The Zero Residential Demand

[Microbru32 1]

So I'm building a concept map of virtually all farmland, the plan being that once it is all platted, farmland will gradually sell to build houses and business districts.

 

I'm plopping tiny amounts of res and comm here and there, but the screen is around 2/3 full of farms.  My residential demand is through the roof, because obviously I'm not building enough.  Then suddenly, the demand bar zeros out and even the minimal residential districts I'm putting in won't grow.

 

I tried putting in some parks around the districts and I cut taxes down to 3% on residential and nada, zip, nothing.  Any idears out there as to how I can bring some people in?  I'm still able to put in some business zones and there's still a high demand for farms despite the industry bar overall being negative.

[Cefien 361]

I'm plopping tiny amounts of res

 

Sorry, did you really plop your residential? I mean literaly.

[Superbacon 380]

Caught me off-guard there with the plopping thing... if you are try zoning?

[Microbru32 1]

sorry, I was not paying attention to my terminology.  Naw, I'm zoning like normal.

[Cefien 361]

So, you did plop your residential. Well, you better avoid plopping those residential my friend. They are not like commercial which can be plop as long as demand available for them. For some reason the path finding will not work properly after you plop the residential and they will soon get abandoned or you will encountered another problem related to residential.

After zoning it normally, you should then expect normal demand for them.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Try adding water.  If you are using SPAM farms you should be able to do this without polluting it.  You will also need some police and fire services.  You might want to use

[Cyclone Boom 17,016]

The conditions for residential zoning are likely to be imbalanced. Only low wealth residential Sims will benefit from agricultural development, since it's a form of industry. Also, since IR only supplies a limited amount of jobs, demand has probably ceased due to a lack of employment.

 

I suggest you create some neighbouring cities with a higher industrial / commercial population. Then use neighbour connections to join them with the agricultural city. These would provide some more options for potential resident Sims. Remember, regions work like systems -- in essence, different cities will feed of each other. The other cities don't necessarily have to be high density. So to create a transition between the IR city, this could be done by building small suburbs, with limited development. I'm sure you don't want skyscrapers next to the farms!

[lhrob 213]

Basically, agricultural zones don't offer much in the way of jobs.  So without added medium-density industry, you're not going to get much in the way of demand for residential zones.  It sounds like you're only relying on commercial zones to bring in people, but that's not going to work.  In real life, you don't build stores unless people have money to spend in them...and they aren't going to spend money in them if they don't have jobs...and they won't have jobs unless there is industry in the area.  So I'm willing to bet if you toss in some medium-density industrial zones, your R demand will start coming back up.

 

 

So, you did plop your residential. Well, you better avoid plopping those residential my friend. They are not like commercial which can be plop as long as demand available for them. For some reason the path finding will not work properly after you plop the residential and they will soon get abandoned or you will encountered another problem related to residential.

After zoning it normally, you should then expect normal demand for them.

 

Cefien, he said he used the wrong terminology.  He's not plopping.  He's zoning.  He just used the wrong word in his original post.

[Cefien 361]

So, you did plop your residential. Well, you better avoid plopping those residential my friend. They are not like commercial which can be plop as long as demand available for them. For some reason the path finding will not work properly after you plop the residential and they will soon get abandoned or you will encountered another problem related to residential.

After zoning it normally, you should then expect normal demand for them.

 

Cefien, he said he used the wrong terminology.  He's not plopping.  He's zoning.  He just used the wrong word in his original post.

 

Ah, yes, yes, my bad...apparently, it was i who get the wrong terminology in understanding his words.

[Superbacon 380]

I was going to say build a library or a small school. Maybe you could do that in addition to the medium industry zoning. If there's no demand for those zones, then putting in a civic facility of some sort will help a lot.

[Turjan 1,048]

If you are using SPAM, agricultural jobs will also be taken by medium and high wealth people, which lifts one of the normal caps. It also provides more jobs in agriculture than the normal game. The need of neighborhood connections has been mentioned (industry products have to be exported).

 

One number to keep in mind for the unmodded game is that, if your population on your city tile reaches 30,000, agricultural demand will zero out and no farm will ever grow again on that map. SPAM also deals with that problem. If you don't want to use the mod, keep your population below 30,000 until all the farms you want have grown.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

To expand your agricultural demand you can also add irrigation using SimGoober's Ditch set.

[Microbru32 1]

Yes, I am using SPAM.  I will have to check out the ditch set on recommendation.

 

And no worries Cefiam.  Because I prefer to build with only growables, I don't even think about ploppables much, so when I'm

thinking about it, I say things like  "plopping in some zones" which is in Sim context, is a silly thing to say.

 

You folks put me at ease and provided good advice.  Thanks much.  Love this game.  I'm not much of a strategy thinker because I tend to think of "city planning" as an oxymoron, building weirdly shaped, oddly zoned cancer-cell spreading communities, often rolling dice to determine zoning and road design.

[yayaya1 22]

what type of Res. are you talking about

[Microbru32 1]

So here is my problem.  See that my residential is maxed out with my pathetic 2,775 inhabitants.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Looks like you need a cap buster.  How about a medium playground or a school?

[yayaya1 22]

Looks like you need a cap buster.  How about a medium playground or a school? (A Nonny Moose)

I don't think low wealth need any of those things. If your talking about medium or high, then yes. You should build a water treatment plant if you have water and money. What is a cap buster anyway?( sorry, I'm new to making quotes)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Just drop in an elementary school.  How do you think R$ become R$$?  Magic?

[Turjan 1,048]

The minimum I plop is elementary schools and small clinics. Parks are definitely not needed for population growth.

[yayaya1 22]

Just drop in an elementary school.  How do you think R$ become R$$?  Magic?

I know that, but I don't know what type of Res. he is talking about.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Just drop in an elementary school.  How do you think R$ become R$$?  Magic?

I know that, but I don't know what type of Res. he is talking about.

I guess I don't understand your point of view.  Residential is residential.  You can only zone for density not for wealth.  Wealth levels are either promoted from within the game by education and experience or imported from other cities, some of them in SimNation.

[yayaya1 22]

By what type of res. I mean what wealth level

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You still don't get it.  YOU CANNOT ZONE FOR WEALTH LEVEL.

 

$$$ are grown, not made.  They all start as R$, go to school and become R$$ through experience and eventually some become R$$$.  I've said this before but here it is again.  A Sim has to be in the game for 6+8+4+4=20 Sim-years minimum to finish college and enter the work force as an R$.

 

Any organization that employs R$$$ as executives also employs lots of R$$ knowledge workers and R$ clerical people who empty garbage pails, sweep floors, run copiers, etc.  An all R$$$ city will quickly abandon.

[Microbru32 1]

thanks again everyone (esp. Nonny). 

 

To answer the question not really being asked, all of my current residential zones (of which there are few) is low density befitting this

farm community.

[Microbru32 1]

Well, so far the Heavy, heavy farming sector has been resistant to change.  Schools, parks, clinics et al added and the res. demand stays at zero, cap at 100%.  My city is 40 years old and the average age of my population is now about 65 years old.  Soon I will have a bunch of 80 year old grizzled farmers.

[Bdub01 201]

Low density for a farming community is good. Farms can only hire so many employees.

Also you can only zone density not wealth however you can influence where sims live. Such as lower wealth near industry, landfill, farms etc. on the flip side zone res near the golf course near but not too close to the advanced research center and put plenty of parks schools etc to get higher wealth res...

[hellmunkey 30]

Kinda off topic, but what query is that with the breakdown of everything?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Generally speaking farmland wants R$ and a lower EQ.  Have you tried zoning some cheap lots (low density residential) at 1 x 1 and 2 x 1 (not 1 x 2).  With farms, I often put the houses right up against the farm land with no intervening road.

 

With a tile of that age you should have both fire and police coverage.  You should also have health services and an elementary school.

 

And at this point, you should have water at least to the R and C.

 

Check on your R$ desirability.

[paeng 2,510]

Kinda off topic, but what query is that with the breakdown of everything?

 

Check here for links and more info on this and similar stuff...

[hellmunkey 30]

Thank you.