In SimCity Classic there are several different strategies used to create a sucsessful city. Some are used when starting off, and others during the time when your city base has been built, but needs to continue to thrive.

To start of I always build about 6 industrials. I place these by the power plant to keep pollution isolated. I then build about 6 commercials. Obviously I always place buildings or distance in between residentials and industrials. For the residentials, it almost always works to place these by the river. You will notive the commercials will fill up quickly. That is because the land value nearby water is much more than normal. Then I build up the road system. It normally does not include a train system.

After I have expanded upon this I normally wait until the message board tells me to build a stadium before I actually do. Same with Airports and Seaports. I then fill up all empty spaces with parks to increase land value. Police should always be placed nearby industrial centers, and fire stations nearby residential and commercial. Use the map to figure out where crime levels are exactly and where police departments are located.

When the city is at its thriving point you should be making maybe $2000 dollars a year. Unfortunately you have to keep on expanding your city for money to keep on coming unlike SimCity 2000. In your budget you will need to keep transit up to maximum at all times. If not, roads will easily deteriorate, causing you to spend more money replacing them, then you would get cutting back funding.

When your city has filled up the map, there isn't much you can do. Too bad. You have to keep on expanding to gain money. Eventually funds will stop coming in, and you will just sit and watch. This is the bad part about this game.