Planning my cities/region

[Mr_Pooter 0]

(Yea, I know, there's other topics for this, but I don't want to try to get help in an old topic because most people wont bother to look at them anymore.)

Ok, so I was thinking about starting a new region, again (been doing this a lot lately beause I just started playing again, and I keep coming up with new ideas each time I start a region). I want to do at least a somewhat decent job of planning. I have a few questions, however. A few are random, but whatever...

One thing I've been thinking about is the zoning. When I zone a single residential/commercial block, how big should it be? I usually do 6x9-ish blocks (surrounded by streets), but I'm wondering if maybe I should make it a little bigger?

What's the best thing to do with highways/MT? In the region I've been working on recently (only has a few cities), I put a highway system in before I started building (only did it in a few cities though). I have the highways going right through the middle of my cities, and it loops around my bigger cities (on the way outside). Does anyone have any better ideas? I don't feel like my highway system is that effective...

In my biggest city (ok, so it's only 23k people, but still my biggest...), I don't have a lot of people driving. Pedestrians and subway rule, with the slight assistance of busses. I still have plenty of streets, and I don't have a single one-way roads or avenue, and normally by now I would have avenues everywhere and my city would look ugly... unfortunately, I just recently noticed the subway lines starting to turn a little yellowish. It's where my cities connect, but still. I was wodnering if anyone could give me some rail/monorail ideas? I've never used stuff like that before =(

Where should landmarks go? Where should my industry crap be located? Should my power be near the industry, and water near residential areas?

How can I make a city look nice? How many parks should I have?

Any other ideas/pointers would be greatly appreciated... also, I'm a visual learner, so screenshots would be helpful. Thanks.

[Flann 1,709]

Ouch i had a huge reply and accidentally closed the window.

Use your highways to direct traffic downtown. Connect your avenues and important roads to the highways. Use ground highways mostly, as these force people to get on the highway if you don't build every overpass for every road. Only use overpasses for important roads. force traffic to use the avenues.

use a bus system. https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=1834 place these strategically to force traffic to use a different route or take the bus! Also create one way roads on sides of avenues to designate bus routes.

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=14766 use these road top bus stops in denser areas. Use them on every block! However, don't use them in areas where you have 1x1 or 1x2, 1x3 lots etc. as they will cause the homes to abandon.

When i use rail, i usually make a double line straight through the map. It's like a rail highway. Then you create sub routes and extensions to connect various neighborhoods. Search the STEX for some stations that go right on the track, they are very useful.

I usually place my industry along the highways connecting areas; also surrounding downtown near the highway ring road. I never place industry far from a highway. Use lots of bus stops here too, it will seriously help traffic.

As far as parks go, i place them sporadically in my suburban areas, the more the better, but don't go overboard. For downtown, I usually have a couple multi-block parks, consisting of maybe 3 or 4 large park greens and various other small parks.

Hold tight and I'll give some pictures.

[projectadam 0]

Mr_Pooter,

Something else is it sounds like you have an AWESOME transportation system, but maybe a little too awesome. If your biggest city is 23,000 and you have subways and highways your transportation bill is probably crippling your budget. Plan for these things but I would wait for awhile before installing them, when you can afford them and when you actually need them.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

It also helps to have themes for your cities to give you more direction in designing your transportation networks and zoning. For example, is this city gonna have a lot of commercial with a huge downtown area? etc. Or even what do you want your city to look like? There are many great things on the STEX  to inspire you. Also check out the city journals and the "show us your" threads. Right now I'm planning my first beach themed city on the south coast of my region. And if you can help it, if you have a large population, do not make anything smaller than avenues for your bridges or that road bridge will stay red with traffic jams.

[Spiritus Sanctus 0]

- I think a loop isn't realy that effective in SC4, atleast not when you build it around your city. It works great when you just lay it round your CBD.

- Subway is my favourite transportation system. Just connect high density districts with 'm. Busses work fine, but only with "$$". They don't seem to work with the rich, all they're interested in are subway systems, highway sytstems, monorail and train. But remember train and especially monorail are only for longer distances.

- I start by building blocks of 6x6. When they're complete I started by deleting some streets, so you get blocks of 6x13 etc.

- Then, for your industry. I always lay my industry at the edges of my cities, not because it's better for the city, but just for the look of it. They work great there, so you could always give it a try. It works so well because, now you have a CBD then in a circle around it, houses appartments etc. Then, aroud all that, you have your industry. This is great for the commute time for your residents.

[Mr_Pooter 0]

Thank you for your suggestions/ideas. I have slready abandones the idea of building a loop around my city, but what exactly does CBD stand for? Also, isn't industry on the outside of cities more realistic anyways? I mean, most of the industrial cities that I've seen still have a commercial downtown anyways. Or am I thinking of random bs here...?

For my subway system, would it be a good diea to have not only bus stations next to them, but a parking garage as well? I would think that richer sims would rather drive to the subway system than take the bus to it. Also, I downloaded a 1x1 underground parking garage, so I wouldn't have to sacrafice a whole lot more room.

[Spiritus Sanctus 0]

- CBD means central business district.

- Well older industry, so not high tech, is mostly near downtown. Just look at some great Southern Metropolisses, you'll see that there are giant railyards just outside downtown. But you're right. Industry is located at the edges of cities.

- That's an excelent idea! But, still, the rich will not take the bus, they rather want to use their own car or the subway.