Faro, DS

Z12, -24.356 °S, 123.743 °E
Faro
Official Name: Santiago del Faro Ardesférico
Other Names: La Vieja, La Mitad Sureña, Puerto Viejo
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Ciudad in the Ardispheric Federation
Status	Capital Departamental (department capital)
Federal Subject	Flag of Departamento del Sur Departamento del Sur
Comuna	Comuna Independencia
Geography
Elevation	13 m
Area	11.6 km2
Population
Demonym	Faran, farense, santiagueño, neocastellanés
Population	87,000 (2014)
Density	7500/km2
Government
Mayor (Alcalde)	Teodoro Nagata
Transport
Metro	Lines 1,2
Tram	Bronze Lines, Gold Line 50

Faro (Castellanese, full name "Santiago del Faro Ardesférico", Ingerish "Saint James of the Ardispherian Lighthouse") was the first colonial settlement in the region, and is the oldest chartered city in the Ardispheric Federation, having been founded in 1522. It was the colonial capital of Nuevo Castellán throughout its 300 year history, and during the immediate post-independence period it was the capital of the Federation, until neighboring Villa Constitución, DF, was built in the 1840s. Faro remains the capital of the federal subject Departamento del Sur, the seat of Comuna Independencia, and the cathedral city of the Ortholic Ecclesiastical Province (Metropolitan Archdiocese) of the Ardisphere, despite its relatively small population. Downtown Faro and dowtown Villa Constitución are in fact a single downtown, divided by the boundary between the two federal subjects, Avenida del Estado.

Faro's current population is about 87,000 inhabitants, in a land area of 11.6 km².

Name

Unlike many cities with Ortholic-themed names (saints, etc.), Faro never officially changed its name during the "secularist backlash" period in the 19th century. Thus, it is still officially "Santiago del Faro Ardesférico." Nevertheless, almost no one calls the city by its full name, instead using the convenient shorthand "Faro".

Geography

Faro is a narrow, roughly rectangular strip of land, never more than 1.5 km wide, running between the coast of the Bahía Negra to the south and the federal subject boundary to the north and its giant neighbor, Villa Constitución. Its east end is the estuary of the Río Grande and the so-called Puerto Viejo ("old port"), separating it from Huañon and the eastern international border, while the west end is an inlet off the coast called Ría Exiliados, which confusingly means "exiles estuary," although it is only a kind of slough off the coast and not a major estuary. To the west of La Ría lies the city of Gran Playa.

Transportation

From the start, the metropolitan region's rail transportation system included Faro, since its downtown overlapped with Villa Constitución's. The first tram lines built included what is now known as the Bronze Loop Line 99, which forms a circle around the twinned downtowns.

Subway

Lines 1 (Green Line) and 2 (Red Line) both start at Puerto Viejo station on the eastern edge of Faro. Line 1 runs northeast and quickly crosses the boundary, but Line 2 loops southeastward first, and thus serves as the main transportation axis for the city, including stops at the Cathedral Plaza and the old governors' palace.

Bus

One of the major interregional bus terminals is in Faro. Many local and metropolitan RUTA-VC bus routes also serve the city.

Education

Faro has an unusual arrangement with its larger neighbor such that students in Villa Constitución are free to attend public schools in Faro, and vice versa. This is called "distritos múltiples, un sistema" ("multiple districs, one system") and is unique in the Ardisphere in that it crosses a federal subject boundary. Faro is currently home to only one public university, the postgraduate-only Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Campus de Derecho y Administración Publica (the site of the UAM's law school and public administration programs), but it has 4 liceos (high schools), 6 secondarias (middle schools), and 11 primary schools.

Sibling Cities

Faro has several sibling cities, as per the guidelines of Sibling Cities of the World:

• Edûkh, Edu