Help with segregation/demand

[MikeO 0]

Hi ho!

I've got a city at 95-100K pop, and everything has been fine for a while, but recently growth has halted since I've basically ran out of space or demand has dropped.

I've got neighbour cities with 20-50K pop, and they are fine, but this one is getting a little tricky.

Would it be best to slowly move industry into a neighbouring city? So that in the end my big city is only R and C, no I.

Would  that make it more desirable for C$$$ and R$$$? Health, Safety and Education are high above the board, Traffic is OK, but environment is in the red. Is it time for industry to move out?

Here is a screenshot of Bayton.

Also, should I stick to keeping industry separate in future cities? Does that work better than having it all in one?

Thanks, from a SimCity 4 newb.

[lestatdl1 0]

I've always started with two cities, one for R/C, one for I. Make sure you have good connections; money management works well here. I start with a highway connecting the two cities, but a rail connection would work as well (it'll max out on capacity more quickly though).

[flobo 0]

Hey. It seems your budget isn't in great shape, i've found that demand is sustained better in a stable city. Get your budget balanced but keep taxes reasonable. A cheacky way to reduce costs is to cut your prison budget. Go to public safety tab in budget reduce it massively, then check that capacity is ok...should save you a few hundred $. You could also add tolls on roads in and out of your city, nice little earner. Same as prison concept, reduce your airport budget till its just above what you need. Replace old utilites, they get inefficient with time, and new ones could save loads.

Other than that just make sure there are plenty of jobs, or potential jobs for your citizens. Have you placed all the rewards, they tend to increase the so-called demand caps.

Then when you've got money, make better transport system to reduce commute times. Also plant trees in those areas between I and the rest of the city you left blank to help pollution.

Hope that helps,

flobo

[DOXXP29 5]

Hi Ho, MikeO! It looks like you're at the point where setting up adjoining cities would be the best answer to the growing city you now have. My suggestion would be to create a city to the west and put in some industry near the edge abutting your existing city. Make good transportation connections...a road, train and/ or subway, and get the city started. You'll probably see residential demand start rising. As the industry develops in the new city, SLOWLY start removing the industry in your first city. (Rezone...if you bulldoze, it will just grow back.) Eventually, your industrial jobs will all be over in the new city. (You may also want to do the same thing with a new city on the east to balance it out) Just take it slow. Removing it all at once will cause all your demand to crash. For future cities, I prefer to use seperate cities for jobs and residential, though I do put some jobs in my residential cities, but I DON'T put residential in my job cities. Other players do things differently, but that's what works for me, and from what I see of your city, I'm pretty sure it will work well for you also. Good luck, and keep us posted!

[DreTitans23 2]

I would keep the "popcorn" effect in mind when starting a new city. You should read the tutorials on how to manage a city and how to effectivly build one. From this picture, I believe you can build some good cities if you build right!

[Mystrelia 57]

Zoiks! I've never had my city funds going into the hole, other than during the first few months as I'm getting one started. Make sure you're micro-managing all of your educational and health facilities and everything else you possibly can. At this point I would try stabilizing the budget before moving anything out, and from what I can tell by what you said, your best bet is to start bringing that environment score up. To do that you need to get the pollution down. Use God Mode to put a buffer of trees between your industrial and other zoned areas (ctrl-shift-alt, then click on God Mode to get the pre-city set of tools). I would choose the absolute worst area of water pollution and place one water treatment facility (spendy, I know but in the long run way worth the investment--and even if you do eventually move out your industry, one water treatment facility is advisable because even C and R add water pollution). If you don't already have bus stops, get them in. This will bring down your traffic AND air pollution greatly. Yes, you'll lose even more money at first, but eventually it will pay off. I've found that if you have a beautiful city your sims will pay a higher percentage on taxes than they will to live in a dump.

What type of industry do you have going? Check your buildings against the demand you have. If you don't have a lot of HT but have good demand for it, choose one small area of non-HT industry, bulldoze it, spread trees all over the zoning and let HT develop.

Once you get your budget balanced, then start thinking about re-arranging, because speaking from experience, it'll cost a fortune.

Sorry, I know this isn't what you asked about, but your city has more problems than simply moving I to another city will solve.