Make sure you build homes in the vital services area
At the beginning, the game explains to you that you have to build houses next to services such as the fire station, and this is not a joke. If there are no vital services in the area of residential buildings, people will eventually leave them.
This means that you should not build houses near polluting buildings, such as factories. Pollution will make homes in the area less valuable, reducing the overall well-being of your city and your income.
How to move or demolish buildings
Moving and demolishing buildings in the game is free and easy. To do this, you must first press and hold the building you want to move or demolish. This changes the view to build mode.
You can then click or drag the building you want to move to its new destination, then tap the checkmark to complete the move. If you want to demolish a building, click the demolition icon at the bottom left.
This method also works on the road.
How to expand your city
Click on one of the For Sale icons around your city. Once you do, you will be prompted to spend rare items to unlock the expansion.
Rare items are quite difficult to find. The most common way to get them is by clicking on one of the residents, the Bizzies, who are walking around the city with icons above their heads. By clicking on five townspeople, you will receive a rare item.
Rare items are also looted from crates that can be bought from other players in the store, or obtained by completing daily missions.
Upgrade only one house at a time
It's really tempting to upgrade multiple homes at once to save time, but with that said, it's best to upgrade them one at a time.
Since there is a chance the Bizzies will give you gifts when you upgrade your home, it’s in your best interest to upgrade buildings one at a time. Upgrade one home, find gifts, and then upgrade another one.
If building zones are available to you, be sure to use them.
The growth of your city depends on how many houses there are, so it is in your best interest to constantly place construction zones and upgrade them.
You can have three built-up areas at a time. Upgrading building zones in houses and pumping these houses gives you EXP, gold and additional population.
It is better to buy boxes in bulk
You can buy five crates of any type for a price that can buy four crates individually, so buying a set of five is always better than buying one at a time, even if it takes longer to get the cash.
For reference, one rare box costs 50 coins, and buying five at once costs only 200 coins (4 × 50 instead of 5 × 50, which is 250). Simple math.
City dwellers (Bizzies) are your biggest obstacle to success
Bizzies don't just work in your buildings and give them bonuses - they and their star levels also affect your personal Star Power level. You can open cooler buildings only after increasing this level.
Medium to large buildings have a large area of effect and provide more benefits than their standard small counterparts, making them a must for a big city.
The best way to spend coins is by far the crates
If you are not going to invest real money in the game, then in-game coins will be very difficult to earn, and since Bizzies are the largest component of your growth in general, your coins are best spent on purchasing boxes of bonuses and rare items.
The second best way to spend coins is warehouses.
You will quickly run into the problem of lack of space, so you will need to upgrade the warehouse. There are rare items going into storage upgrades, but as the name suggests, they are hard to find.
If you are constantly faced with a shortage of space and cannot produce, sell or use items in your inventory - you may have to spend money on storage facilities to support the needs of your city. Each rare item for an upgrade will cost you 15 coins.
