Zone the land. The city builds itself.

Mark land beside a road for homes, shops, offices or industry and buildings go up by themselves. Homes need jobs and jobs need people, so zone all of them, and watch the demand bars to see what the city wants more of.

Read the zoning guide Zoning reference

Four zonesResidential, commercial, industrial and office.
Three densitiesLow, medium and high. Towers need a big, happy city.
Seven lot sizesFrom a quarter of a lot to eight lots along the road.
Power and water firstNothing is built without electricity and water.

The four zones

Open the Build menu, then Zoning. Lots are laid along a road, two rows deep, and houses in the back row get a small alley to the street.

Zone	Grows into	Needs
Residential	Houses, apartments, condo towers	Jobs nearby, power and water
Commercial	Shops, then bigger stores and towers	Customers and workers
Industrial	Works and factories of many kinds	Workers. One density only
Office	Small offices, then office towers	People with a diploma or a degree

Only the lots that face a road can be zoned. Zoning costs $5 a lot.

Low density housing along curving streets in The City — Low density homes on quiet streets. Every picture here is from the game.

Density: what denser zones need

Low density stays houses and small shops for good. Medium grows to apartments and offices. High grows on to towers, up to 136 floors. Medium and high density homes, and office towers, only arrive once the city is big enough and happy enough.

Density	City size needed	City happiness needed
Low	None	None
Medium	1,000 residents	Over 44% happy
High (and office towers)	1,500 residents	Over 55% happy

A lot that is waiting says what it is waiting for: click it.

Downtown towers in winter in The City, with snowy low density neighbourhoods in the distance — High density downtown in winter, with low density homes in the distance. Towers arrive once the city has 1,500 people and is over 55% happy.

From zone to building

A fenced building siteThe zoned lot becomes a building site. Materials arrive, and walls or a frame rise in stages.
The building rises into placeIt only counts once it is finished.
People move inFor homes, households arrive in moving trucks over time. They stop coming if work is scarce.
Houses growA house is rebuilt bigger, from grade 1 to grade 4, once its people are happy enough for a good while and have saved enough.

A building is only rebuilt bigger when the people in it are at least 55% happy.
Zones only grow where a road is close by, and where there is electricity and water.
How fast new buildings go up depends on how happy people are.
A house becomes a grand grade 5 house if the plot next door is zoned and empty.
Empty neighbouring lots of the same zone can join into one wide or large building. Bigger lots hold more people and jobs.

Services, parks, businesses, estates, farms and attractions are not zoned: you place them by hand from the toolbar. Placing one on zoning nothing has been built on clears the zoning for you.

Land value matters too. Parks, schools, hospitals, attractions, a street light at the door and police cover all lift it, while pollution and break-ins drag it down. Homes and offices on valuable land are rebuilt bigger sooner. Land value and pollution guide

Lot sizes

Size	Footprint	Used for
Tiny	A quarter of a lot	Small buildings in leftover space
Narrow	Half a lot	Beside junctions and at street ends
Standard	One lot	Most buildings
Wide	2 lots side by side	Headquarters, hospitals, department stores
Large	2 x 2 lots	High school, supercenter, coal plant
Huge	4 along the road, 2 deep	Race track, airfield
Vast	8 along the road, 4 deep	International airport

Huge and vast lots need that much straight road. Plan the space before the city grows around it.

Industries

Industrial land has one density. Each industrial lot is given an industry when it is zoned, and the works that go up match it.

Industry	Its works
Lumber	Sawmill
Metal	Steel works
Stone	Stone yard
Food	Food plant
Textiles	Textile mill
Chemicals	Chemical plant
Cement	Cement works

Industry	Its works
Paper	Paper mill
Grain	Grain mill
Electronics	Chip fab
Toys	Toy factory
Pharmaceuticals	Pharma plant
Cars	Car factory

Factories pollute by kind and size: chemical plants and cement works are the worst, food plants and grain mills the least. A district can ban heavy industry with a free policy.

Planning tips

Zone all fourHomes need jobs and jobs need people. The demand bars at the top of the screen show what the city wants more of.

Fix happiness before zoning moreBelow 38% city happiness nobody moves in and nothing is built. Find the largest minus and fix it first.

Buffer the factoriesKeep a park or two and a strip of shops between the factories and the homes.

Offices need graduatesOffice zones stay empty without people who hold a diploma or a degree. Build schools first.

Leave room for big lotsAirports, race tracks and stadiums need long, straight runs of road.

Use districtsPolicies such as No heavy industry or Rent control are set per district in City Hall.

The full zoning guide

Zones, densities, lot sizes and what makes a house become a tower, in the Municipal Code. It is written from the game itself.

Zoning and how buildings grow Zoning and lots reference

Figures are from the game's own data, version 1.9, as listed in the Municipal Code. Numbers can change between versions.

Coming to Steam Early Access

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