---- 6. Zoning ---- [6000]

Learn how to effectively zone residential, industrial, and commercial areas in SimCity 3000. Understand demand, development issues, and traffic solutions for a thriving city.

When you first start off, you will need lighter zones. Let's take that road diagram from the previous section. Build either pattern and we'll continue...

Okay, now to fill in the areas with zones. The two larger sections should be filled in with residential and industrial zones with the smallest square being commercial. When your city first starts, you won't need too many commercial zones but the demand will increase later on. Remember to connect a power source to the zones and watch them develop. Continue to build zones this way while keeping an eye on the demand meter for pointers.

What happens when your zones won't seem to develop? First of all, check the demand meter to see if the demand for that particular zone is low. If it is, you might want to consider de-zoning it and plotting later when the demand is higher. For seaports and airports, the zone has to be fairly large to develop. A single tile of seaport won't develop into anything. The last, main reason would be roads. Are roads connected to all parts of the zone? Take this extremely large plot right here with a road on its border.

You should notice that the center will have no development and traffic will increase greatly upon the roads bordering the zone. To comprehend with this, add more means of transportation to the zone or the areas around it.

You get development in the center of the zone which is now covered by an intersection. To continue to avoid heavy traffic, add a bus station and/or a subway station. There, now you have a perfect zone plot.

There are different levels of residential, industrial, and commercial zones. Dense, medium, and light. Obviously, you'll see the larger apartments in dense zones but keep in mind that they also house more crime and have larger impacts on the land. At first, you might want to build a few light plots of zone to stay on track.