Downtown areas - LOW or HIGH land value?

[SimCityHawk 194]

Let's talk about how we like our downtown areas best....

HIGH LAND VALUE DOWNTOWN AREA:




LOW LAND VALUE DOWNTOWN AREA:



Pictures are just my examples.

But how do you prefer your downtown area - low or high land value? Or a mix, perhaps?

For many, this might seem like a stupid question.... because the answer seems obvious. 

Historically, many creators of cities in SC3K have been obsessed with creating high land values in downtown areas. This is understandable, since very high skyscrapers only will occur if you have very high levels of land value in the area. However, I think downtown areas with only astronomical levels of land value are boring. They all look the same and they just seem rather.... soulless. 

Conversely, I think downtown areas that are filled with all kinds of seedy looking (low land value) skyscrapers mixed togehter with very tall (high land value) skyscrapers are more realistic - and more aesthetically appealing also. 

Another thing: Parks. I think having too many parks is boring. Many city creators (including myself) have a tendency to build endless amounts of parks in order to reach atronomical land values in downtown. Filling endless blocks with parks is a quick and easy way to reach very high land values - but it just looks..... wrong. It feels fake and unauthentic. And most important: They take up important space, and makes your city look too much spread out between open areas. High density cities just looks better.

Sure, you need parks. Don't get me wrong - and of course, a certain amount of higher land value is nice to have - mostly because those very tall skyscrapers look cool. But my advice (if you would like to create realistic cities) is to go for a mix between low land value and high land value buildings in your downtown area. Also, do put some residentials into the mix also - these elements will boost some soul into the ocean of concrete filled commercial buildings.

So, how can you build authentic and realistic looking downtown areas without building an insance amount of parks? You need to focus on aura and the map center effect. 

* Aura: Almost self explanatory. Having high levels of aura is a sure way to sucess for any city. Museums, libraries, good coverage of police, healthcare, and education etc. are all elements that makes your city dense and happy, and high levels of aura itself will also increase land value. Make your sims happy. You can easily reach high aura levels without building too many parks - but of course you do need some parks. 

* Map center effect: As many of you probably know, when you progress through the game, the land value automatically increases the closer the zones are situated towards the center of the map. So, in many cases, it is a good idea to plan out you downtown area in the very center. 

In this manner, you can create downtown areas with soul without building an insane amount of parks. And with a little bit of residential buildings too, you all of a sudden have a realistic inner city area. Maybe something like this:



But in the end, this is of course a matter of taste. 

What do you think? How do you like your downtown area? 

[The Thinker 479]

It really does depend on what sort of aesthetic you're shooting for, and what sort of inspiration you're using for your city.  Sometimes having high-rises as far as the eye can see may not be appropriate for the overall look you're going for.

For example, here's part of a city I've been working on:

It's not yet at a "complete" state, and some parts (such as the area around the city hall) still need a bit of expansion, but there already is a glimpse of how I intend to develop the skyline: primarily low & mid rise structures, only occasionally punctuated by the odd high-rise cluster.

Here, I've been taking my inspiration more from how cities have developed here in the UK where I live, where we tend not to go for the skyscraper look like you get in many of the larger American cities, though that's not to say that some of our larger cities don't have some skyscraper structures of our own, just look at the skylines of the likes of London or Birmingham.  But even then they're not nearly as high or as prolific as the glass & steel beasts you get in places such as New York City or Chicago, and even in London it's still mainly mid-rise buildings throughout, with all of the really tall high-rises clustered into a small island as opposed to being just about everywhere.

Besides, for me I find that if an area's dominated by skyscrapers (be they of the Low or High land value variety), it just feels somewhat cold and artificial, and a tad oppressive (doubly so if there're no parks about, value your greenspace I say!).  I still like having a few of them around mind you, but only in small doses.