Why residential demand stops growing

Contributor/author(s): Ben N.

When I use the "I am weak" code, I zone all areas where I want residential in my city. I leave the commercial zones empty to cause the commercial demand to go up and build skyscrapers. I start the simulation and the residential zones begin to fill up and the commercial demand skyrockets, just like I had planned. I begin to fill the commercial zones with dense commercial, and towers form, also like I wanted. When my area for commercial is filled, but my demand for commerce is still high, my residential demand stops, or even falls. Why is this happening?

Well, I have found, with one of my large "I am weak" cities, that when my city's commercial area stops growing, so does my residential demand. The demand for commercial is still sky high. This happened when my city, Sturich, reached a population of about 900,000.

How do I know this? Well, when I begin to make some small, light density commercial areas, maybe toward the outskirts of town, my residential demand begins to rise and my population rises by about 10,000.

I believe this is true, and several of my cities have had this happen. To stop this from happening, or to even cope with it, you can either build more small, light to medium density commercial zones or just stop growth. Of course, this is probably not what you want, so maybe you can experiment with different possible solutions and find the answer to this enigma. I know I will!

See also
Anti-Slums, layout, and ma's apple pie
How to develop high-density buildings
Making a commercial island w/ very high land value