Westeros Public Works Department

[Burning down the House]

It depends on what kind of king I'd be. If i cared about the common people it would be a water/sewer system. If i cared about the economy I would build good roads. If i was a national security guy I'd put the money into the Nights Watch. They are the first line of defense against the real threat.

[Lord Lymond Lychester]

Tear down Harrenhal and salvage whatever building materials you can from it. Then use said materials to help rebuild the damaged riverlands and build a bridge across the Trident at Lord Harroway's Town

Connect the Mander to Blackwater Rush, allowing travel to the Narrow Sea easier, opens up trade routes from the western coast to Kingslanding and the East coast

Help with the construction along the wall as well as gather men to fight along side the NW. Also, send people to explore above the wall in hopes of developing it a bit more

Fix up Winterfell, enough said

Pave the roads

working sewage and waterways

and...

A ski resort in the Vale. Rake in the upscale tourist dollars. :)

except hopefully after clearing out the others from above the wall, a ski resort in the Frostfangs would be in order

Definitely get some intense skiing out there; shadowcats, fresh powder, I think it evens out

[Pod The Impaler]

Build qanats in Dorne as well as reservoirs to collect what limited rainwater they get.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qanat

Hire specialists from the Free Cities to build Valyrian-style roads across the continent.

I like these first two ideas.

- Build some "Mini-Citadels" in White Harbor, Gulltown, Lannisport and KL.

Maybe at Stoney Sept or Harrenhal as well? Universities, basically.

[Lord Illidan Stormrage]

The creation of some paid schools and some universities - Westeros really needs to move towards the Reneissance.

[Golden&Crimson]

Demolishing The Twins in order to build another bridge would be retarded.

Read again what i write.

I didn´t write about demolishing the bridge, i write about demolishing the castles - The Twins - of course the bridge, that is between the two castles, is to stay...

More projects:

- A ample project to explore new quarries - from the North to Dorne - and use their stones to:

* 1st priority - improve the Kingsroad and any bridge in it.

* 2nd priority - improve in the same fashion the River Road, the High Road, the Gold Road, the Rose Road, and the Stone Way.

* 3rd priority - improve in the same fashion the Sea Road, the Ocean Road and the Prince´s Pass.

- Draining some tracts of swamps in the Neck, nearer to the Kingsroad, and use the new land to settle poorer farmers from other places of the Seven Kingdoms, giving them the lands in exchange for a small tax (in money, materials or food) to the Iron Throne.

- Plan to hire myrish glass makers:

* Build glass workshops in every big city.

* Build glass gardens (big, medium and small) through the North, to help feed the population during the Winter.

[SeanF]

they need to tidy up flea bottom

and destroy that human meat soup place

Certainly, health and safety regulations for fast food restaurants are a priority :drunk:

I'd say the single best thing they could do is build good roads.

[BloodyGoatHoat]

I didn´t write about demolishing the bridge, i write about demolishing the castles - The Twins - of course the bridge, that is between the two castles, is to stay...

Well considering the bridge is built into the castle, you're going to ruin the structure by tearing down the castle. Not to mention, the bridge is just as much a part of The Twins as the Keeps are. Little known Westeros fact, they're conjoined twins.

[Ser Duncan of Flea Bottom]

More bridges over the Trident, just Frey's bridge is stupid, that's why that stupid lord has money and that's why Robb had to marry a Frey girl and died.

I would try to clean a little bit KL, it's too smelly, maybe some kind of sewer system, we know it exists in ancient times

I would invest money to rise more big cities

I would help the NW to gather more men, especially from noble houses, it would be good to have some nobles in NW

[Golden&Crimson]

Well considering the bridge is built into the castle, you're going to ruin the structure by tearing down the castle. Not to mention, the bridge is just as much a part of The Twins as the Keeps are. Little known Westeros fact, they're conjoined twins.

Sigh.

To make it simple: demolish the walls, towers, halls, barbicans, gatehouses, buidings inside of the Twins, but - of course - let the bridge unscathed.

[Ser Duncan of Flea Bottom]

just construct more damn bridges, don't need to destruct the Freys castle

[Starfell]

The creation of some paid schools and some universities - Westeros really needs to move towards the Reneissance.

Amen to that! I think that the continent definitely needs more schools nd some universities

Read again what i write.

I didn´t write about demolishing the bridge, i write about demolishing the castles - The Twins - of course the bridge, that is between the two castles, is to stay...

More projects:

- A ample project to explore new quarries - from the North to Dorne - and use their stones to:

* 1st priority - improve the Kingsroad and any bridge in it.

* 2nd priority - improve in the same fashion the River Road, the High Road, the Gold Road, the Rose Road, and the Stone Way.

* 3rd priority - improve in the same fashion the Sea Road, the Ocean Road and the Prince´s Pass.

Why? Is there some kind of stone shortage in Westeros that I'm unaware of? Upgrading the road system is certainly a major priority but I don't understand the need to suddenly start cannibalising buildings, tearing down castles for and opening new quarries for materials. Unless you're deliberately trying to drive down the price of stone in anticipation of the megaproject. I can't see any point at all in demolishing the Twins though, you'd just be leaving a bottleneck completely undefended and I imagine that the area would be crawling with outlaws in no time at all without some kind of castle there.

[MacNille]

Better roads is a most have. Aqueducts is also a big help for the people. It would be really good if they have it.

[Golden&Crimson]

Why? Is there some kind of stone shortage in Westeros that I'm unaware of? Upgrading the road system is certainly a major priority but I don't understand the need to suddenly start cannibalising buildings, tearing down castles for and opening new quarries for materials. Unless you're deliberately trying to drive down the price of stone in anticipation of the megaproject. I can't see any point at all in demolishing the Twins though, you'd just be leaving a bottleneck completely undefended and I imagine that the area would be crawling with outlaws in no time at all without some kind of castle there.

Stone, used in mansory works in the middle ages was a material far from being cheap, in the XII century a tower like the one LF has in the Fingers could cost around 23kg of silver, almost 90% of the buildings - excepting churches, monasteries and castles was wood and rammed earth or, in some case, bricks.

And yes, my idea is turning the stone more cheap and training skilled laborers to start a huge project of renewing and reconstructing bridges and roads. making them more resilient, large, confortable to travel and not so vulnerable to bad weather.

In the area of the Crossing we have some knightly houses that can be responsible for the security of the zone against outlaws, no need of a lordly house infamous for breaking the guest right, neither we need flayers in the North, thats why the Dreadfort should be demolished.

[Ser Duncan of Flea Bottom]

They need more roads indeed. the Kings Road is ok, they need better secondary and thirdiary roads, because they are in really bad conditions as we see Brienne using them

[Djinn]

-Improve and expand the road system(Kingsroad, Goldroad, Roseroad, Stoneway, Highroad, Riverroad, Coastroad,etc), including upgrading river passages(ex:Lord Harroways town).

-Choose and build in the best possibal location in the Stormlands a large harbor(if nearer to Stonehelm the better).

-Choose and build in the best possible location in the western shore of the North a large harbor(if close to Torrhen's square or Deepwood Motte the better).

-Create the conditions(draning, quarrying, unblocking) for the increase of river traffic between Harrenhal and KL trough the God's eye-Blackwater rush connection.

-Make sure that at least two river bridges exist over any major river(Mander-all branches, Trident-all forks, Acorn water, Blackwater rush-all arms, etc) in the realm.

There can be no progress without prosperity.

[Dukhasinov]

Dig a canal between the Blue Fork and Ironman`s Bay. Giving them access to the lucrative trade of the Narrow Sea would go a long way toward placating the Ironborn and making the "Old Way" less attractive. Seal meat, animal pelts from the North, mammoth ivory from the Frozen Shore; all of these things would fetch a handsome price in the Free Cities. The Tullies would likely object to Ironborn longships plying their rivers, but they could likely be placated with a cut of the trade tariffs.

Also, a complex system of canals/qanats in Dorne, fed by the Greenblood. This could make Dorne an important agricultural center, since, unlike the Reach, it could continue to be productive during even the harshest winter. And when the price of grain soars during winter, the Martels can rake in approximately ALL of the money.

[Jon Snow eats wild beaver]

I don't know if this even counts, but here goes:

They gotta start paying their payments in arrears to the Iron Bank of Bravos. Unless that happens, the war will never end and the public works department is stuck in neutral, I think.

[Naathi Prince]

I would build a Fleet in the North, because they own two islands and its just silly that they don't have one. The Great Northern Fleet, made up of both Stark and Manderly ships, a combination of galleys, cogs, and merchant ships, would be at White Harbor, while Bear Island and the Stoney Shore would have a fleet of longships and galleys.

I would also create a second bridge on the Trident as well, along with sponsoring a rival school to the Citadel.

I also thinking creating a suburban capital is a good idea. Kings Landing is a dirty city, and the fact is dirty and blighted places help to cause commensurate behavior. Moving the court to a lace that is beautiful and separate is probably the greatest idea Cersei ever had.

[juanml82]

- Improved roads and bridges, as pretty much everyone said, as well as sewer systems in all the large cities, specially King's Landing.

- Smaller 'Citadels': Every kingdom capital would have some university-like facility, as well as business and law (pending codifying the Westerosi laws) schools.

-Canals to join both oceans wherever practicable

-The creation of the Westerosi Bank

-Set up trade schools, specially masonry schools (which would be needed by such large infraestructure projects) through the realm. And free (funded by the crown) ones at the Wall. Combined with the creation of the Grey Watch, essentially, an auxiliary force for the Night's Watch composed by soldiers serving for two years, coming from all social status (and maintaining them while in service) from all over the realm, would strengthened the Kingdom's defense at the North, allow some measure of interaction between people from the different kingdoms and the students will be used to repair and maintain the Wall structures.

-Not quite public works, but mobilize the realm's main three fleets (the Royal Fleet, the Redwyne Fleet and the Iron Fleet) to fight piracy in the Narrow Sea, if possible in combination with the Free Cities.

And once that's all done, use the trained navy and army to attack Braavos and destroy the Iron Bank, because there is no way in the seven hells such large infrastructure projects can be paid without defaulting in the loans taken to accomplish them :P

[The Mother of The Others]

Wouldn't somebody try to build an anti-dragon castle? OMG! OMG! USE THE IRON THRONE DESIGN AS INSPIRATION FOR A CASTLE'S DRAGON DEFENSES:

I have no idea how or why the Eyrie got built up so high, but it seems more like a dragon perch than a deterrant. That could be part of the trap, though! Get the dragon to see your castle as an attractive roost, then once it lands and is more vulnerable that's when you send big hydraulic metal spikes hurtling out through the castle walls to impale any beast in contact with the place. Then, once extended, the spikes would look like an array of thorns, turning the castle into a rose bush that's more trouble than it's worth from the dragon's perspective. It'd stay away, especially if some of the spikes could then be fired outward as ballista bolts. The dragon wouldn't know which ones were rigged to shoot, so it'd fear approaching the castle from ANY angle. Then, there'd be some other way to punish the dragon. To use its fire breath it'd have to make a more tentative approach because of the extended spikes. Would wildfire catapults then be able to ignite the dragon???

Also, if there's any substance with a hugely high melting point, I'd use that as the outer skin of the walls. And here's where it gets really sexual: PLAN ON BEING MELTED!!!!! In other words, have an outer castle wall system that's engineeered to melt separately and flow around the inner castle and encase it without the melting spreading to the inner keep. Now you've got molten armor shielding your exterior from more dragonbreath attacks AND from enemy troops, because you're covered in a heat dome like a melted marshmallow. You'd have escape tunnels to use as the new permanent exit and entrance for your place until the rebuilding was done. Or, hell, just keep living that way forever after; your castle would have so much character it'd be a tourism stop, and it'd have no visible gate to attack, which is a fine tactical state of being. Ideally, the melted exterior would turn clear (magically?) when it was superheated, like glass. So the melted glob of ex-stone would admit rosy sunlight--you wouldn't be doomed to darkness and the constant use of candles. Airflow from the caves underneath. I wonder if an ice-house layer inbetween the two keeps would help insulate too. The castle would be like a cake with an ice layer instead of a frosting layer. Yeah if the dragon breathed on it all day it'd turn the area between the walls into a scalding-steam-boiling-water deathtrap, but for the first few dragon breaths the ice would limit the burn damage. And the other defenses should prevent a dragon from breathing away on the castle all day at its leisure. Also, on the main tower, have a hidden upward thrusting metal spike ready to anal any dragon who lands on the tower or tries to mess with it (as in Stackpole's Dragoncrown War Cycle). Yeah, dragonproof castle.

The only downside is ALL the interior would be taken up as storage space for the huge metal thorns while they were retracted. There'd only be room for a couple New York sized studio appartments as living space. ....Oh, it's possible lots of the spikes would be angled to strike upward at a 45 degrees, so when retracted they'd actually be stowed underground.... no, you'd still need to completely interrupt your floorplan every 50ft or so with a dragonspike pathway that'd cut through every floor of the castle and make sloping floor and ceiling sections the rule. That'd be really really awkward architecture. But it might make up for its awkwardness with a beautiful kind of symmetry??? Sitting in the lord's lofty chambers it might look like you were inside the heart of a crystal latticework of geometrical perfection. Eh.