Starting the City: Residential Zoning

When you found your first city, you will be handed with 25,000 Simeleons and 50 SimCash on hand.

Now let us talk about zones,

Residential

There are two main residential zones: regular and Tokyo Town zone. Both are actually the same at least in core functions, the latter however have higher requirements below is the official specifications of the Tokyo Town zone in the update changelog,

Requires Airport before you can build

Requires a combination of the new Neighborhood Tokens (from completing Cargo Airport shipments) and old materials (standard items created from commercial zones)

Upgrade levels of the Tokyo Town Zone will require at least 1 Tokyo themed Neighborhood Token

Max Population = 2204

This is 20% more than the standard zone

Service Demand = Medium

Residential zones are basing their worth by land values. The land values are raised by providing services, plopping parks around the area, and building specialization buildings nearby. This will make the area attractive to wealthy Sims, and will entice them to move in.

Residential Zone is available right there and then without requirements with a grid size of 2x2 (4 squares), population limit is at 1836 and the service demand is low.

Tokyo Town Zone requires an airport same size as the regular residential zone with a slight max population count of 2204 with service demand set at medium.

Upgrade

Upgrading your residential zones are needed because the Sims will have to transfer to bigger houses with their wealth.

Yellow construction hat will appear in their speech bubble. This will include a plan with all the required items to build.

Upgrading will net you Simoleons (direct, not via taxes, as the latter will also come on later), population increases, and Experience Points.

There are five levels being Low Density Zone (population increase at 104), Low Density Zone 2 (population increase at 154), Medium Density Zone (population increase at 313), Medium Intensity Zone 2(population increase at 752) at High Density (population increase at 1836).

(This is for the regular residential zone only, the Tokyo Town zone has a slightly larger growth.)

Land Value

Land Value is the worth of a particular area, this is the measurement for the attractiveness of wealthy Sims to live on the said area.

The color scheme starts with white as the low value and such became darker blue as the value increases.

In order to increase the land value you have to provide services, specialization, and maintain cleanliness.

Home Types

Homes are divided into three types:

Standard - All service requirements are met.

Premium - All service requirements are met with one specialization boost.

Luxurious - All service requirements are met with two specialization boost.

Note: You must bulldoze the building in order to upgrade it to maximum tier.

Another Note: Residential zones can be moved into areas that have luxurious land value in order for them to be upgraded to the maximum.