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There are several types of residential districts available inCities: Skylines 2. When your town is just starting out, you will be limited to low-density, single-family homes. As you unlock new milestones though, you can zone housing with a higher density, leading all the way up to towering high-density skyscraper homes.
When high-density residential zones become available, your citizens won’t be jumping to live in these tall buildings. Because of this, you will notice no demand for this zone type. Here, you may learn how to increase this demand in order to build more high-density residential zones in your city.
How Dense Is High-Density Housing?
First, it’s important to understand what high-density means. To do so, let’s look at the example above. On the left, you haveone low-density house that has three residents.This house has a 4x5 footprint, so let’s compare this to ahigh-density building with a similar footprint.On the right, you can see one that is 5x5.
This high-density building has a whopping198 residents, with an additional 43 dogs.This isequivalent to 66 low-density housesthat have three residents each! On top of this, you can see thatmost units are taken up by one to two people, rather than larger families.
With this in mind, it’s important to note that demand bars for zoning don’t scale to building size. For example, if the low-density bar is filled, you can zone a wide expanse of housing. If the high-density bar is filled though,you won’t need to make as many buildings.
Too many high-density buildings near each other cancause some extreme traffic due to the hundreds of people trying to navigate your city.Try intermixing medium-density housing and creating an efficient street grid as well.
City Information Demand Menu
When you click on the demand bar, you will open a new panel showing thepros and cons for each zone type.Above, you can see that for the most part, high-density housing is desirable, but there are a lot of unoccupied buildings.
Unoccupied Buildingsmean that you have overzoned.In the case above,it’s best to un-zone some high-density housingand only add them once demand goes up. Remember, each building (regardless of type) isn’t tied to a specific business or family. Citizens and companies canmove around within the city, leaving empty houses, stores, and office spaces.
Some cons have a simple fix, such as high taxes. If this is the case, simply,lower the tax percentage.
Education & Housing
Housing demand in Cities: Skylines 2 is deceptively complex. Low-density housing is perfect for families with children who go to school nearby. On the other hand,adults with no children who attend college/university prefer to live in medium and high-density housing.
Be sure tounlock the additional education optionsfrom the Education and Research development tree. We suggestplacing a college and university as quickly as possibleto get people educated.
What this means is thatcitizens who are currently going to school can increase the high-density housing demand.It’s important tolook at the education in your cityas well as the demand for educated workers.
If you notice that commercial zones are in need of educated workers, you may build a college, which brings in high-density dwellers who, in turn, eventually fill job openings. Overall,having an educated city can provide many benefits,especially if you want more high-density buildings.
Check Current High-Density Happiness
If you already have some high-density housing in your city, it’s a good idea tocheck in on the current residents. To do so, click on any high-density building and hover over the happiness level. Above, you can see that at 72 Elm Street,the total happiness is ‘content’,which means it’s not quite the best.
Residents here aren’t too fond of the small homes or lack of entertainment, so it’s up to you to fix this! To provide more entertainment, you canadd new parks and tourist attractions.A simple park can go a long way in terms of citizen happiness. If there are a lot of dogs in the building,consider adding a dog park as well.
Citizen happiness is also complex, but overall,happy cities are better workers, which leads to more efficient companies(offices, commercial zones, and industrial zones).
Complaints about small housing are a bit harder to fix, as this involves low-density housing. This debuff will usually appear if you have ahigh demand for low-density housing.Essentially, families want to move into the city, butthere are only apartments available.Instead of finding a suitable house, they are nowunhappy in an apartment.
To fix this, you will need tozone some low-density housingso your residents can move to a proper home.
What Is Low-Rent Housing?
Low-rent housing is exactly what it seems like;housing that has a lower rent than other options in your city.There is no low-rent demand bar, as this housing type is considered high-density. If you have a demand for high-density housing but don’t have the normal high-density housing option unlocked, you can place a few low-rent zones.
In general, citizens prefer not to live here, which means thatyou don’t need to zone too much at a time.Rather than laying down big areas of low-rent housing,consider placing a building or two near medium-density zones.The apartments will visually blend in and give citizens cheaper housing options.
You may build a low-rent apartment only for it to become abandoned. If this happens, don’t worry!Simply de-zone the low-rent housingand place something else there.
Create A Desirable High-Density Neighborhood
It’s important tocreate a high-density neighborhood that is appealing. If you have a grid of two-lane streets lined with towering apartment buildings that are incredibly close, this doesn’t necessarily seem inviting.
Try adding somecommercial zones to the neighborhood,as well asparksto increase the appeal. Currently, there is no park-making tool (as in the Parklife DLC for the first game), but this doesn’t stop you from adding your own parks like in the image above.
While this doesn’t add any appeal,it can help ease traffic, which in turn, lowers noise pollution.Rather than filling in a block with housing, place some trees and a nice sidewalk. You can evenadd a pedestrian path to make a park ‘store’.
High-Density Housing & Patience
Lastly,be patient!Rome wasn’t built in a day, andcities don’t have thriving high-density zones overnight.After unlocking high-density zones, you may need to wait until you have citizens who are eligible for college and university.Over time, your city will start to fill outas more people move around.
Overall, justtry not to zone too much at a time.Progressing in smaller steps is a great way to get a natural and efficient city.
