Very disappointed to see this exact same issue come back up in Snowy Escape. Counted them (not very accurately) but there's around 66 buildings in this neighborhood, 5 are usable. I think that's an even worse ratio than the Eco Lifestyle one. The entire top area is pretty much entirely set dressing with one actual house in the whole area
https://i.imgur.com/Yyl6hHi.png
Why do they keep doing this in newer worlds? It honestly ruins it for me. I would rather this area be much smaller and functional than full of useless buildings that make it feel like a set. If you look at Brindleton Bay for comparison, the world is gorgeous and still looks full, but there's not a single fake house in the playable area. They've made use of the area between houses by putting actual usable space between them rather than just shoving fake buildings in, and that's why Brindleton is one of the best worlds.
https://media.contentapi.ea.com/content/dam/news/www-ea/images/2017/11/ea-blog-image-sims-4-brindleton-bay-16x9-7.jpg.adapt.crop16x9.1455w.jpg