How to raise land value in SimCity 2000

Contributor/author(s): John Cheng

The golden rule of how to raise land value: do not mix different zones together!

Residential Area Land Value

Build large parks wherever you can. Feel free to build three 3x3 pieces of high density zones next to a large park, forming a 6x6 square of park and residential zones. This seems to be the most efficient way of raising residential area land value.

To reduce traffic (indirectly raising land value) in a residential zone, you will need to use buses. A bus stop takes up 4 tiles. If you are building the said 6x6 tile, replace the large park with a bus stop and small parks (or perhaps water). This will give you a bus stop and parks, and both will help raise land value.

Sometimes, you will feel the need to build schools and libraries and such; these increase residential area land value, so build them near residential zones.

Commerce

Commercial zones tend to raise land value. Really! I guess having a Zap-O-Matic Co. HQ in your neighborhood makes your house look more impressive than it really is.

You can build big clumps of commercial zones, a 6x6 square surrounded on all sides by roads, and it will have a high land value if everything is right.

So what is this "everything?"

1. Low pollution and low crime.
2. Make sure there is demand for commercial zones--empty zones or abandoned zones will definitely reduce land value.

Summary: don't build too many commercial zones in the beginning; zero would be about perfect. Then, when the demands are high enough, build a 6x6 square far away from any industrial zones. You can build this square near residential zones if you want, but why? Remember, residential areas tend to reduce land value. If you build a big clump of commercial zones without any residential or industrial zones near it, you can have a big clump of high land value buildings without having to build any parks near it.

Industrial

A successful industrial zone will have low land value. I like to put my industrial zones near landfills, incinerators, power plants, and all kinds of nasty stuff. But I do it for philosophical reasons. Then again, I am certified insane.