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Contributor/author(s): Joey Neil

Residential

• When building blocks of row houses, try building a block 5 tiles wide and however long you want it to be. Make a 2 tile wide strip of medium residential on each side leaving a single tile in the middle. Put trees in this strip of land along with fountains or parks if desired. This adds to the aesthetic look and and value of the area.
• Don't build a mass of dense residential. Build a small amount and mainly near the city center. This will create a lot of Royal Manors and Villars Apartments which generate more taxes. Build light residential mainly on the outskirts of the city and/or in the mountains. The rest of the city looks good with the row house layout in the previous tip.
• Intersperse your light residential areas with parks, playgrounds, and trees. Put schools in these areas too.
• When was the last time you saw a bus stop or train depot right next to a house? I never have. Put those mass transit stops in the park and playground areas in the light residential zones or in any light commercial zones you have in the suburbs.

Industrial

• Build small plots of industry all over the map. The sims will be able to reach them easily and the effect on land value is fairly low. Maybe 1 or 2 larger areas of dense industrial is okay, but not a massive sector of the city.
• Don't build a barrier of large parks around the industrial areas. Show me an industrial park surrounded by beautiful parks and then maybe I will reconsider it.

Commercial

• Build boulevards in the downtown area. Most downtowns in large cities have tree-lined roads.
• Build large parks and zoo complexes in and around the downtown. I live near Nashville, TN and that city has beautiful parks everywhere near the downtown.
• Don't surround your city hall or county courthouse with giant 3x3 or 4x4 towers. Most city halls are set in some kind of memorial park.

Miscellaneous

• Don't grid the city. A city is not a piece of graph paper. Make the roads do twists and turns. The downtown is okay to do the grid with but don't overdo it.
• Place trees everywhere. You don't just have to have a park or a zoo. Put some trees near it. Even New York City has trees.

See also
Making realistic cities
Ten points for the ultimate realistic city creation
A realistic city grid

Knowledge Tree
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