SimCity 4/Parks and Recreation

Parks and recreation, when built, have the following positive effects:


 * They raise the desirability around themselves.
 * They increase the residental demand cap.
 * They help reduce air pollution (not by much, though).
 * They are needed for high-wealth residents to move in.

As such, as your city grows larger it becomes important to build parks. By nature, parks do not need a road connection.

The beach is commonly considered the best park, due to its low cost and high effect on desirability. However, since it can only be built at coasts, its use is limited to certain maps. The other parks can be built virtually anywhere. Of those, the various plazas are catered to commercial districts, while the other buildings are good for residental areas.

The following table shows the various parks' statistics. Res demand refers to the amount the residental demand cap is raised by this building, while Res and Com desirability refer to the desirability increase for residental and commercial buildings, respectively. Note while certain rewards could also be considered parks due to their similar effects, they're not listed here.