Zone development rules

Contributor/author(s): Kyle D.J.

General Requirements for Development

In addition to basic requirements like power, water, and transportation access, zone development is governed by several parameters. Each type of zone requires a minimum size (in tiles) before it will develop, and there is a maximum size for any development. There is a minimum demand level required for a development to occur. And finally, there is a percentage of development that will be allocated to buildings instead of "filler tiles" (non-buildings). The parameter values are:

Min    Max    Min Demand    Building %
Size   Size    Required    (non-filler)   Zone
~~~~   ~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~
  1      3      2           33            LD Residential
  1      4     10           66            MD Residential
  1      6     25           66            HD Residential
  1      3      2           33            LD Industrial
  1      4     10           50            MD Industrial
  1      6     25           60            HD Industrial
  1      3      2           50            LD Commercial
  1      4     10           40            MD Commercial
  1      6     25           80            HD Commercial
  1      7      5           35            Seaport
LD = Low Density
MD = Medium Density
HD = High Density

For example, a high-density residential zone must be at least 1-tile long and no more than 6-tiles long, and the residential demand at least 25, before it will develop.  And 66% of the tiles will be buildings while the remainder will contain "filler" items.

Farms (agricultural developments in LD Industrial zones) have special rules. There is a 90% chance each month that a suitably zoned area will develop for agriculture. Each side of the zone must be at least 8 tiles, and 18 tiles is the longest side that will develop as one farm. Both air and water pollution must be less than 450 in these tiles. Once a farm has developed, it will abandon if either air or water pollution exceed 451.

There are some other special types of zone developments, but these are discussed in other articles:

• airports

• estates

• row houses

• housing projects

The maximum amount of tiles between a building and some form of transportation:

R   3
C   2
I   4

Land Value Limits

There are land value limits for each type of building.  Land value can range from 1 to 255, and the table below describes the minimum and maximum land values for each building type:

 LD Zone     MD Zone     HD Zone
~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~
Min   Max   Min   Max   Min   Max   Building
LV    LV    LV    LV    LV    LV      Type
~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~~~~~~

Residential

  1    75     1    75     1    75   LD LLV
 76   150    76   169    76   170   LD MLV
151   255     -     -     -     -   LD HLV

  -     -     1    76     1    86   MD LLV
  -     -    77   170    87   171   MD MLV
  -     -   171   255   172   254   MD HLV

  -     -     -     -    35    87   HD LLV
  -     -     -     -    88   180   HD MLV
  -     -     -     -   181   255   HD HLV

Commercial

  1    89     1    89     1    89   LD LLV
 90   255    90   254    90   253   LD HLV

  -     -     1   129     1   129   MD LLV
  -     -   130   255   130   254   MD HLV

  -     -     -     -    60   180   HD LLV
  -     -     -     -   181   255   HD HLV

Industrial

  1   125     1   125     1   125   LD Dirty
  1   175     1   175     1   175   LD Clean
  1    90     -     -     -     -   Agriculture

  -     -     1   175     1   175   MD Dirty
  -     -     1   225     1   225   MD Clean

  -     -     -     -     1   225   HD Dirty
  -     -     -     -     1   255   HD Clean

LV = Land Value
LLV = Low Land Value
MLV = Medium Land Value
HLV = High Land Value
LD = Low Density
MD = Medium Density
HD = High Density

If land value is too high or low then some building types cannot appear.  Conversely, if the building is already there but land value later rises too high or falls too low, then the building cannot stay (it will abandon or redevelop into different suitable building type).  For example a low-density, medium-land-value, residential building can appear in a medium density zone provided the land value is between 76 and 169.  Other observations from the table above:

• Low-density, residential buildings cannot tolerate high land values (above 169-170) in medium and high density zones.  (Presumably the taxes are too high for a low density building to survive).

• High-density residential and commercial buildings cannot tolerate low land values (they require land value at least 35 and 60, respectively).

• Farms cannot tolerate land values over 90.

• High-density clean industry are the only buildings than can tolerate the full range of land values (1-255).  All other industry building types will disappear if land value is allowed to get too high.

• Clean industry can tolerate higher land values than dirty industry buildings of the same density.

Unfortunately there is no way to directly measure a tile's land value.  However the following table provides a rough guide using the game's query tool result:

Approx    Query
  LV      Tool
~~~~~~~   ~~~~~
  1- 42   Very Low
 43- 84   Low
 85-126   Medium
127-168   High
169-210   Very High
211-255   Astronomical

Construction, Abandonment, and Redevelopment

The percent chance each month that a building will transition from the  construction state to the occupied state is:

Chance   Building Size
~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  75%         1X1
  37%         2X2
  25%         3X3
  18%         4X4

The percent chance that a building will abandon due to lack of service (water, power, etc.) is:

 R     C     I    Building Size
~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15%   35%   30%        1X1      
 7%   17%   15%        2X2
 5%   11%   10%        3X3
 3%    8%    7%        4X4

The percent chance each month that a zone will re-develop is:

R&C    I    Re-development Reason
~~~   ~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
30%   30%   A higher value item is possible for the present land value.
30%   10%   A lower value item is possible.
30%   30%   A higher density item is possible for the zone density.
 1%    1%   No reason in particular.

Industrial Zones

Clean industry is a certain percentage of your total industry. The maximum possible percentage depends on the year. Initially (in 1900) it is 0%. By 2200 you can have up to 100%. See the chart for years in between:

The chance that a particular zone will develop is also affected by ordinances. These effects are added to the base chance of development:

Effect   On Development of   By Ordinance 
~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 +10%    Agriculture         Farmers Market 
 -10%    Agriculture         Lawn Chemical Ban 
 + 5%    Clean industry      Electronics Job Fair 
 + 4%    Clean industry      Aerospace Incentive 
 + 4%    Clean industry      Biotech Incentive 
 + 4%    Clean industry      Conservation Corps 
 + 3%    Clean industry      Electronics Incentive 
 + 3%    Clean industry      Tourist Promotion 
 + 2%    Clean industry      Public Access Cable 
 + 2%    Clean industry      Clean Industry Association 
 - 2%    Dirty industry      Clean Industry Association 
 - 3%    Dirty industry      Clean Air 
 - 4%    Dirty industry      Industrial Pollutant Impact Fee 

See also
How to develop farms
Estates: getting them to grow
Automatic row house zoning