Simcity 4 doesn’t allow for mixed use development in this sense, but it does allow you to mix zoning a little bit, at least while your citizens are still poor. Since then the tide has turned against strict zoning, and mixed use development and increased walkability is once again in vogue, with proponents citing the benefits of increased health and reduced pollution (more walking, less car use), amongst other This was the accepted course of Urban Planning in the early 20th century, and Sim City inherited the zoning laws that were codified in the United States in the 1920s. The Garden City Movement, which introduced the idea of zoning residential areas away from industrial areas, materialized during this time. They made cities terrible places to live.

Workers at these factories couldn’t afford decent housing, so they lived in ramshackle buildings that were a health hazard in more ways than one. Rapid industrialization changed that because it introduced numerous factories that produced affordable goods but also contributed a lot of pollution to their surroundings. Prior to the twentieth century most cities featured mixed use areas because of walkability and lack of space. Mixed use development is a philosophy in urban planning has been on the rise in the past few decades. Living in a city (Metro Manila) with terrible walkability and awful mass transit, I’m using Sim City to build the city of my dreams as a form of catharsis. Walkability is the new buzzword in urban planning circles these days, and I have to admit I’ve swallowed the Kool-Aid on this.

Emphasizes pedestrian and mass transit traffic over cars.

To refresh my memory and to really help me appreciate the changes, I decided to download Sim City 4’s Deluxe Edition via Steam last weekend and create a new city according to a couple of parameters, Specifically I wanted a city that: Other games have filled in admirably while it was away (CitiesXL and Cities in Motion to name a couple) so I’m excited to see what they have to offer, despite the annoying always online requirement. Sim City 5 (renamed simply as SimCity) is set to come out next week, and like every other armchair urban planner I’m excited to see what Maxis has come up with after a decade away from this storied franchise.

Sim city 4 able regions