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Contributor/author(s): D'vorjakque

Getting very high and astronomical land value can be a very difficult task. It has been my experience that buildings such as parks, museums, sports parks, rewards, and waterfront property generally increase land value. However, even if overwhelming quantities of the above are placed throughout a city, there are still quite a few areas that just refuse to rise in land value. I have identified several factors that determine land value in Simcity 3000, and shall list them below.

First of all, the presence of hills does not seem to have any significant positive impact on land value. Secondly, I recommend against using a lot of hills for several reasons. A large park, for example, can be said to raise aura and land value. My experience with the game, however, indicates that this aura only applies to areas of the same height. Thus, having "steps" in the city terrain can be very detrimental to the presence of high land value.

Most importantly, land value does not seem to increase with time. It is quite possible to obtain astronomical land value immediately after zoning. It is usually my policy that if after 30 seconds of game time, the land value has not upgraded high enough, the structure of the surrounding cityscape must change in order to increase the land value. To make an effective change, one can simply place a large park in the area of the problem, create a greater waterfront, build a police station to reduce crime in the area, or build things such as museums and sports parks.

The museum is the single greatest land value increasing item I have found. In order to get tons of astronomical land value in an area, simply construct what I call a "museum park". Usually, this consists of a museum surrounded by ponds or other parks. The presence of such a museum park is GUARANTEED to rise land value through the roof.

Do not hesitate to create lots of park land. Personally, I probably have in excess of 50 museums and 100s and 100s of parks in my city. Not only to they look good themselves, but they make the surrounding buildings look awesome!

Generally, landmarks don't seem to have any effect on land value. Though they look nice by themselves, be sure to place them next to plenty of water and park land.

See also
Land value vs. density tables
Land value specifics
Land value: one possible truth
Increasing land value: more than just trees
Improve land value/pollution conditions w/ trees
Raise land value to Astronomical
Land value calculation bug
Making a commercial island w/ very high land value

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