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ben-5411's avatar
ben-5411
6 years ago
Solved

City shrinks even though sims are happy

Hi all, I'm new to the game and I'm currently having a problem. My city had around ~7000 inhabitants until it shrunk to about 3500. It's stable for now. What I dont understand: - my sims are happ...
  • BlackjackWidow's avatar
    BlackjackWidow
    6 years ago

    Hi @ben-5411 - you definitely have high demand for residential. This might be an issue of matching the Residential-Commercial-Industrial (RCI) wealth classes. This is my first thought, since you're not seeing buildings complaining about utilities. However, it could be because your power/water/sewage can handle the current 3500 residents, but not 7000.

    Take a look at your wealth class map to be sure you have enough jobs and shopping in the correct wealth class for your residents. For instance, if your Industry is all Low Wealth (LW) but your Residential is all High Wealth (HW), there will only be a few HW jobs available. You can choose to add HW parks or buildings to the area around the industry buildings, or add LW parks & buildings around your residential. 

    You'll get more details from the Population Data tab (in the bottom middle of the screen). I would analyze the data there. Look at the number of unemployed by wealth classes. You want to aim for about half or more of the jobs filled in any category. If you make changes to wealth classes in any area, bulldoze the exiting buildings to force them to rebuild at the correct wealth class.

    Your city layout looks so nice - I can see that you have figured out how to optimize space very well. I would caution against too many intersections, especially 4-way intersections. Small, short blocks like the ones you have in your screenshots will immediately start to cause major traffic jams as your city population grows.

    If you have sufficient utilities, and enough residential buildings to house the correct wealth classes, the issue is probably transportation. As your city grows, keep an eye on your traffic maps and try to adjust areas to limit traffic jams. Your residential sims may not be able to get to a job if they're stuck in a traffic jam all day. Of all the things to watch in SimCity, transportation causes the most issues & can be the underlying cause for most problems.

    Hope this gives you some ideas on where to look. Feel free to share population data screenshots if you'd like some more input / ideas. Happy Building!

BlackjackWidow's avatar
BlackjackWidow
Hero (Retired)
6 years ago

Hi @ben-5411 - you definitely have high demand for residential. This might be an issue of matching the Residential-Commercial-Industrial (RCI) wealth classes. This is my first thought, since you're not seeing buildings complaining about utilities. However, it could be because your power/water/sewage can handle the current 3500 residents, but not 7000.

Take a look at your wealth class map to be sure you have enough jobs and shopping in the correct wealth class for your residents. For instance, if your Industry is all Low Wealth (LW) but your Residential is all High Wealth (HW), there will only be a few HW jobs available. You can choose to add HW parks or buildings to the area around the industry buildings, or add LW parks & buildings around your residential. 

You'll get more details from the Population Data tab (in the bottom middle of the screen). I would analyze the data there. Look at the number of unemployed by wealth classes. You want to aim for about half or more of the jobs filled in any category. If you make changes to wealth classes in any area, bulldoze the exiting buildings to force them to rebuild at the correct wealth class.

Your city layout looks so nice - I can see that you have figured out how to optimize space very well. I would caution against too many intersections, especially 4-way intersections. Small, short blocks like the ones you have in your screenshots will immediately start to cause major traffic jams as your city population grows.

If you have sufficient utilities, and enough residential buildings to house the correct wealth classes, the issue is probably transportation. As your city grows, keep an eye on your traffic maps and try to adjust areas to limit traffic jams. Your residential sims may not be able to get to a job if they're stuck in a traffic jam all day. Of all the things to watch in SimCity, transportation causes the most issues & can be the underlying cause for most problems.

Hope this gives you some ideas on where to look. Feel free to share population data screenshots if you'd like some more input / ideas. Happy Building!

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