Strategies To Reduce Air Pollution In Cities: Skylines 2

Air pollution is a serious issue in the game Cities: Skylines 2, and it can have detrimental effects on your city and its citizens. Caused by industry, traffic, garbage management, and specific power plants, air pollution can lead to decreased happiness and health for your citizens and even death from poor air quality. While it is impossible to completely eliminate air pollution, there are several strategies you can employ to reduce it and mitigate its impacts.

One crucial factor to consider is wind direction, as pollution will spread across your city in the direction the wind is blowing. You can check the wind direction in the Air Pollution Info View and strategically place your polluting buildings downwind from residential areas. Additionally, air pollution disappears quickly once the source is removed, especially with the help of windy or rainy weather. Managing traffic flow and reducing traffic jams can also lower vehicle emissions and improve air quality. Prioritising commercial and office zones over industrial zones as your city grows will also help, as these generate less pollution.

Implementing sustainable practices and renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, recycling centres, and nuclear power plants, can significantly reduce air pollution. However, these options tend to be costly and come with high maintenance fees. Finally, while not a cure-all, planting trees between industrial and residential zones can help absorb pollutants and reduce air pollution in residential areas.

By employing a combination of these strategies, you can effectively reduce air pollution in Cities: Skylines 2 and create a healthier and happier environment for your virtual citizens.

Manage traffic flow and public transportation

Traffic and public transportation management are crucial in reducing air pollution in Cities: Skylines 2. Here are some strategies to achieve this:

Create Multiple Highway Connections

When starting a new city, you'll likely build a four-lane road connecting to a highway. To prevent traffic build-up, create multiple exits off the highway. This way, citizens can use alternative routes instead of passing through a high-traffic area. Roundabouts are an excellent solution for ensuring smooth traffic flow, but be careful not to add too many exits, which can cause confusion.

Establish an Efficient Public Transportation System

Strategically placing bus stops and creating dedicated bus lanes can encourage citizens to opt for public transportation instead of driving. Trams on pedestrian streets are another effective option as they don't cause congestion. You can also unlock other transportation methods like trains, cable cars, and monorails to provide diverse public transportation options.

Designate Main Roads and Space Out Intersections

Designate specific roads as the main thoroughfares, similar to real-life cities. These roads should have multiple lanes and plenty of intersections to facilitate turning. Space out intersections to avoid unnecessary traffic lights and slowdowns.

Utilize the Traffic Map Overlay

The traffic map overlay is a valuable tool for identifying problem areas. By clicking on the car icon in the Info Views menu, you can see which areas have high, medium, or low traffic. This information can guide your decisions on adding more road connections or adjusting traffic flow.

Implement District Policies

Implementing district policies such as combustion engine bans, heavy traffic bans, and speed bumps can significantly reduce air and noise pollution. These policies can be applied to specific areas of your city to target high-pollution zones.

By following these strategies, you can effectively manage traffic flow and public transportation in Cities: Skylines 2, contributing to a reduction in air pollution and improving the overall quality of life for your citizens.

Balance industrial and residential zones

To balance industrial and residential zones in Cities: Skylines 2, there are several strategies you can employ to ensure sustainable development and minimise the negative impact of pollution on your citizens' health and happiness. Here are some detailed tips to help you achieve this balance:

Firstly, understand that the symbiotic relationship between residential, commercial, and industrial areas is delicate but crucial to your city's success. Industry buildings produce goods that are sold in commercial buildings, and these commercial buildings depend on consumers from the residential zones. Therefore, careful planning is necessary to ensure that these zones complement each other.

When placing industrial zones, consider their proximity to residential areas. Pollution from industrial activities can have detrimental effects on the health and happiness of your citizens. Try to situate industrial zones downwind of your residential areas, as the wind direction will influence the spread of air pollution. Additionally, ensure that industrial zones are not too close to natural resource deposits, as pollution can contaminate these resources.

To further reduce the impact of pollution, invest in renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar power plants. These sources produce minimal air pollution and, while costly, will benefit both your land and your citizens in the long run. Additionally, consider implementing district policies such as combustion engine bans and heavy traffic bans, which can reduce air pollution and noise pollution.

Another strategy is to provide a mix of zone sizes in your residential areas. Start with smaller zones, such as 4x4 Low-Density Residential Zones, as they are more sustainable for low-income residents. Larger properties come with higher rents, which can be challenging for many residents to afford. As your city grows and demands change, you can introduce medium-density and high-density housing options.

Lastly, be mindful of the demand for different zone types. Avoid over-zoning, especially commercial areas, as it can lead to a lack of customers for businesses. Instead, zone areas as needed and allow demands to replenish. This approach ensures that you have space for future upgrades and that land values have the opportunity to increase over time.

By following these strategies, you can achieve a better balance between industrial and residential zones, creating a healthier and happier environment for your citizens while also promoting the economic success of your city.

Prioritise commercial and office zones

Commercial and office zones are crucial components of your city in Cities: Skylines 2, offering essential services and employment opportunities for your citizens. Here are some reasons why prioritising these zones can help reduce air pollution in your city:

Commercial Zones

Commercial zones are areas where shops and services thrive, selling goods produced in industrial zones or imported from elsewhere. They are an essential part of your city's supply chain, providing goods for residents to purchase. When planning commercial zones, it's important to consider the following:

• Demand and Customer Accessibility: Ensure there are enough customers to support each store. Build commercial zones near residential areas to increase customer accessibility and prioritise low-density commercial zones, as they only require support from a neighbourhood, whereas high-density zones need a larger population.
• Transportation: Consider providing various transportation options, such as public transport, parking spaces, and walking paths, to make it easier for customers to reach the commercial areas.
• Attractions: Build attractions like parks near commercial zones to attract more consumers and create a vibrant atmosphere.
• Specialisations: Commercial zones can be specialised to focus on leisure, tourism, or organic and local produce. Specialising in organic and local produce can reduce truck traffic and garbage production in the area, positively impacting air quality.

Office Zones

Office zones provide pollution-free jobs for citizens with higher education levels. While they don't produce any goods, they contribute to the city's economy by providing employment. Here are some tips for managing office zones:

• Demand: Office zones should generally be a lower priority than residential, commercial, and industrial zones. Fulfil the demand for office zones last, as their profit is not always the highest.
• Unemployment: Utilise office zones to address high unemployment rates by providing job opportunities for educated citizens.
• Specialisations: The IT Cluster specialisation, introduced in the Green Cities DLC, allows office zones to produce "goods" of a sort that are sold to commercial zones without requiring physical transportation.

By prioritising commercial and office zones and implementing these strategies, you can help reduce air pollution in your city while also promoting economic growth and providing essential services and employment opportunities for your citizens.

Implement sustainable resources and renewable energy

Implementing sustainable resources and renewable energy sources is key to reducing air pollution in Cities: Skylines 2. The game offers various options for players to explore and utilize, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here is a detailed guide to help you implement these strategies effectively:

Understanding Natural Resources

The first step towards sustainability is understanding the natural resources available in your city. Maps in Cities: Skylines 2 can have four types of natural resources: forests, fertile land, oil, and ore. Each resource is colour-coded, with forests represented by green, fertile land by yellow, oil by black, and ores by blue. The darker the shade, the better that area is for extracting that particular resource. Natural resource buildings can significantly impact your city's tax revenue, industrial supply chain, and overall appearance.

Specialization of Industrial Zones

Specializing your industrial zones by zoning them over natural resources and applying the relevant industrial specialization is crucial. For example, industrial zones with oil industry specialization will feature oil pumps and petroleum processing facilities, while zones with forestry specialization will have forests and sawmills. It's important to note that specialized zones don't necessarily need to be created over the associated natural resource. If created elsewhere, these zones will only have processing facilities and will require raw materials to be imported.

Renewable vs. Non-Renewable Resources

Forestry and farming are renewable resources that will continue to produce raw materials indefinitely, making them excellent choices for long-term sustainability. On the other hand, oil and ore extraction consume the resources and will eventually deplete them entirely. Once these resources are depleted, production buildings will need to import them, or they will become abandoned. This can disrupt your city's transportation system and supply chain.

Renewable Energy Sources

Switching to renewable energy sources is essential for reducing air pollution. Cities: Skylines 2 offers several options, including wind turbines, solar power plants, geothermal power plants, and hydroelectric power plants. These sources produce minimal air pollution and are excellent choices for the long-term sustainability of your city. However, they often come with high initial costs and hefty monthly upkeep fees, so ensure your budget can accommodate them.

Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are the cheapest renewable energy source to build, but they have a comparatively low output. They generate electricity from wind currents, and their placement will determine their power output. When placing a turbine, you will see a notification indicating the expected power output for that spot. Wind turbines are ideal for small cities in windy locations, providing a clean and cost-effective energy solution.

Solar Power Plants

Solar power plants convert sunlight into electricity and are another excellent renewable energy source. However, their output depends on the time of day and the map's latitude. Solar power plants don't produce electricity at night, but they have a small integrated battery that can release some charged electricity after dark. While they are a green option, they are expensive to build and maintain, and their output is weather-dependent, leading to unstable production.

Geothermal Power Plants

Geothermal power plants are a unique renewable energy source that converts heat from deep underground into electricity. They don't require fuel to operate, but they do need groundwater deposits. While they don't create as much pollution as coal power plants, they are relatively expensive to build and maintain, and they do pollute the groundwater, making it unusable for drinking.

Hydroelectric Power Plants

Hydroelectric power plants generate electricity from flowing water, offering a renewable source of energy that only produces noise pollution. The output of these plants depends on the speed of the water flowing through their turbines. Rapid rivers with steep elevation differences are ideal locations for building dams to take advantage of water flow. The size of the dam will determine its cost and electricity production.

Combining Renewable Energy with Batteries

Combining renewable energy sources with battery storage can be a powerful strategy. Emergency Battery Stations store excess electricity produced during periods of high generation (such as windy days for wind turbines or sunny days for solar power plants). This stored electricity can then be used to avoid blackouts during spikes in consumption or when renewable sources are less productive (like at night for solar power).

Managing Costs and Trade

While renewable energy sources are the best option for the environment, they can be costly. If your budget is a concern, consider a gradual approach. Start by implementing renewable energy sources where possible, and only switch completely when your city's finances can handle the burden. Additionally, you can trade electricity with neighbouring cities. If you produce excess electricity, you can sell it to them, and if you're facing a deficit, you can buy it from them.

District Policies and Electric Vehicles

In addition to renewable energy sources, you can implement district policies to reduce air pollution. Combustion engine bans, heavy traffic bans, and speed bumps can all help minimize pollution. Switching to electric buses is another effective strategy, as they produce less pollution than traditional buses.

By following these strategies and implementing sustainable resources and renewable energy sources, you can significantly reduce air pollution in your Cities: Skylines 2 metropolis and create a healthier and happier environment for your citizens.

Plant trees between industrial and residential zones

While planting trees between industrial and residential areas is not the most effective way to control air pollution, it can help to reduce it in residential areas. Large trees absorb pollutants from the air, making the air cleaner. They also provide shade, which can help to reduce the heat island effect in cities. In addition, trees can help to reduce noise pollution.

However, it is important to note that planting trees is not a cure-all for air pollution. Trees cannot remove all pollutants from the air and they can only reduce pollution in the areas where they are planted. Therefore, to effectively control air pollution, you need to take various measures, including reducing emissions from factories and vehicles and improving air quality standards.

To maximise the impact of planting trees, you should place them strategically between industrial and residential zones. This can be done by checking the wind direction and placing the trees accordingly. By doing so, you can create a natural barrier that helps to block or divert some of the pollutants from reaching the residential areas.

It is worth mentioning that this method should be used in conjunction with other strategies to tackle air pollution. For example, you should also focus on balancing industrial and residential zones by placing industrial zones downwind from residential areas to minimise the impact of air pollution on your citizens. Additionally, implementing sustainable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels, can also help to reduce air pollution in your city.

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