of Castejón were made in 1975, bringing the area to the current 7,950 km² (3,070 sq mi) by incorporating the borough of Trinacria. By that time, the total number of municipalities within Castejón was twenty-two. In 1941, the General Anaya borough was merged with the Central Department, which was then renamed "Castejón" (thus reviving the name but not the autonomous municipality)

In response to militant demands for autonomy during the Cantonal War, Castejón received a greater degree of autonomy with the 1883 elaboration the first Statute of Government (Estatuto de Gobierno) and the creation of an assembly of representatives, the Metropolitan Council. As part of these, the budget is administered locally; it is proposed by the head of council and approved by the Legislative Assembly. However, the Confederal Council continued to set the ceiling to internal and external public debt issued by the city government.

On 29 January 1923, Castejón ceased to be the Confederal District (Distrito Confederau or D.C.) entirely, and was officially renamed "Ciudad Metropolitana de Castejón" (or "CDMC"). On that date, Castejón completed it's transition into the confederation's sixth confederal-level entity, giving it a level of autonomy on par to that of the existing communities. The communal council, the Metropolitan Council of Castejón (commonly referred to as the MetCo) performs the administrative roles of the metropolis. Citizens have the power to remove any council member from office through recall elections, supported by at least fifteen percent of the electorate. The Metropolitan Council operates on a participatory and consensus-based approach, and is responsible for passing laws and budgets, though Castejónes also make extensive use of direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation. The members of the MetCo are elected as representatives of specific commune districts within the metropolis. Upon the death, recall or resignation of a metropolitan delegate, an special election is called in their commune district.

The politics pursued by the the metropolitan council in Castejón since the end of the 20th century have been been more liberal than those of the rest of the country, whether with the support of the confederal administration or not. Castejón is considered one of the most socially progressive cities in the world, and is considered to be representative of contemporary Baliscan values internationally. It was amongst the earliest adopters legal of cannabis and hemp (1924), the first to protect same-sex marriage (in 1948), first to legalize prostitution (1888), first to ban conversion therapy and the gay panic defense (both 1963) and has arguably the most developed social protection system in the Baliscan Confederation. Additionally, since the 1970s, the city's residential voting population has become increasingly cosmopolitan, and is aligned against sectarianism and nationalism, more so than it has ever been in the past. In the 2021 Baliscan confederal election, cosmopolitan political factions received more than 90% of the vote in Castejón's commune district, a level of support that has not been crossed districtwide before 2021.

Political division[edit | edit source]

Name	Population (2023 est.)	Population (2020)	Change	Land area		Population density (2020)	Incorporation date
Name	Population (2023 est.)	Population (2020)	Change	km²	sq mi	Population density (2020)	Incorporation date
Alquézar	2,235,642	2,146,892	+4.1%	380.2	146.8	8,623.8/km² (22,335.7/sq mi)	28 July 1899
Ampurias	832,879	789,683	+5.5%	56.9	22.0	14,637.6/km² (37,911.2/sq mi)	12 July 1836
Charxes	3,278,786	3,053,903	+7.4%	463.6	179.0	3,402.6/km² (8,812.8/sq mi)	28 July 1899
Coruxón	3,453,723	3,385,439	+2.0%	428.6	165.5	8,058.1/km² (20,870.5/sq mi)	8 October 1837
Expansión	2,736,507	2,679,486	+2.1%	285.7	110.3	9,578.3/km² (24,807.6/sq mi)	12 July 1836
El Capitán	1,739,580	1,638,457	+6.2%	676.4	261.2	2,571.8/km² (6,661.0/sq mi)	28 July 1899
Hisbanya	456,927	451,213	+1.3%	282.5	109.1	1,617.4/km² (4,189.2/sq mi)	14 June 1892
Limón	1,273,351	1,135,872	+12.1%	617.8	238.5	2,061.1/km² (5,338.2/sq mi)	10 October 1920
Llanito	3,631,287	3,284,326	+10.6%	483.1	186.5	7,516.6/km² (19,468.0/sq mi)	5 August 1883
Sástago	2,559,903	2,376,884	+7.7%	163.2	63.0	15,685.7/km² (40,625.7/sq mi)	12 July 1836
Trinacria	1,013,045	910,396	+11.3%	1,687.5	651.5	600.3/km² (1,554.8/sq mi)	12 April 1975
Tamarix	1,724,891	1,547,934	+11.4%	513.3	198.2	3,360.4/km² (8,703.4/sq mi)	12 July 1836
Castejón	24,479,594	23,328,795	+4.9%	6,038.4	7009603840000000000♠2,331.4	4,054.0/km² (10,499.8/sq mi)	—
Balisca	145,021,297	142,238,217	+2.0%	1,526,052	7012152605200000000♠589,212	95.0/km² (246.1/sq mi)	—

Local issues[edit | edit source]

Demographics[edit | edit source]

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1840	349,278	—
1850	974,779	+179.1%
1860	1,478,103	+51.6%
1870	1,911,698	+29.3%
1880	2,507,414	+31.2%
1890	3,437,202	+37.1%
1900	4,766,883	+38.7%
1920	4,820,048	+1.1%
1930	5,000,446	+3.7%
1940	5,554,995	+11.1%
1950	6,291,957	+13.3%
1960	7,281,984	+15.7%
1970	8,794,862	+20.8%
1980	9,671,639	+10.0%
1990	10,922,564	+12.9%
2000	11,808,278	+8.1%
2010	12,375,133	+4.8%
2020	13,682,781	+10.6%
2023	14,224,687	+4.0%

As of September 2023, the "core communes" of Castejón had an estimated population of 14,224,687, while the Metropolis had a population of 24,479,594 people. The Metropolis subsequently has a population of around 8,800 inhabitants per square kilometer or 13,000/sq mi), a ratio of men to women of 0.98:1, with 99.68% of the population defined as urban. The population is highly decentralized, being almost evenly dispersed across the city’s seven boroughs. Castejón is considered to be the primate city of Balisca, being it's most populous city and region by a substantial margin.

The first census in the area was carried out in 1840 during the Reconstruction era, and recorded a population of 349,278, with the majority of these being of Afro-Mozarab descent. Castejón's population increased significantly between 1850 and 1920, and again between 1930 and 1970. Population growth (including immigration) halved as a result of the Special Period and the South Atlantic War, although this rebounded by the end of the 1980s, driven largely by the rise of tech startups that attracted potential workers and aspiring students.

The proportion of people under 15 is 29.1%, above the Baliscan average of 27.6%, and the proportion of people 65 and older is relatively low, at 8.1%. Castejón is slightly below the average confederal population growth rate, recently about 1.0% a year, as well as a comparatively low infant mortality rate. The Metropolis' total fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman is slightly higher than the Baliscan average (1.12 children per woman as of 2022), although still a sub-replacement fertility level. The median age is approximately 36.08 years and life expectancy at birth is 83.5 years. This low birthrate is contrasted by its high rate of incoming migrants, estimated at 81 immigrants per 1,000 residents per year.

Ethnography[edit | edit source]

There have been numerous migrations towards Castejón since the end of the 18th century, when the city emerged as a popular destination for political refugees from neighbouring or more distant countries, particularly Brazil. Attracted by the industrial opportunities, many workers moved in, first from the other Baliscan regions (mainly rural residents from Araucaria and Bayara), then from Southern Europe and North Africa, and more recently from across Africa, along with South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Nowadays, Castejón is home to a diverse group of immigrant communities. Balisca has embraced free migration policies, and many families in Castejón can claim at least one foreign grandparent. At the last Baliscan census in 2020, 66% of inhabitants in the Metropolis answered that they were Baliscan citizens, born as such in Balisca, indicating that a third of residents had not been born in the country. According to Balstat, in 2020, taking into account the nationality of birth of the parents, 40.1% of the population of the Metropolis was of foreign origin. Among residents aged under 18, 53.3% were of foreign origin.

This large concentration of immigrants and their descendants includes many of Marrascesco (mainly Riffian and other Berbers) and North African ancestry, together with Portuguese-speaking black Africans from the Lusosphere. Many immigrants were naturalised following the 1980 liberalization of naturalisation process. In 2020, about 12% of city residents were of non-Baliscan South American origin (mainly expatriates from countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru) and 24% were of another background, mostly from the Levant, East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Among all major migrant groups from outside South America, a majority of the permanent residents have acquired Baliscan nationality.

Education[edit | edit source]

The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age 6), basic education (9 years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary education (3 years, compulsory since 1950), and higher education (subdivided in university and polytechnic education). Universities are usually organized into faculties. Institutes and schools are also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of Baliscan higher education institutions. Education is based on cooperative learning and the Montessori method of education, which seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods. During their nine years of common basic education, students are not selected, tracked, or streamed. There is also inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement.

The Castejón Metropolis is home to a large number of colleges and universities. The three most competitive universities are Concordia University, University of Castejón, Capitoline, and Southern University, all considered among the most highly performing universities in the Southern Hemisphere. Many scholars have pointed out the overlap of education and the economy within the Concordia Area. According to multiple studies, cooperative universities, such as Sérregio University, University of Castejón - Capitoline and the Cosmopolitan University significantly contribute to the regional cultural mosaic. These universities also provide numerous cooperative education programs for people to learn and enhance skills relevant to their own communities.

Some of the largest and most prestigious universities in Castejón are:

Total adult literacy rate is 100 percent in Castejón. Primary and secondary school enrollments are also both 100 percent, while 63% of college-age students choose to attend a higher education institution, higher than the 55% rate seen nationally, and the 35% average rate in the OECD countries. Public education is fully funded by the regions, and thus there are no tuition fees levied on students who attend public learning institutions. All students attend a cooperatively of publicly-run institution of learning. Religious schools, private schools and homeschooling are constitutionally prohibited in the Metropolis.

Castejón is also an education hub, with more than 80,000 international students in 2006. University admission is highly competitive and selective in Castejón. Long-term residents of Castejón often find themselves having to compete with prospective students from across the Baliscan Confederation and international students for the few available admission slots at one of Castejón's # universities.

In 2023, 25% of all students in Castejón's universities were international students—the maximum cap allowed, a majority from East Asia, Africa and South Asia. Boosted by the spread of the internet, the Metropolitan Council for Knowledge Sharing (CCC) has pioneered methods such as distance education and out-of-school learning to overcome this limit. In regards to Baliscan social internationalism, the CCC is currently replicating these methods as part of a push to expand access to education in the Global South.

Castejón's students have excelled in many of the world education benchmarks in maths, science and reading. In 2015, both its primary and secondary students rank highly in OECD's global school performance rankings across 76 countries—described as the most comprehensive map of education standards. In 2016, Castejón's students ranked highly in both the Program International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Languages[edit | edit source]

Sexual orientation and gender identity[edit | edit source]

The Castejón Metropolis is home to a prominent self-identifying LGBTQ community estimated at approximately 4,969,033 individuals, the largest in Balisca, the largest in the Americas, and one of the world's largest. Castejón also hosts the largest transgender population within the Confederation, some 200,000 individuals. In line with prevailing Baliscan values, Castejón has long protected the right of consenting adults to form whatever familial arrangements they choose, including polygamous relationships and group marriage, as long as all parties involved willingly participate and have equal rights within the relationship. This approach emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy and the explicit right to non-interference from the state in matters of personal relationships.

Castejón's LGBT culture has its roots in the city's own origin in the 17th century as a frontier settlement outside of colonial control, what has been called a "history of sexual permissiveness and its function as a wide-open settlement – a place where anything goes". The advent of the Espanya Boba period saw a boom in population from 5,000 to 85,000 residents between 1710 and 1810. These migrants were composed of traders and fortune seekers from a variety of nationalities and cultures, over 95% of whom were young men.

These transient and diverse populations thrust into a relatively anarchic environment were less likely to conform to social conventions. For example, with an unbalanced gender ratio, men often assumed roles conventionally assigned to women in social and domestic settings. Cross-gender dress and same-sex dancing were prevalent at city masquerade balls where some men assumed the traditional role of women going so far as to wear female attire. There is well documentation of numerous cases of women who donned men's clothing in public spaces for increased social and economic freedom, safety, and gender-progressive experimentation. Unisex fashion is still an important part of LGBT culture in the city today.

Following the consolidation of Castejón in 1902, the metropolis' LGBTQ population has been concentrated around the Papallona barrio, in the Espansión borough. Papallona has become renowned its acceptance of gender diversity, and locally owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other independent specialty stores. Papallona has a high population density compared to many other neighborhoods in Castejón, and it has a large and active LGBTQ community. The metropolis' large LGBTQ population has created and sustained a politically and culturally active community for well over a century, developing a powerful presence in Castejón civic life. Survey data released in 2020 by Instituto Confederal de Estadística (ICE) places the proportion of LGBTQ adults in the Metropolis at 21.3%, which is the second-highest proportion of the 20 most populous metropolitan areas as measured by the polling organization.

The red-light districts of the Limón borough in the city's east is also closely related to the development of modern LGBTQ culture in Balisca. Its history with sexuality began with the development of adult entertainment in the middle of the 19th century. In the middle of the 20th century, as the number of massage parlors, brothels, nightclubs and gay bars increased, Limón became the most famous spot for sex tourism, attracting clients from across the world.

The annual Castejón Pride March (or queer pride parade) traverses southeastward from Plaza de Flores y Amor in Papallona and ends at Portopí in Ampurias; the parade has grown to rival the NYC Pride and São Paulo Pride as the largest pride parade in the world. In June 2023, the parade attracted tens of thousands of participants and 6 million sidewalk spectators. The Castejón Pride movement has maintained its relatively militant character, resisting politicalization and the influence of pink money and rainbow capitalism.

Environment and geography[edit | edit source]

Castejón is located in the southern region of the island of Atlántida, centered on the Alpujarra, surrounded by the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén. The metropolis surrounds the artificially enlarged Salto Bay, and sprawls along both sides of the Alagón, which connects the city to the Guadalquivir and the wider Southern Atlantic Ocean. The peaks surrounding Castejón are always covered with snow year-round. 18% of the city is reserved as green spaces, and in 2012 the city passed legislation requiring all new construction over two stories in height to have rooftop or vertical gardens (or dedicated green space) in an effort to combat pollution that becomes a significant problem in the winter. Following a devastating earthquake in 1982, the city has demolished several elevated sections of highway, opting to move them underground and redeveloping the vacant areas into green spaces. The city made solar panels for solar heating of water mandatory in 1992.

There are more than 50 hills within the city limits. Numerous neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Capitoline Hill, Cantonese Hill, and Platine Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Moorish Point, a hill forming one of the city's highest points, forms an overlook spot over Trinacria. Castejón's tallest hill, Panteón, is 98 metres (322 ft) high and is capped with an active archaeological site related to the Kurupiranga indigenous culture.

Climate[edit | edit source]

Castejón has a temperate climate, classified in the Mediterranean zone by the main climatic classification (Köppen: Csb) but some sources put the city in the oceanic zone (Cfb). The climate is sometimes characterized as a "modified Mediterranean" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a "true" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). It has cool Winters (June to August), warm-hot Summers (December to February), mild Autumns (March to May) and volatile Springs (September to November); The climate is characterized for having mild temperatures, without harsh cold or extreme heat, thanks to the effects of the South Atlantic Ocean, the Guadalquivir and Salto Bay. There are numerous thunderstorms, and although rare, has experienced tropical cyclones. Rainfall is regular and evenly spread throughout the year, reaching around 950 millimeters (37 in).

Castejón has the lowest daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures in June, July, and August. During the summer, rising hot air in Atlantida's interior valleys creates a low pressure area that draws winds from the ocean through the Guadalquivir, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog. The fog is less pronounced in western neighborhoods and during the late summer and early fall. As a result, the year's warmest month, on average, is January.

Because of its sharp topography and maritime influences, Castejón exhibits a multitude of distinct microclimates. The high hills in the geographic east of the city are responsible for a 20% variance in annual rainfall between different parts of the city. They also protect neighborhoods directly to their west from the foggy and sometimes very cold and windy conditions experienced in Ampurias; for those who live on the eastern side of the city, Castejón is sunnier, with an average of 260 clear days, and only 105 cloudy days per year.

Summers are warm-hot and humid, with less wind than other seasons. The average temperature in this season is 23 °C (73 °F). Daytime temperatures are usually between 24 °C (75 °F) and 32 °C (90 °F), while night lows between 14 °C (57 °F) and 22 °C (72 °F). During this season, a moderate wind often blows into Alpujarra from the sea in the evenings which has a pleasant cooling effect on the city, in contrast to the more severe summer heat of nearby cities like Valparaíso. Heat waves come with the western winds, which bring humid and hot air masses from the tropical interior of Atlantida; temperatures can rise above 35 °C (95 °F). These warm periods are usually followed by stronger thunderstorms, generated by cold fronts from the southwest that lowers temperatures considerably. This phenomenon is regional, and can occur several times all year long.

Water temperatures range greatly, between 10 °C (50 °F) on the Atlantic Seaboard, to over 22 °C (72 °F) in Salto Bay. Average annual ocean surface temperatures are between 13 °C (55 °F) on the Atlantic Seaboard (similar to Californian waters, such as San Francisco or Big Sur), and 17 °C (63 °F) in Oñoico Bay (similar to Northern Mediterranean temperatures, such as Nice or Monte Carlo).

Climate data for Castejón (Cascól) 1991–2020, extremes 1901–2020
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	42.8 (109.0)	40.3 (104.5)	38.4 (101.1)	36.7 (98.1)	32.0 (89.6)	27.8 (82.0)	29.8 (85.6)	32.6 (90.7)	32.2 (90.0)	35.8 (96.4)	38.2 (100.8)	40.8 (105.4)	42.8 (109.0)
Average high °C (°F)	27.8 (82.0)	27.0 (80.6)	25.3 (77.5)	22.0 (71.6)	18.5 (65.3)	15.6 (60.1)	14.7 (58.5)	16.7 (62.1)	17.9 (64.2)	20.7 (69.3)	23.7 (74.7)	26.4 (79.5)	21.4 (70.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	23.3 (73.9)	22.8 (73.0)	21.2 (70.2)	18.1 (64.6)	14.8 (58.6)	11.9 (53.4)	11.0 (51.8)	12.6 (54.7)	13.9 (57.0)	16.5 (61.7)	19.2 (66.6)	21.8 (71.2)	17.3 (63.1)
Average low °C (°F)	18.8 (65.8)	18.6 (65.5)	17.1 (62.8)	14.1 (57.4)	11.0 (51.8)	8.1 (46.6)	7.3 (45.1)	8.5 (47.3)	9.9 (49.8)	12.4 (54.3)	14.7 (58.5)	17.1 (62.8)	13.1 (55.6)
Record low °C (°F)	6.0 (42.8)	6.8 (44.2)	3.8 (38.8)	1.3 (34.3)	−2.0 (28.4)	−5.6 (21.9)	−5.0 (23.0)	−3.8 (25.2)	−2.4 (27.7)	−1.5 (29.3)	2.5 (36.5)	5.0 (41.0)	−5.6 (21.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	94 (3.7)	95 (3.7)	106 (4.2)	111 (4.4)	83 (3.3)	89 (3.5)	93 (3.7)	90 (3.5)	92 (3.6)	102 (4.0)	96 (3.8)	91 (3.6)	1,142 (45)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	6	6	6	7	6	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	79
Average relative humidity (%)	70	73	76	77	79	81	80	78	76	74	72	70	76
Mean monthly sunshine hours	294.5	234.5	220.1	162.0	161.2	126.0	142.6	164.3	180.0	226.3	249.0	282.1	2,442.6
Mean daily sunshine hours	9.5	8.3	7.1	5.4	5.2	4.2	4.6	5.3	6.0	7.3	8.3	9.1	6.7
Source: Instituto Baliscano de Metereología

Climate data for Castejón
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average sea temperature °C (°F)	24.2 (75.6)	23.4 (74.1)	22.4 (72.3)	19.0 (66.2)	15.9 (60.6)	13.1 (55.6)	11.3 (52.3)	12.1 (53.8)	13.3 (55.9)	17.2 (63.0)	19.8 (67.6)	21.9 (71.4)	17.8 (64.0)
Mean daily daylight hours	14.0	13.0	12.0	11.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	11.0	12.0	13.0	14.0	14.0	12.0
Average Ultraviolet index	11+	11	9	6	3	2	2	4	6	8	10	11+	6.9
Source: Cascól

Climate change[edit | edit source]

As a coastal city, Castejón will be heavily affected by climate change. As of 2021, sea levels are projected to rise by as much as 5 feet (1.5 m), resulting in periodic flooding, rising groundwater levels, and lowland (such as Llanito and Ampurias) floods from more severe storms.

Moreover, according to the 2022 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Castejón is one of 12 major cities in the Americas which would be the most severely affected by future sea level rise. It estimates it would sustain cumulative damages of 65 billion sol under RCP 4.5 and 300 billion sol for the high-emission scenario RCP 8.5 by the year 2050. Additionally, RCP 8.5 combined with the hypothetical impact from marine ice sheet instability at high levels of warming would involve up to 350 billion sol in damages, while the additional accounting for the "low-probability, high-damage events" may increase aggregate risks to 687 billion sol for the "moderate" RCP4.5, 838 billion sol for RCP8.5 and 1,030 billion sol under the high-end ice sheet instability scenario. Since sea level rise would continue for about 10,000 years under every scenario of climate change, future costs of sea level rise would only increase, especially without adaptation measures.

Natural disasters[edit | edit source]

As sea levels continue to rise due to global warming, Castejón is increasingly vulnerable to storm surges, which occur when strong winds push seawater onto the land. The city's low-lying areas, such as Ampurias, Coruxón, Espansión, and Sástago are particularly susceptible to flooding during storms. Sulcarano Amara, which hit the city in 1983, caused widespread flooding and power outages, resulted in significant social and economic disruption.

While still relatively rare, heatwaves are set to become increasingly common as a result of of climate change, with the most recent being the 2023 Baliscan heatwave. Heatwaves can lead to heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other health problems, particularly for vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and inadequately housed individuals. The city's infrastructure, such as the metro system, can also be affected by extreme heat, leading to service disruptions.

The Yawar Sypa fault-line is responsible for much earthquake activity, and the fault passes through the metropolis (across Salto Bay) itself. It caused the destructive earthquakes in 1924 and 1982, which both caused significant damages and high casualties within the Castejón Metropolis. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city constructed an auxiliary water supply system and has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction.

The earthquakes are colloquially called the Alpujarran manifestation of the "Anhangá curse", referencing the Kurupirangüe name for the Baliscan archipelago, often translated as 'land of spirits'. This name reflects traditional indigenous and religious Candomblé views of the archipelago as the home of spirits of nature that served as the protector of their domains, who "[...] does not kill to devour, but to restore and to avenge those victimized by insatiable hunters". Other examples of the curse across Baliscan include landslides, lightning storms, hurricanes, and floods.

Cityscape[edit | edit source]

Architecture and urban design[edit | edit source]

The architecture of the metropolis is not so much known for defining a particular architectural style; rather, with its interesting and challenging variations in geography, topology reflective of various periods in it's tumultuous history, Castejón is known worldwide for its particularly eclectic mix of Victorian, Art Deco, Neo-Mudéjar, Moorish Revival, Italianate, Cosmopolitano and modern architecture. The building form most closely associated with Castejón in the 21st century is the skyscraper, which has shifted many commercial and residential districts from low-rise to high-rise areas. Additionally, mostly surrounded by mountains, the city is accumulating one of the largest and most varied collection of skyscrapers in the world.

Icons of Castejón's architecture include the Mission Sant-Maloù Park, Plaza de la Pàtria ("Plaza of the Homeland"), the Cosmopolitan Temple, the Baliscan Cabildo, Plaza de Flores y Amor, and the Old Castejón Basilica.

After the Second World War and the subsequent baby boom, Castejón faced a severe housing shortage; most of the housing in the city dated to the 19th century and was in terrible condition. Only a hundred thousand new housing units were constructed between 1946 and 1950. The number rose to 8,230 in 1951 and more than 10,000 in 1956. The office of public housing of the city acquired the cheapest land it could buy, at the edges of the city. In 1961, when land within the city was exhausted, they were authorized to begin buying land in the surrounding suburbs, leading to quarrels with Araucaria's government.

Much larger buildings began to appear in the mid-1950s. They were built with prefabricated materials and placed in clusters. They were known as MAs, or multo altos ("very high" or many deep"). A larger type of public housing began to appear in the mid-1950s, known as a barre, because they were more wide than high. They usually had between 500 and 1000 apartments, were built in clusters, and were mixed-use, integrating cooperatives with multi-story flats, nurseries and co-ops, with a sufficient connection to public transportation. They were welcomed by the families who lived there in the 1950s and early 1960s, but in later years housing demand far outstripped supply as immigration to the Metropolis increased.

In January 1964 the confederal government intervened, taking over metropolitan housing development in order to fast-track the construction of more housing and office buildings. A new urban plan for the Metropolis was adopted by the Metropolitan Council in 1965. Higher buildings were permitted, as long as they met both technical and aesthetic standards. The first new tower to be constructed was an apartment building, the Torre Constellación, in Coruxón. It was twenty-two stories, and 61 meters high, and was completed in 1967. Between 1965 and 1975, about 300 new buildings higher than thirty stories were constructed in Castejón, more than half of them in Ampurias and Expansión. Most of them were a little over one hundred meters high; in several clusters of high-rises.

The growing number of skyscrapers appearing on the Castejón skyline provoked resistance from the local population, particularly those in Charxes and Hisbanya. In 1975, the Metropolitan Council declared a moratorium on new towers within the city, and in 1977 the City of Castejón was given a new Plan d'Occupation de Sols (POS) or Land use plan, which imposed a height limit of one hundred meters outside of the "core boroughs" of Castejón and abolished height limits in the core boroughs. The building of skyscrapers intensified within Castejón's core, particularly in the new business district of Mercadero.

The architecture of the Trinacria borough has largely been shaped by the it's relatively recent establishment. Because of this relatively short existence and other factors, Trinacria's current urban landscape is mostly modern and contemporary architecture, and older buildings are scarce. Originally intended to be mostly low buildings and packed with single family homes, confederal intervention led to city to have a larger focus on high rise residential homes and urbanization. The city's culture is changing as well as increased risk of natural catastrophes, because of this architecture has had to make dramatic changes since the 1990s.

The Castejón Metropolis has grown to over 24 million residents in 2023 and the whole city has moved from its once central location to a more southeastern part of the city. Castejón in recent years has been growing at a rapid pace, as a result it has had to build up in order to get the most out what scarce land it has. Due to Castejón's extremely limited space, the longstanding policy has been to build "up, not out", meaning taller buildings in closer proximity to each other (such as the Multo Altos pictured above). Significant underground complexes and skyways now criss-cross the more crowded areas of the city in order to make commuting more efficient. As the Castejón Metropolis continues to advance in technology and grow, it will continue to change its architecture for years to come.

Throughout most of Castejón's history, the height of buildings has been restricted. These restrictions gradually eroded in the post-war period (except those protecting certain views of Ampurias' Cathedral) and high rise buildings have become ever more numerous since, particularly in the 21st century. Skyscrapers were once limited to that of the Ampurias borough, but are now found throughout the city. Notable recent tall buildings include Ampurias Tower (Gran Castejón Tower), the centerpiece of the Castejón WTC complex, 22 Ampuria: the tallest residential building in the city, and the Castejón Spire (nicknamed the Agulla Espacial or "Space Needle") which has set a precedent for other recent high-rise developments built in a similar high-tech style.

Boroughs and barrios[edit | edit source]

The Metropolis is sometimes referred to collectively as the Twelve Boroughs, reflecting the unique connection of the city with the term. There are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the boroughs (called "barrios"), all with a definable history and character. Some of these districts have a previous history as independent municipalities which were integrated into the city during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, such as Arrabád, tba, tba, tba. However, other municipalities which are contiguous to the Metropolis (such as Valparaíso, León, and Yerba Buena) have remained separate towns to this day, and are part of the much larger Concordia conurbation. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of towns that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units such as former districts. These barrios are distinguished by their history, culture, architecture, demographics, and geography.

The names of the over 200 neighborhoods are officially defined by the Metropolitan Capital Office of Planning. Neighborhoods can be defined by the boundaries of boroughs, historic districts, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, civic associations, and business improvement districts (BIDs); sometimes these boundaries will overlap.

The Ampurias borough is the main financial district, and it's Mercadero barrio has recently developed into a new financial and commercial hub in the northern portion of the borough. The Charxes borough is currently undergoing substantial (re)development with numerous housing estates under construction along its border with Araucaria. 85% of all units in solely residential developments must be rent-exempt. For mixed-use developments, this percentage can be reduced to as low as 35%.

Llanito ("little plain"), located in the western edge of the city is historically infamous for its nightlife and cabarets, as well as prostitution and antisocial behavior, but has changed significantly in recent years and due to its central location within Concordia and has become a minor attraction of Castejón. It currently has a very diverse immigrant community (47.4% of its population was born abroad, ranging from Filipinos, Lebanese, and Nigerians, to a more recent South American community, especially from Brazil). It is home to many bars, restaurants, and night spots, and boasts the largest Arab and Mozarab population within Balisca.

Espansión, considered a part of "Core Castejón", is one of Castejón's main entertainment and shopping districts, attracting millions of tourists throughout the year. A flourishing artist community has thrived for decades in Espansión and has become more visible throughout all of its neighborhoods, most notably Humboldt. Hundreds of art studios and galleries are scattered throughout the neighborhood. Several open studios programs are conducted that enable the public to visit artist studios and galleries. In addition, the world renowned Pedralbes Museum of Art is located in this commune. It is unique amongst its relatively low property prices, and as a result it is overwhelmingly populated by immigrants (along with their descendants) and millennials.

If the boroughs were each independent cities, three of the boroughs (Charxes, Espansión, and Llanito) would be among the twenty most populous cities in Balisca; these same boroughs are coterminous with the three of the most densely populated communes in Balisca. Each of the boroughs elect 15 members to the city's Metropolitan Council.

Origin[edit | edit source]

The "District of Castejón" was established as a federally administered capital territory following the passage of the Relocation Act on 9 July 1836. The historical boundaries of the District were made up by the Espansión, Ampurias, Sástago and Hisbanya boroughs, now known as the "core boroughs" of Castejón. The city developed in the post-Civil War period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the Alagón. At the time, the city was facing a large influx of refugees displaced during the fighting of the civil war. Under the guidance of the reform minded Confederal Congress, the groundwork for the expansion of Castejón into a compact city on a "complete and humane" scale was gradually expanded, later going on to adopt many of the ideas of Ildefons Cerdà.

Castejón remained a federally administered district until October 1902, when, after a long political campaign and public relations battle throughout the 1890s, according to the new Municipal Charter of "Greater Castejón," the core city of the Castejón was consolidated with other cities, towns, and communes of the Alpujarra surrounding Salto Bay to form six constituent boroughs. The new merged government became what is now known as the Castejón Metropolis, or, ambiguously, Castejón Region.

Infrastructure[edit | edit source]

Transport[edit | edit source]

Castejón is a major rail, highway, and air transport hub, and as a result it has developed a network of complex infrastructure systems. Being the most populous city in Balisca and the heart of the Concordia megalopolis, Castejón has a transportation system which includes one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world; the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel; and an aerial tramway. Castejón is also home to an extensive bike freeway system which services the entire metropolis. Large bicycle storage facilities are present throughout the city. Private cars are significantly less prevalent compared to other cities in the rest of the world, thanks to city policies that discourage car ownership. Castejón is one of eight major Baliscan cities in which less than a sixth of households own a car.

According to a 2022 Instituto Confederal de Estadística (ICE) survey, a large majority of Castejón's residents (54.3 percent) use public transport to get around the metropolis. Only 6.6 percent commuted by automobile; 20.5 percent walked or used roller skates; 9.5 percent commuted by bicycle; and 4.4 percent commuted by motorbike. Public buses in the Metropolis usually serve a secondary role, feeding bus passengers to and from train stations. Exceptions are long-distance bus services, buses in areas poorly served by rail (not many exist), and airport bus services for people with luggage. The Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation operates the ComMuni light rail and bus service, mainly within the 10 boroughs, and is free, as is all public transit. All routes are required to feature non-step buses with a kneeling function to assist mobility-impaired users.

Bike lanes have been doubled across the city as street parking and parking minimums have been eliminated and government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles are being repealed as part of the transition to substantially restrict private automobile usage. The Baliscan capital banned most polluting and private automobiles from key districts throughout the city progressively since the 1980s, and it has rapidly expanded the number of carfree zones such as Hachijoko and Takamaicán.

Castejón is a major international air transport hub with the 46th busiest airport system in the world. The city is served by two commercial international airports: Castejón–Concordia Airport and Jatiel–Alunzaro Airport. Together these two airports recorded traffic of 45 million passengers in 2019.

Cycling[edit | edit source]

Cycling in Castejón is the third-most popular mode of transport (after public transit and walking), and is widely considered a typical leisure activity within the capital city of Balisca. Following a national decline in the 1950s of levels of utility cycling, cycling as a mode of everyday transport within Balisca entered a slow regrowth in the 1960s before exploding in popularity following the October 73 events. This growth has continued into the present - during the period from 1978 to 2022, the number of daily journeys made by bicycle in Castejón sextupled from 316,000 to 2.16 million per day. The growth in cycling can partly be attributed to bicycle subsidies and the proliferation of bike sharing systems.

The cycling boom was further buoyed by the 1997 launch by the Transport for Castejón (TfC) bicycle sharing cooperative, Bicicomún (lit. 'common bicycle'). The system has 200,000 public bicycles distributed at 5,782 parking stations. By 2013, the cycle hire system had expanded rapidly, reaching underserved communities (such as Sástago and Arrabád) that had long complained of inaccessibility. Health impact analyses have shown that Castejón benefits significantly more from increased cycling and cycling infrastructure than other Latin American cities.

Some 50 km (31 mi) of specially marked bus lanes are additionally free to be used by cyclists, with a protective barrier protecting against encroachments from vehicles. Cyclists have also been given the right to ride in both directions on certain one-way streets.

Rapid transit and other rail[edit | edit source]

Castejón has a comprehensive urban railway network of 74 rapid transit, light metro and commuter lines that interconnects every barrio of the city and the surrounding areas of Yerba Buena, Valparaíso, León, and northern Luzamontaña. With more than 6 million passengers per day, the subway is one of the busiest subway systems in the world and one of the largest in the world, with a total track length of 364 kilometers (226 mi). In addition, in order to cope with the various modes of transport, Castejón's metropolitan government employs several mathematicians to coordinate the light and heavy rail, bus, and traffic schedules into one timetable. Rapid transit is essential in the Castejón Metropolis. 65% of Castejón residents commuted to work in 2022 using rapid transit. This is similar to other major cities in Balisca, with less than 25% of commuters utilizing automobiles to get to their workplace.

As of March 2023, the Metropolitan Rapid Transit (CMRT) had a length of 664.4 kilometers (412.8 mi) across 43 lines, serving 326 stations across the city.

Castejón's first train station, the predecessor to Montjuïc, appeared from 1854 as a home for the novelty Castejón-Palmireno local line. Over the next ten years Balisca's developing rail network would give Castejón five (including the Solis station) national railway stations and two suburban lines, and from 1858 Castejón would become the designated centre of an "estrela" (star) spider-web of rail with reaches to (and through) all of Balisca's borders. This pattern is still very visible in Balisca's modern railway map.

A conventional *Cisalpujarra* railway train alongside the Llanito canal.

Additionally, Castejón is connected to every major city in Balisca by rail. For most large Baliscan cities, this is via the AVB high-speed train, which has a normal operation speed of more than 300 km/h (186 mph). Major railroad stations include:

Technology[edit | edit source]

Castejón has been described as one of the world's most wired cities, and was ranked first in the Americas in technology readiness by PwC's Cities of Opportunity report. Since Castejón has rapidly developed a very technologically advanced infrastructure system.

Castejón is among the world leaders in Internet connectivity, being a major node of international networking, which has the the Americas' highest fibre-optic broadband penetration and highest global average internet speeds of 26.1 Mbit/s. Beginning in 2022, Castejón has provided free Wi-Fi access in outdoor spaces through a Ꭶ490 million (US$367 million) project with Internet access at 10,430 parks, streets and other public places. Additionally, in partnership with communal waste management services, the city has installed sidewalk trash bins equipped with wifi hotspots.

Internet speeds in some multos altos complexes reach up to 52.5Gbit/s through the nationwide Atlas Project, and though the average standard consists of 100 Mbit/s services, providers nationwide are rapidly rolling out 1Gbit/s connections at the equivalent of US$30 per month. In addition, the city is served by the AVB high-speed rail and the Castejón Metro, which provides 4G LTE, WiFi and DMB inside metro cars. The city has been gradually rolling out 5G connectivity via cooperation with commercial entities, beginning in June 2018.

Parks and green space[edit | edit source]

View of the Benasqués greenway, which runs between the Llanito and Expansión boroughs

The Ampurias L is an aerial/linear greenway, modeled on the Promenade plantée in Paris.

Excluding the outlying surface of Salto Bay, Castejón roughly covers a square measuring about 7,950 km² (3,070 mi²) in area. The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in 1975 gave it its modern square borders.

The metropolis contains 523 municipal parks, 86 of which are historic, 45 of which are thematic (botanical), 225 of which are urban, and six of which are forest. They range from linear and vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks alone cover 14% of the city (549.7 ha or 1,358.3 acres). The total park surface grows about 10 ha (25 acres) per year, with a proportion of 18.1 m² (195 sq ft) of park area per inhabitant.

Of Castejón's parks, the Bosque de Jacarandá is the largest, with ? ha located on the mountain of the same name. It is followed by Parc de la Confederación (which occupies the site of the old military citadel and which houses the Congress building, the Castejón Conservatory, and several museums); 31 ha or 76.6 acres including the zoo), the Guinardó Park (19 ha or 47.0 acres), Park Güell (designed by Antoni Gaudí; 17.2 ha or 42.5 acres), Oreneta Castle Park (also 17.2 ha or 42.5 acres), Diagonal Mar Park (13.3 ha or 32.9 acres, inaugurated in 2002), Nou Barris Central Park (13.2 ha or 32.6 acres), Olympic Park and Gistaín Park (both 11.9 ha or 29.4 acres), the Labyrinth Park (9.10 ha or 22.5 acres), named after the garden maze it contains. There are also several smaller parks, for example, Quinta de Viñas, the Parc de La Aigües (which is enclosed by Expansión; (2 ha or 4.9 acres).

Sanitation and water management[edit | edit source]

Aipi, a graben and artificial reservoir/water system in Bayara that has provided the majority of the Metropolis' water demand since 1968

A floodgate in Ampurias, connected to the Metropolitan Underground Discharge System

The government of the Castejón Metropolis considers water an increasingly pressing issue and has sought to emphasize conservation. Water access is universal and of high quality, though the region is projected to face significant water-stress by 2040. To circumvent this, the Metropolitan Utilities Board has implemented the "three metropolitan taps" strategy – water imported from the surrounding Araucarian regions and Bayara, urban rainwater catchments and reclaimed water (NEWater). The Metropolis' approach does not rely only on physical infrastructure, but it also emphasizes proper legislation and enforcement, water pricing, public education as well as research and development.

The Metropolitan Government has declared that it will be water self-sufficient by the time its 1950 long-term water supply agreement with Araucaria expires in 2024. Currently, the Castejón Metropolis exercises legal jurisdiction over four reservoir exclaves, completely surrounded by Araucaria and Bayara, which collectively cover about 60% of the city's water needs. According to official forecasts, water demand in Castejón is expected to double from 7.2 to 14.4 billion litres; 7.2 to 14.4 million cubic meters per day between 2020 and 2060. The increase is expected to come primarily from non-domestic water use, which accounted for 55% of water demand in 2010 and is expected to account for 70% of demand in 2060. By that time, water demand is expected to be met by reclaimed water at the tune of 50% and by desalination accounting for 30%, compared to only 20% supplied by internal catchments.

A huge system of dams, levees and tunnels was constructed following the devastating flooding triggered by the arrival of sulcarano Amara in the summer of 1983. The purpose is to manage heavy rain, typhonic rain, and river floods. This system was Castejón has an underground floodwater diversion facility known as the Metropolitan Underground Discharge System (MUDS). It took 15 years to build and was completed in 2000. MUDS is a 9.4 km long system of tunnels, 22 meters underground, with 70 meter tall cylindrical tanks. During floods, excess water is collected from rivers and drained to the Alagón river or Salto Bay.

Culture and society[edit | edit source]

Castejón's culture stems from the city's 600 years of history, particularly it's role as Balisca primate city. Castejón has historically been a cultural center of reference in the world. To a greater extent than the rest of Balisca, where their respective native languages is more dominant, Castejón is a multilingual city. Baliscano is the sole official language of the metropolitan government. Since the Baliscan Revolution it's long history of permissive culture has influenced the rest of Balisca, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Castejón today is an international hub of highly active and diverse cultural life with street art, concerts, fashion week, concert halls, drug and sex tourism, museums, and high-value architectural heritage.

Castejón has long been a subject of interest dating back to colonial times and has often been promoted by government officials as a place of opportunity and "a fresh start" for immigrants. With the economic malaise of the 1970s, and fueled by the efforts of local and national boosters, the metropolis established itself as an ideal migrant destination: a bustling, sheltered city with a cool climate and a cosmopolitan and welcoming population. An atmosphere of hopefulness and determination emerged in the early 1980s as a result of the annexation of Trinacria, just as popular music and libertine attitudes were sweeping the country. Trinacria in particular gained a reputation as a haven for counterculture.

Hundreds of thousands initially answered the calls; thousands of artists, designers, developers and political activists flocked to the city, bringing with them various counter and sub-cultures and diverse political views. Stemming from these initial population movements into the city and across the remained of Balisca, it became a hotspot of the Decreixement ("degrowth") subculture. As such, Castejón has developed a very community-oriented culture, with solidarity and self-reliance held to a very high degree. Castejón's success is still seen as a symbol of Balisca’s unique economic style, which tends to generate idiosyncratic technology, social, entertainment, and economic fads and booms and related busts.

The city competes with Concepción, Yerba Buena and Axarquía as a symbol of contemporary Baliscan art, music, and fashion. Additionally, Castejón was the birthplace of sujo (lit. 'dirt' or 'obscene'), a form of dance music, characterized by a fusion of Latin rhythms, dancehall, and hip-hop or rap.

"Third places", nightclubs and festivals[edit | edit source]

Castejón's nightlife has been celebrated as one of the most diverse, lively, and vibrant of its kind. Pariticiarly during the 1970s and 80s, the city became a major center of Baliscan drug culture and sex tourism, alongside being a center for punk music and culture. The barrios Navajas and Arrabád gained notoriety during this period. Throughout the 1980s, people in their 20s from all over the world, particularly those in Latin America, made Castejón's club scene a premier nightlife destination. During the Special Period many historic buildings were occupied and re-built by young squatters and anarchists and became a fertile ground for underground and counterculture gatherings. The outer boroughs are home to many nightclubs, including the tba, tba and tba. The Choroyo and several other locations are known for their sexually uninhibited parties.

Clubs are not required to close at a fixed time during the weekends, and most parties last well into the morning or even all weekend. Several venues have become a popular stage for the Neo-Burlesque scene.

Castejón has a long history of queer culture, and is an important birthplace of the LGBT rights movement. Same-sex bars, gay bathhouses, and dance halls have freely as early as the 1880s, and the first gay magazine, Lavanda, entered circulation in 1896. By the 1920s, gays and lesbians had an unprecedented visibility. Today, in addition to a near universally accepting atmosphere in the wider club scene, the city again has a huge number of queer clubs and festivals. The most famous and largest are Castejón Pride, the Folsom Street Fair, Festival de la Flor y el Amor, Festival de la Humanitá and Afropunk.

Feral cats[edit | edit source]

The city hosts a sizable feral cat population, with estimates ranging from several thousand to over three million stray cats. Residents almost universally view street animals as communally-owned pets, rather than traditional strays, and the country as a whole has a blanket no-kill, no capture policy.

The wide prevalence of cats in the city can be connected back to colonial times. The vast majority of Castejón's buildings at the time were made of wood, which gave shelter and enabled the proliferation of the mouse and rat populations. These problems were exacerbated by unsanitary conditions tied to population influxes and overcrowding following the Baliscan Civil War. This made cats' presence a necessity in the city, and their population swelled throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The widely positive attitude towards cats is shared across Balisca, and is attributed to Mozarab Islamic influences from Marrascania and the Iberian Peninsula (see Islam and cats), the first of whom arrived in the 16th century.

Cuisine[edit | edit source]

Today, due to Castejón's cosmopolitan population, every Baliscan regional cuisine and almost every national cuisine in the world can be found there; the city has more than 12,000 restaurants.

Castejón's culinary reputation has its basis in the diverse regional origins of its inhabitants. Balisca's regions and ethnic diversities have produced distinctive cuisines, much like regional varieties of wine. These mingled with Castejón's own regional traditions. In its beginnings, Castejón's culinary development owed much to the 19th-century organization of a railway system that had the city as a center, making the capital a focal point for migration from Balisca's many different regions and gastronomical cultures. This reputation continues through today in a cultural diversity that has since spread to a worldwide level thanks to Castejón's continued reputation for culinary finesse and further immigration from increasingly distant climes. Immigrants from former Spanish colonies have infused Baliscan cuisine with their own traditions, originating in South and East Asia, North and West Africa, and other countries in Latin America.

Castejón's restaurants reflect this diversity, with menus carrying traditional regional cuisine, fusions of various culinary influences, or innovating in the leading edge of new techniques, such as molecular gastronomy. Castejón's food shops also have a solid reputation for supplying quality specialized culinary products and supplies, reputations that are often built up over generations.

Fashion[edit | edit source]

Popular culture[edit | edit source]

Cosmopolitòpolis, a depiction of the Castejón Metropolis from the [[]] animated series

As the largest population center in Balisca and the site of the country's largest broadcasters and studios, Castejón is frequently the setting for many Baliscan movies, television shows, animated series (anime), web comics, light novels, video games, and comic books (manga).

In the late 1980s, the individual was the focus of leisure activities, such as excursions to parks or shopping districts. The Metropolis and Balisca as a whole are known to value hedonism and prioritizes mental well-being. Described as having a "all play and no work" mentality, the Metropolites has been known to seek entertainment wherever they can and maximize leisure. It is common to see Baliscan commuters riding the train to work, enjoying their favorite books or shows, or listening through earphones to the latest in popular music. A wide variety of types of popular entertainment are available. There is a large selection of music, films, and the products of a huge animation industry, among other forms of entertainment, from which to choose. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke are popular hangout places for teens while older people may go to bars, clubs, love hotels or street events which are increasingly common.

Popular cinema directors have often turn to Castejón and the wider Alpujarra as a backdrop for movies set in Balisca. Post-revolution examples include A Baliscan Roadtrip, tba, Sunrise in Castejón and the tba film tba; recent examples include Castejónes, City of No Gods, tba, Babel, tba, tba and The New Babylon.

Baliscan author Ximena Pineda has based some of her alternative history novels in Castejón (including The Palace of Spice), and tba's first two novels (tba and tba) featured the city. Contemporary <> painter tba spent 10 years living in Castejón as an artist, exploring it's unitary urbanism to create a body of work depicting the city's crowded streets and public spaces.

Religion[edit | edit source]

Baliscan law bans the establishment of an official religion at any administrative level, and prevents the government from involving itself in the private religious affairs of Baliscan citizens. Additionally, It allows the right to believe what a person, group, or religion wishes, but it does not allow the right to practice the religion or belief openly and outwardly in a public manner, a central facet of religious freedom. Since the implementation of secularism, the Baliscan government has co-opted the French principle of laïcité, in which the State does not recognize any official religion. Instead, it merely recognizes certain religious organizations, according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine. In return, religious organizations are to refrain from involvement in the State's policy-making or any activity that could be interpreted as political in a court of law.

In Balisca, "freedom of religious belief" is used as a more broad replacement for both "freedom of religion" and "freedom from religion". The term "belief" is considered inclusive of all forms of irreligion, including atheism, antitheism and humanism.The practice of religion is now legally considered a private matter throughout society and the state.

Islam was introduced in the Baliscan archipelago following the arrival of explorers and colonists on behalf of the Spanish Empire the late 15th to early 16th century, after which many were forced to choose between conversion or expulsion to the colony by the Crown of Castile. Significantly larger numbers of enslaved African Muslims were brought to the Baliscan islands following the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. Historically, an estimated 60% of slaves brought to Balisca from West/Central Africa were Muslims. They were overwhelmingly literate in contrast to many of the slave owners.

Following the outbreak of the Maroon Wars, significant number of slaves rebelled across the Western Plains, leading to a bloody campaign of self-liberation across the agricultural heartland. Thousands escaped, some with the help of the Catharist community which was vehemently opposed to slavery. This resistance eventually coalesced into the Araucarian Passage. Following the Baliscan Civil War and the relocation of the capital to Castejón, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting settled in the Alpujarra.

International relations[edit | edit source]

Castejón is classified as an Alpha+ World City, according to the Loughborough University group's (GaWC) 2018 inventory. It has consistently ranked as one of the world's most livable cities.

Twin towns and sister cities[edit | edit source]

Castejón is twinned with the following cities:

Athens, Greece (since 1992)
Shanghai, China (since 1993)
Belgrade, Serbia (since 1990)
Berlin, Germany (since 19 May 1994)
Bilbao, Spain (since 1992)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (since 1986)
San Francisco, California (since 1970)
Los Angeles, California (since 1970)
Intramuros, Philippines (since 1971)

Kotabumi, Kartasugih (since 1994)
Tokyo, Japan (since 1975)
Georgetown, D.C., US (since 1987)
Kyiv, Ukraine (since 1993)
Chicago, US (since 1978)
Naples, Italy (since 1990)
Kaijo, Teiko (since 1974)
Austin, US (since 1974)

Osaka, Japan (since 1990)
Ramallah, Palestine (since 1988)
Perpignan, France (since 1990)
Prague, Czech Republic (since 1992)
Rotterdam, Netherlands (since 1990)
São Paulo, Brazil (since 2007)
Seoul, Korea (since 1992)
Oishi, Oka (since 1974)

Senkaido, Takamaiku (since 1974)
Serika, Nakama (since 1976)
Barcelona, Spain (since 1993)
Vigo, Spain (since 1992)
Warsaw, Poland (since 1992)
Yerevan, Armenia (since 2000)
Zagreb, Croatia (since 1998)
Acua, Formosa (since 2024)
Sanyan (since 1974)
Oishi, Oka (since 1988)

Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities[edit | edit source]

Castejón is part of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities from 12 October 1982 establishing brotherly relations with the following cities:

Asunción, Paraguay
Seville, Siculia
Bogotá, Colombia
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Caracas, Venezuela
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Havana, Cuba
La Paz, Bolivia
Lima, Peru
Montserrat, Philippines
Madrid, Spain
Managua, Nicaragua
Monterey, California
Mexico City, Mexico
Montevideo, Uruguay
Panama City, Panama
Quito, Ecuador
Brasília, Brazil
San José, Costa Rica
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Salvador, El Salvador
Santiago, Chile
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Economic indicators
GDP (PPP)	$1.394 trillion (Q1 2022)
Real GDP growth	0.6% (Q1 2023)
CPI inflation	0.7% (June 2023)
Employment-to-population ratio	68.8% (June 2023)
Unemployment	8.9% (June 2023)
Household net worth	$5.076 trillion (Q1 2023)
Median income	$39,463.72 (Q1 2023)
Poverty line	$25,856.12 (Q1 2023)