SimCity 137: Parks

Parks are, for the most part, responsible for the rehabilitation of land values. Placing a park anywhere on the map will boost the value of that area. Sometimes, this effect can be quite dramatic, converting nearby mobile home parks into mansions.

When we have a look at the parks HUD, the information icon reveals the following tips:

• Parks increase land value around them
• Higher land value will attract higher wealth buildings
• Parks make people happy, even if they have no money
• Homeless fill up parks, preventing others from using them
• Both residents and tourists can visit parks
• Parks increase the attraction rating of the city

All parks can be expanded upon in the same way that you add modules to other ploppable buildings. However, parks cannot be expanded by modules but rather by other parks. You can string multiple parks together to create parks of considerable size, however there is a limit. I believe that limit is 12 parks in your patchwork -- but I'm not making that official until after I double-check it in the final version of the game.

Forests

Among the plethora of park types is an odd little inclusion -- forests. The purpose of forests is... well... I'm not really sure. In fact, the only value forests seem to have are cosmetic. This may change in the actual game -- after all, I complained bitterly during the beta. However, we'll have to wait and see.

Parks and Property Value

Here is my first SimCityVersity video showcasing how parks work secretly behind the scenes to improve land value and drive residents from around your city to your new eden -- spurring the construction of high-density, high-wealth buildings.