With so many decisions to make in Civilization 7, understanding core game mechanics like creating a District or Quarter is an important foundation for players to have. Knowing when to create Districts and Quarters will help Civ 7 players better plan each City from the very beginning.
Civilization 7: How To Get More Gold
To get more Gold, Civ 7 players should follow these recommended tips, like getting certain Attribute Points, focusing on Trade, and more.
Civ 7 only gets more complex with each passing turn, and this guide breaks down how Quarters and Districts are created and what players can do to get the most out of them.
How Rural and Urban Districts Work in Civilization 7
What Is a Rural District or Improvement in Civilization 7?
When a settlement increases by one population in Civ 7, players get to place the new citizen on an unworked tile. This creates an Improvement, such as a Woodcutter or a Farm, and will be referred to thereafter as a Rural District.
Most in-game mechanics that refer to a District will not actually count Rural Districts in that category. For example, Wonders that must be built "adjacent to a District" require an adjacent Urban District.
The type of Improvement created on a tile depends on the terrain and whether that tile contains a Resource. These are all the basic Improvements in Civ 7 and which terrain or resource will create them:
- Farm: Flat tiles without a Resource that are not Vegetated or Wet
- Woodcutter: Vegetated tiles including those with Cocoa, Spices, Quinine, or Rubber
- Clay Pit: Wet tiles without a Resource
- Fishing Boat: Coastal and Navigable River tiles including those with Dyes, Fish, Pearls, or Whales
- Mine: Rough tiles including those with Gold, Iron, Salt, Silver, Niter, or Coal
- Pasture: Tiles with Horses or Wool
- Plantation: Tiles with Cotton, Dates, Incense, Silk, Wine, Sugar, Tea, or Tobacco
- Quarry: Tiles with Gypsum, Jade, Kaolin, or Marble
- Camp: Tiles with Ivory, Camels, Hides, Furs, or Truffles
- Oil Rig: Tiles with Oil
- Expedition Base: Natural Wonders and Mountain tiles
What Is an Urban District in Civilization 7?
Placing any Building on a tile in Civ 7 will create an Urban District. If there is already an Improvement on that tile, it will be removed when construction begins.
When an Improvement is removed to create an Urban District, players will get that point of population back and be able to Grow Town again after the Building is finished.
Warehouse Buildings like the Granary and Saw Pit provide extra yields based on Improvements in that settlement, and removing an Improvement will impact those yields. Therefore, players should plan ahead when placing Improvements and creating Urban Districts in each settlement.
Unique Improvements must be placed on top of existing Improvements without a Resource. These can be unlocked by using certain Civs or as a Suzerain bonus when a City-State is created, and they do not remove the existing bonus provided to Warehouse Buildings.
How to Create a Quarter in Civilization 7
What Is a Quarter in Civ 7?
In the Antiquity Age, players can create a Quarter by constructing any two Buildings and filling both Building slots in an Urban District. However, creating a Quarter in the Exploration Age or Modern Age gets a bit more complicated.
Quarters with two Buildings need them to be Ageless or from the current Age. For example, players can create a Quarter with the Altar and Library in the Antiquity Age. Once the Exploration Age begins, that will no longer be a Quarter until players Overbuild both slots with an Ageless or Exploration Age Building.
If players build several Quarters in a single town, they may want to choose Urban Center as the Town Focus to gain +1 Culture and Science yield on each Quarter in that Town. However, converting that Town to a City later on would remove the Town Focus bonuses.
Players can also create a Unique Quarter by placing two Civ-specific Unique Buildings in the same Urban District. For example, players using Egypt can create the Necropolis by building the Mastaba and Mortuary Temple on the same tile. While Overbuilding will be important to establish new Quarters in the Exploration and Modern Age, Unique Quarters are Ageless and cannot be built over.
Wonders like the Colosseum or Pyramids are their own category altogether. Not every Civ has access to a Unique Quarter, but every Civ does get a +30 percent Production boost on one Wonder historically connected to their Civilization.
When planning a city, players should try to place Wonders with current and future Buildings in mind. Every single Building in Civilization 7, including Unique Buildings, gets an adjacency bonus from Wonders. Placing Wonders with a little space between them will let players construct Buildings between those Wonders to maximize the bonuses.
Be very careful when placing a Unique Building. If a Unique Building and a standard Building, like the Granary, are constructed in the same Urban District, it will block that City from ever being able to complete their Unique Quarter.
Lastly, players can create a Quarter in Civilization 7 by placing a full-tile Building, like the Rail Station, which occupies an entire Urban District and is automatically designated a Quarter when construction is completed. With these details in mind, Civ 7 players can begin carefully crafting their empire one District at a time.
Sid Meier's Civilization VII
- Released
- February 11, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Firaxis Games
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - all platforms, restrictions apply
- Cross Save
- Yes, via 2K account
- Franchise
- Sid Meier's Civilization
- Number of Players
- 1-8 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Genre(s)
- Grand Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, 4X
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- Local Co-Op Support
- No
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
