Pyingshum

Pyingshum (pjiŋɕɯm) is the capital and largest city of Kojo. It is the country's centre of politics, culture and commerce as well as its main transportation hub.

Infobox

Geography and Climate

Pyingshum
Climate chart
J F M A M J J A S O N D     60     9 −1     71     12 1     88     17 6     91     22 11     85     26 16     63     31 20     44     32 22     79     32 22     100     29 17     71     23 11     66     16 6     55     10 1 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.4     48 30     2.8     54 34     3.5     63 43     3.6     72 52     3.3     79 61     2.5     88 68     1.7     90 72     3.1     90 72     3.9     84 63     2.8     73 52     2.6     61 43     2.2     50 34 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

City Scape

Architecture, layout and spatial planning, monuments

Governance

Mayor and City Government

The mayor is elected by a city-wide popular vote with a run-off between the two strongest candidates in case no candidate reaches half of the vote in the first round. The current mayor, 54 year-old Riko Lazákom-Gomez, is not party-affiliated but attested to ideologically align with BF and AFK. The term length is six years with no fixed term limit other than the mandatory retirement age of 70. The mayor presides over the city council meetings. The mayor's vote is tie-breaking. The mayor appoints the sub-mayors and decides on their fields of responsibility, however the city council has to approve them. As a result, the mayor usually tries to build a sort of government coalition with fractions in the city council and appoints candidates associated with them, similar to ministers in the national government. Unlike on the national level however, the mayor can formally give instructions to the sub-mayors. Also unlike on the national level, the sub-mayors usually (with the exception of I and V, who directly head an agency in their department which also aids in coordinating the other agencies in the department) do not command a dedicated agency akin to a ministry, instead directly managing their subordinate agencies. The organisation chart to the right displays the structure of Pyingshum's administration to the buéro-level. For detailed information about the role of municipal, regional and national governance, refer to the respective article.

City Council

The council consists of 97 councilmen and -women, elected every four years by proportional representation in 10 voting districts. Those are congruent to the Dengshō with the exception of the inner city, which is divided into one district north and one south of the river Kime. In every voting district, every party or voters' asociation can put up a list of candidates for election, indicating the party's preference regarding their order. Independent candidates can run as well. Every voter can either cast three votes for any candidate(s) they like, even if they run on different party lists, or cast all three votes for a party list with no regards to the candidates. Independent candidates are elected if they gain enough votes in their voting district equivalent to at least 1.03 % of the city-wide vote. The number of seats a party wins on the city council is proportional to its share of all votes cast for its lists city-wide; only parties with a share of votes larger than 4 % are considered. The number of seats of a party allocated to a party's district list is proportional to the share of that list's votes from all votes for that party city wide. The seats on a party's lists are allocated to candidates in the order of their number of votes. If councillors leave the council more than 3 months before an election, the seat is filled by the candidate with the next most votes on the list.

The 2018 municipal election resulted in the following seat distribution:

Party	Share of votes	Seats
RK (centre-conservative)	23 %	22
MDK (social-democratic)	20 %	19
BF (green)	19 %	19
AFK (liberal)	14 %	14
GD (socialist)	11 %	11
GAN (authoritarian-right)	5 %	5
MKL (nationalistic-ecologists)	4 %	4
Independent candidates	4 %	3

The city council and mayor both are located in the city hall in Kami so Kuruchi-Pang, just south of Daiamondoshi-Pang. Office space of the municipal administration is located in adjacent annexes as well as in other locations spread throughout the city.

Dengshōs and Pangs

Pyingshum is made up of nine boroughs (Dengshō), which in turn are divided into a total of xx Pangs. Unlike most other cities in Kojo, not all power is vested in the central city government. Pyingshum is one of only two Kojolese cities that have a second local layer of government on the borough-level. They have some competences in the area of road construction, amenities, ordinances, building permits etc. While elections of the local borough-councils are analogous and simultaneous to the city-council, the borough mayors are not elected by the people directly but instead elected by the respective borough-council. They are also not head of the local administration but instead perform mostly representative functions. Unlike the city council and mayor, sitting on a borough-council or being borough-mayor are honorary offices with small expense allowances instead of fixed remunerations. The borough-councils further appoint members of neighbourhood-boards. They are made up of 5-30 adept residents of the Pang who advise the borough- and sometimes city-council on local matters.

For a list of and information about all Dengshōs and Pangs in the city, refer to the main article: Administrative divisions of Kojo#Pyingshum-sur.

Transportation

Road

Many national motorways radiate out from the city. They end at the ca. 40 km long, central ring motorway G100 that encompasses the inner city. Several tangential motorways form a less circular, second ring of motorways through the suburbs.

Since the rise of motorisation, rising motor traffic has been dealt with in two complementary ways: on one hand the city tried to meet the demand by building high-capacity car infrastructure, mostly from the 1940's till 70's, often at the costs of local neighbourhoods. On the other hand, car usage in the inner city has always been discouraged in a number of ways. Since the 60's, many narrow streets in central neighbourhoods have been turned into pedestrian and bike priority or only streets. The vast public transportation network has constantly been upgraded to provide attractive alternatives to the private car. There is virtually no free public parking, and high fees are imposed on car ownership in the inner city in general. Like on most national highways, users have to pay tolls to use them. In Pyingshum during rush hour, additional congestion charges apply which can up to double the toll or even quadruple the toll on the G 100 compared to the national standard. Most of the city is also designated as low-emission vehicle zone. It is possible to buy-out one's vehicle from this ban by paying, depending on the vehicle's emissions, a fee from 3,500 Zubi up to 15,000 Zubi (~600 int$) per month. The car sticker given out to these exempt vehicles is also known as "Daiamondoshi-medal", because most of them belong to a super rich elite who resides in Daiamondoshi-Pang and are willing to pay these exorbitant amounts to be able to show off their prestige cars.

Rail Network

Historic development of railways in central Pyingshum. Metro and light rail not included.

The growth of the railway network is closely tied to the general history of the city. The first lines were built by private companies in the second half of the 19th century, with most companies building one or more terminus stations. Throughout the 20th century, several stations were moved further out of the city center and railway lines extending into the city were dismantled and replaced by underground metro or later Papáchē lines. Limbē-Dyanchezi was opened in 1909 to take over most services to Ozuman Chezi in Daiamondoshi-Pang, Kibō-Dyanchezi in 1929 to replace Humenyamin Chezi, also in Daiamondoshi, and Aku-Dyanchezi in several phases in the 1970's as a replacement for the overburdened old Akuchezi in Doíku-Pang. Also in the 1970's, many suburban railway lines that until this point terminated somewhere on the edge of the inner city were connected with new underground tunnels to form the Papáchē network.

Public Transit

Regional Rail

KCP, KCS and KC

Long-distance Rail

IC and CC

Airfare

Pyingshum International Airport, around 50 km to the east of the city center near the city Formajiá, is the regions principal airport and also functions as hub for all of Kojo. It served 67.3 million passengers in 2021. It is the busiest airport in Kojo by far both in terms of passenger and freight volume. It is a relatively new airport with a main terminal in the shape of a six-armed starfish. There, it features a large tropical garden open to all levels with a cylindrical waterfall entering through an opening in the roof construction.

The first airport in the city was the Kū A'éropō, opened with a circular airfield in 1916. Its later runway had a usable length of around 1.5 km. It was well known for its proximity to the city center. In 1939, a second airport was constructed to the south-east of the inner city, named Longte Puechaésa A'éropō. This larger airfield allowed for two parallel runways with a usable length of up to 3.2 km. This became important in the 1960's and onward, when the jet age radically transformed civil aviation and enabled more and more people to fly. The hexagon-shaped main terminal, opened in 1964, is emblematic for that time period and preserved as a historic building to this day. Over the years, as air traffic continued to grow and Kū A'éropō became unfit for most air traffic due to its short runway and noise pollution, more and more side terminals were added.

It became apparent in the early 1990's that further expansions at Longte Puechaésa were unfeasible due to lack of space. Similar to the closed Kū A'éropō, the adverse impacts of noise pollution also became a heated subject of discussion. As a result it was decided to construct a large new national airport far outside the city boundaries. Quick access to the city and the rest of the country was ensured by the newly to be constructed Papáchē line and a high-speed railway. A first provisional terminal, which nowadays is used by low-cost carrier airlines, as well as the first two of a total of four runways opened in 1998, which enabled the full closure of Kū A'éropō and the conversion of its airfield into green space and part of the railway corridor connecting the new airport to Kibō-Dyanchezi. The main terminal building opened in phases between 2003 and 2005. The newly added capacity allowed Longte Puechaésa to close for scheduled air traffic in 2004. Consequently, Longte Puechaésa's southern runway was converted into a park area and all side terminals and parking areas were turned into new neighbourhoods and commercial areas. Longte Puechaésa remains in use for special freight deliveries, government as well as private flights. Since 2019, a new midfield terminal is under construction at Pyingshum International. Since 2021, Arm C is the first arm to be closed for a thorough renovation.

Shipping

The river Kime is an important route for freight shipping. Passenger ferries play only a very minor role due to the high number of bridges, however there is a large number of sightseeing tours, especially along the scenic river banks in the inner city and the Sunmyuel Tyanhā, as well as a small number of river cruises.

Pyingshum's ports, from north to south, are:

• Moebi Nafahang (1 basin, with rail)
• Kókōburyu Nafahang (4 basins, with rail)
• Chin Tákoechiwe (1 basin, no rail)
• KART Nafahang (1 basin, no rail)
• Sunmyuel Tyanhā, Mómauel-Pang (sightseeing and river cruises only)
• Kansokkuwīdoling Nafahang, Róng'yeda-Pang (2 basins, private yachts only)
• Porāgu-Parishíla Nafahang (11 basins, with rail, Geolymp)
• Éngkai Kū Nafahang (1 basin, recreational use only)

Economy

While Pyingshum accounts for only about a fifth of Kojo's population, its share of the national GDP is almost one third.

Primary Sector

Agriculture, fishing or mining play only a very minor role in Pyingshum's urban economy.

Secondary Sector

While the manufacturing industry accounts for a smaller share in Pyingshum's economic output than other cities in Kojo, it remains a consequential sector overall. Including construction, it accounts for 13 % of the city's GDP and employs a similar share of the workforce. Construction, food and material processing and machinery production as well as niche products contribute over-proportionally to the secondary sector compared to the Kojolese average.

Tertiary Sector

The dominance of the tertiary sector in Pyingshum is even more pronounced than in the rest of the county and other developed nations. It makes up 86 % of the city's economy and employment, with a higher spread of income among workers in this field compared to the primary and secondary sectors.

As a global city, the finance and consulting industry has a strong foothold in Pyingshum. Most larger Kojolese companies have their headquarter in Pyingshum, and the city is the prime location for Kojolese branch offices of international companies. Much of the associated office space is located in the high-rise district Chinkágaldosim-Pang. The Pyingshum Stock Exchange is also situated there. Due to its primacy, Pyingshum is also the nation's largest host of conferences, fairs and leisure events. This is exemplified by various large-scale venues.

Being the most visited city in Kojo, tourism is not only relevant for its directly associated industries such as hospitality, but also for the city's well developed retail, gastronomy, culture and personal service industries. The most pricey retail areas are situated in Daiamondoshi-Pang, where not only the wealthy residents of the neighbourhood themselves but also affluent visitors from all over the world frequent the many exclusive boutiques, delis and jewellers. It is estimated that about 10 million international visitors come to the city every year (spending an average 3.8 nights and 2990 Zubi (130 USD) per night), with an additional 6 million overnight guests from inside Kojo (average: 2.0 nights). The number of domestic day visitors (excluding regular commuters) is thought to be around 40 million, however these numbers are difficult to estimate.

Education and research is also a major economic factor for the city. University students from all over the country and abroad come to study at one the city's many institutions of higher education, both because of their quality of teaching and the high quality of life in the city itself. Consequently, Pyingshum is a highly attractive location for all kinds of research institutions.

Being the nation's capital, the public sector is often assumed to make up a big share of the city's economy. While the national government and parliament contribute heavily to Pyingshum's relevance in Kojo and abroad, for example by attracting a large number of international governmental and non-governmental organisations, public service employment is actually not much higher than in most other cities in the country. This is because for the most part the lower agencies of the national administration, which make up the vast majority of actual employment, are spread throughout the country. The city once calculated that the lower number of children in Pyingshum compared to the national average and consequentially lower number of school teachers being employed in Pyingshum by the national government in itself alone offsets all employees working in the Chancellery, the ministries and parliament. In absolute terms however, the municipal government alone is by far the largest employer in the city, like in most places in Kojo.

The transportation industry also plays a larger than average role in the city's economy. This is mostly due to the high number of logistic businesses as well as the high share of public transportation. As a result, the Pyingshum Kōkyō Susyong Unzuó (Pyingshum Public Transport Authority) is the second largest employer in the city.

Important Institutions

National and International governmental institutions and NGOs

Culture and Leisure

Green Spaces

Parks, Zoo and Botanical Garden, Beaches, environs

Sport and Event Venues

• Pyingshum Exhibition Centre, over 1 million m²
• Pyingshum Conference Center