What the heck is going on with my city?

[Hybr1d 20]

I'm having some problems currently with my city. The first is abandonment and commute time. Nearly ALL of my high wealth residents are abandoning due to commute time. I'd sure to suround them with jobs. I have one downtown area and 3 little mini downtowns located near the different suburbs. And I've made sure to place plent of bus stops and subway stations.

The next problem is demand. Even though my residential demand for $ and $$ are through the roof, i'm not getting ANY growth and I don't why. It's been that way for awhile now.

Could somebody help me out please?

[Moskva 75]

There can be a lot of factors... Perhaps R$ and R$$ don't come because palatability is low in that areas you zoned. However keep in mind cities are cicles and interact with other regional cities. Me too i am experiencing some kind of recession in my core city, i can barely have any decent commercial building in the new zones, meanwhile the residential demand is very high. Simcity: a game that never ends to require learning...

[N G T 3]

Its a common problem

Solution:

Long commute, build as much ways of public transport (subussway stations might help)

Im guessing there is a center of jobs (700$$$co jobs), destroy put it near the suburbs, also put a sub&bus station/subusway near it.

Demand:

If you have low demand for $$$r dont build $&$$ itll increase traffic, improve the area you already have (civics,diserability) would force them to stay in your city

Hope it helps

  Edited April 17, 2012 by N G T  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Balance is the watch word. You sound like you have too many R$$$. Businesses as simulated in the game are hierarchical. A Co$$$ business may hire two or three R$$$ and the rest will be lower ranks. Somebody has to supervise the office. Somebody has to take out the trash. There are many more of these in a hierarchy than high level bosses.

Also, cities are cyclic. Take a look at your population by age graph. It should be a nicely balanced bell curve.

[Hybr1d 20]

I'm gonna post some photos so you can kind of get an idea of what im talking about.

https://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/Thieves1988/?action=view&current=Kilika-Dec29341334768014.png

^^ This is a suburb that is located in the downtown area. You can see downtown all the way to the left of the screen.

https://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/Thieves1988/?action=view&current=Kilika-Dec29341334767957.png

^^ This is an example of my $$$ residents abandoning. It's happening all around the city

https://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/Thieves1988/?action=view&current=Kilika-Dec29341334767848.png

^^ Another example of abandonment

btw, I had to go on photobucket because it wouldnt let me post the photos from simtropolis.

  Edited April 18, 2012 by Hybr1d  

[Velo222 1]

I have this problem too right now. First of all, I don't have a solution really, but I'll just explain what I do as well. I tried placing some low/medium density commercial zones right beside my residential zones (I have a ton of high wealth residential zones). This helped a little bit, but I still have no-job zots on some houses.

Secondly, I clicked on the "route" mode and looked at one of my high-wealth residential skyscrapers (it was a big building with lots of residents), and I noticed that most of the residents only went about 3-4 "city blocks" down the road and worked in some small shops not too far away (in my opinion they were not too far away at all). HOWEVER, the commute time was "long" lol. I know Simcity 4 is a real stickler on commute times, but this seems ridiculous to me. In other Simcity games the route I just described would be considered short -- only being a couple city blocks away.

Sooo, all in all, as I don't have a solution for this, all I can say is that I think that however Simcity 4 "calculates" the commute time, it's really really really hard to get a short commute time. The building practically has to be sitting on top of where people work in order to get a short commute time lol.

[AIX 270]

Looking at your layouts, I do see some aspects that could improve.

Looking at this picture --> https://s1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh576/Thieves1988/?action=view&current=Kilika-Dec29341334768014.png , I see lots of avenues and highways that aren't connected. Are most of the jobs on the other side of the river? If so, then I would suggest making that avenue on the left hand side connect directly with the highway (instead of the awkward connection with the roads a few blocks up). Further, I would extend that same avenue past the highway to the other avenue on the right side of the frame since I see lots of jobs in the far left corner. This would be worth the demolition required.

Here is an illustration of what I mean:

[Hybr1d 20]

AIX, I did what you said and it only helped out a little. Literally ALL of my $$$ are abandoning.. and lost 3,000 residents because of it. I don't know what to do... I've placed bus/ subway stations all over the city, and I put parking garages right next to the stations. Like I said before, my residential demand is all the way at the top and I'm getting no growth whatsoever. My demand for commercial is negative and so is my I-HT demand.

Could this be a gltich in the game? Has this happened to anybody else?

[Moskva 75]

SC4 simulates 2007 recession perhaps? Make an asian city!

[Hybr1d 20]

Does anybody know why i'm not getting any growth at all?

[Moskva 75]

I think that's because your region grew so much that demand lowered in elder cities and increased in newer ones. This is at least what is happening to me. Give it time, i guess that's the only solution. Don't fall to the cheats, my friend.

[Hybr1d 20]

Ok, I noticed something in my city that might be a problem. I looked at my population graph and it's imbalanced. My population goes like this: ( note that i'm going by the graph numbers and my population for my city is 36,000 at the moment )

R$ - below 5000

R$$ - above 25000

R$$$ - below 5000

As you can see, I have far too many $$ and not enough $. How can I bring $ sims back into the city? My whole city is at the max desirability for R$$$ because I put hospitals, schools, and all of the other things that increase desirability.

[WiseMan95 9]

What are the tax rates on the R$? consider lowering them, that can usually bring up the demand for them.

[Hybr1d 20]

What are the tax rates on the R$? consider lowering them, that can usually bring up the demand for them.

I've said 2 times already that my demand for residential is through the roof... so demand isnt a problem.

Edit: Will making your neighborhoods have high education and high health force out the $ sims and cause more $$$ sims to move in?

  Edited April 19, 2012 by Hybr1d  

[Moskva 75]

Low wealth sims should come everywhere on the map, not in the same nubmers but the palatability for them is green everywhere, just check it with mayor instruments. Perhaps you don't have enough jobs for R$? Nah this is highly unlikely. So you have high R$ demand but still they're not coming? Seriously? Not even small cottages?

[Hybr1d 20]

Low wealth sims should come everywhere on the map, not in the same nubmers but the palatability for them is green everywhere, just check it with mayor instruments. Perhaps you don't have enough jobs for R$? Nah this is highly unlikely. So you have high R$ demand but still they're not coming? Seriously? Not even small cottages?

I have some low wealth housing but there are very few of them. The neighborhoods are pretty much dominated by $$ and $$$. Also, most of my commercial jobs are CO$$$... if that helps at all

[Moskva 75]

Like Nonny Moose must've said in some post recently, the Co$$$ still should provide R$ jobs, in a certain amount. Try adding a few parks more, or if you hope in large palaces place a 4x4 or 3x3 high density zone... however like i said this is weird and i've nothing more to say...

[AIX 270]

What about factory jobs? What is your industrial population/demand like? Low wealth sims love the nasty polluting assembly line jobs xD

[Hybr1d 20]

When I first started, yes I had some dirty industry. But after the first 5 Years I taxed the crap out of them and put in manufacturing and high tech.

Could some of my mods have caused problems do you think? This just seems unusual...

[AIX 270]

When I first started, yes I had some dirty industry. But after the first 5 Years I taxed the crap out of them and put in manufacturing and high tech.

Could some of my mods have caused problems do you think? This just seems unusual...

Well, without actually taking a look at the city directly, I would guess that may be part of the problem. I personally have never been able to sustain a city with zero dirty industry until the region was well-developed (ie over a million sims), well connected, and after several generations of well-educated sims.

[Wiimeiser 434]

I don't seee any way across the highway, to be honest. Do you have the NAM? If not you might wanna install it.

Didn't notice the roundabout or underpass, sorry. Um, drag the avenue near the highway to the road across, and build a ramp if it asks you. Drag a road from the southernmost street on the east side to the road on the other side, you don't have to build a ramp here though. You might want to extend the two roads near the highway across the river. Show us what's on the other side of the river and across in the next city.

EDIT2: Just noticed; turn that avenue near the industrial area/abandoned houses into a TLA-5

  Edited April 19, 2012 by Wiimeiser  

[Hybr1d 20]

I think i'm gonna give up on this city and just start a new region. This city has caused me so much headache and i'm gonna start over.

[Wiimeiser 434]

First try what I suggested. Show me nearby areas as well.

[jacksunny 741]

This thread has gotten quite confusing, so sorry if I repeat a bunch of stuff...

From what I have read, your problem is that no $ residents are building, correct? The problem is not demand, so there could be several others:

1. The most obvious one, you have hit a demand cap. Demand is how many of those Sims want to move into your city, the demand cap is the maximum your city can support. You will have to raise the demand cap by building schools, parks, neighbour connections, etc.

2. There are not enough jobs, thus nobody is moving in. IF this was so, the residential demand should be low, but you never know. Try zoning more jobs, particularly $$ Industry and $ Commercial.

3. Your city doesn't have enough power. Go to the power funding and increase it.

4. The industrial zones you are making are not connected to the rest of the city; ensure they are.

5. You are not waiting long enough. Sometimes it can take quite a while for the houses to grow.

6. You have some sort of mod that prevents R-$ or all R to grow entirely. Look in your plugins for something like this and remove it.

7. Your game isn't fully updated, ensure it is.

There are probably more, but this is all I can think of at the moment. Good luck!

[Kavaeric 50]

Keep in mind that higher wealth sims dislike taking public transport, and prefer to drive around in their fancy sedans to their workplaces.

Also, with your R$ problem: Consider zoning medium density residential. Lack of space means it's more expensive to buy a single family house.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Without reviewing this whole thread, I have a hard time believe this is still running.

R$ do not only live in low cost, low density housing, which can quickly become few and far between as the properties are taken over by higher level sims, but also live in high-rise tenements and MURBs (Multiple Urban Residential Buildings). Zoning low density does not breed R$. They will live anywhere, usually in spite of any NIMBY features of the territory. The demand chart shows demands by type of building, not by type of inhabitant, especially for residential.

Try zoning some high density residential next to your industrial pod and see what grows and who gets to live there. R$ Sims are usually poor as church mice and would rather walk to work. You can attract them by adding playgrounds to a certain extent. As I always say, balance is the key to this game.

[Cob92 360]

My advice: always zone more C and I until those demands go negative. That will ensure that there are enough jobs for everyone. The simulator doesn't need you to micromanage the numbers of residents in each wealth bracket, it only needs you to provide enough land for the city to build everything that it needs. It's entirely normal for a mature city to be dominated by the middle class; this game is based on stereotypical USA development patterns, which means that, left to its own devices, the game will create a city of auto-dependent, middle class Sims working in a downtown office district.

Also, unless you are using the NAM, commute time problems will kill your city. Sims in the base game complain about having to drive more than a few feet to work, and the wealthy tend to turn up their noses at public transportation when using the default simulator.

[IchimaruOO 8]

Up until a year ago I had problems with R$$$ abandonment as well, occasionally R$$ too, until I found this great post by Toroca:

[ http://www.simphoni....?showtopic=6813 ]

So, taking the fact that middle and high wealth sims tend to replace the poor too much into account...

R$ 5000 14%

R$$ 25000 72%

R$$$ 5000 14%

You have too many R$$, possibly R$$$, and too few poor sims. The rich cannot survive by themselves, since the workplaces they make demand for don't offer enough jobs for them. Even if R$ only works low jobs, they still provide much needed demand for I-M, Co, I-HT, etc, IF they are well educated. These jobs then can be occupied by R$$ and up.

What you need to do is raise taxes for R$$ and R$$$ ABOVE the neutral 9% rate, so they can chase less poor sims out of town. I usually have my residential taxes at 9%, 9.2%, 9.4% for wealths respectively, then raise them later if I see more zots.

Then you could bulldoze some of those abandoned mansions, and zone high density to get a few low-wealth apartemnt buildings, then wait for a few years to get them smart again.

Good Luck!!

(This tax raising worked so far for me. Right now I'm playing a town of 40,000, and have a strong Co demand. Now I just need to be patient, No Traffic can be a powerful business deterrent. So can congestion... Ugh...)

Hybr1d: Does anybody know why i'm not getting any growth at all?

Assuming you mean R$, not only they cannot build where richer sims live, they seem to be slower to move into your city when there's great demand for higher wealth sims too.

Otherwise, if you put zones (medium-high density) in places that are the most preferable to rich sims (Yes, the game looks there first for new development even for the poor), or cover the location with services (to make it a good spot), it's only a matter of time 'till apartments pop up. (Up to about 6 months)

Hybr1d: Will making your neighborhoods have high education and high health force out the $ sims and cause more $$$ sims to move in?

Not directly, no. But adding those facilities raises the poor's education over time, then adding I-M and more commercials when needed gets demand for the rich people to move in, who in turn force out the poor but educated sims, if they are allowed to - hence the need for higher tax rates to discourage such overdevelopment. (The "Stay Out until you're needed" policy, lol)

  Edited April 27, 2012 by IchimaruOO  

[Urbanator 7]

Is it possible that you have hit a stage limit? I have seen similar things happen in some of my cities and it has taken stage breaking in order to get past this. If I zoned in the right area and a high enough density then the stage limit would be exceeded and development would explode all over the city.