Villager Housing Placement: Scattered or Neighbourhoods?

[Sloom]

what's the placement like for your villager (and possibly player character) houses on your island? which do you prefer in general?

I'm debating between the two and can't really decide.
definitely leaning towards neighbourhood tho but would like to see scattered crew's input

I mean what I really would like is some kind of creative idea for how to make a neighbourhood look pretty/unique so if you have any of those please do comment them lol

 

[moon_child]

I have been delaying terraforming cause I’ve been feeling really lazy so I haven’t moved them all yet but they will be moved around the map in mini neighborhoods of 2/3/4 depending on the area.

 

[Dormire]

Most will be in neighborhoods bc I need island space... : (
Though I'll try as much as I can to scatter some.

 

[Sloom]

I have been delaying terraforming cause I’ve been feeling really lazy so I haven’t moved them all yet but they will be moved around the map in mini neighborhoods of 2/3/4 depending on the area.

lmao I'm in the exact same boat. every building and house is on the beach right now (which was painful to do without tting) and I recently had to remove something I spent about 1-2 hours terraforming because I ended up not liking it so I'm being particularly cautious now.

definitely into the 2/3/4 idea tho because I have a lot of villagers that go really well together and I'd like them to be next to each other

 

[moon_child]

lmao I'm in the exact same boat. every building and house is on the beach right now (which was painful to do without tting) and I recently had to remove something I spent about 1-2 hours terraforming because I ended up not liking it so I'm being particularly cautious now.

definitely into the 2/3/4 idea tho because I have a lot of villagers that go really well together and I'd like them to be next to each other

Lol yeah mine are clumped together now in the bottom corner of my map since I haven’t moved them yet. So what’s gonna happen essentially is for every area in my island, I’ll put some of them there. Like a foresty area with maybe 2 of them. I have a little East Asia part with my house in it with 2-3 of them because I don’t enjoy an isolated house (my favorites and those whose house fit the aesthetic maybe) and I like living amongst my villagers. Then in the downtown part where the plaza and shops are, I’ll probably put 3-4 of them there somewhere.

 

[ali.di.magix]

I've got two columns of 5 villagers, on opposite sites of the island with a river bordering both of them. Unfortunately I don't have an up to date screenshot of my map, but here is my original, un-terraformed island versus my draft plan of my island:

---- to this ---->

Since I have 2 southern outlets, this was the best way I could think of to maximise the island space haha ^^"

 

[Shyria]

I like scattered but I would have been complicated for me to have everything where I wanted to be if I did this. So I have three dedicated neighborhoods (will try to give them different feels later on) and that leaves me plenty of room for shops, flower fields, themed area & what may be to come!

 

[R. Planet]

Currently only my two first villagers live on the main southwest quadrant with me. Along with all stores and the museum and campground.

The southeast quadrant has a pond with four villager houses stationed all around it.

Towards the center of the island, just to the right of the central waterfall are my two lazies. Just to the right of them is the southernmost tip of the 2nd tier with a natural incline and that's where numbers 9 and 10 went. They sit adjacent to my other pond which is surrounded by a fruit orchard.

So essentially they sit 2 - 4 and 4.

I'll post a pic in a bit.

 

[Raz]

Scattered, and there's not a single house sharing an acre with another one (but a few may share an acre with another building, like NC/AS), with my house being an exception for now.

 

[starlightsong]

I definitely understand why people do the neighborhood thing because it helps you have more space for other things. But personally, I don't like having the villagers all crammed together in one area because they're an important part of my island and I want to show that and let them have nice, personalized yards. In the past I sometimes did use plot resetting to cram them into one neighborhood in certain towns (I have multiple NL ones still and at least one of them is like that lol) but now, with such extensive outdoor decorating being possible? Nope--though I guess what I do would be classified as a mix of both!

What I do is I have 2 neighborhood areas: four villagers with decently sized yards on one side of my island, and then four others symmetrically placed in the same way on the other side. And then I have the final two villagers near each other, but still with a good bit of yard space, on one of my beaches!

 

[Chris]

I'm going for a port town aesthetic to support my pirate theme. They will all be kept together in the town area so I can give the rest of the map a more untamed desert island feel.

 

[Hsn97]

I have pairs of house scattered around the map. I wanted more of a wild island type of feel and I felt this looked more natural.

 

[AutumnWolf]

I Haven’t completely settled on anything yet, I’m playing very slowly because I have a new baby, but I’ve got some of my villagers grouped together. I plan on having them surrounding a little outdoor lounge/picnic area Possibly, if I like the design. The others are a little more scattered at the moment and I’m OK with it. Eventually I’ll know more of what I’m doing. Ha ha!

 

[moonolotl]

I've just finished making my neighbourhood and i personally really love it!! it feels like a little community

Below is a picture of my map, however i took this picture a while ago so its not 100% updated. On the left is my residential area half completed, along with my orchard. Currently i have one more house on the top right and ive managed to move the campsite and fit 4 more house gardens at the southern point! i may send some in-game pictures or videos if anyone wants me to

Spoiler: MAP IMAGE

 

[An0nn]

I'm doing a mix. I try to customize the area around each house based on what looks good with the exterior, but sometimes I'll find that two houses match the same aesthetic well and I'll place them together.

My houses are scattered all over the map for the most part. I have a beach cottage section with tons of rocks and scattered white flowers, a rustic river house isolated in the woods, a fancy mini-neighborhood of two houses in the town center... So far I'm having a lot of fun with it

 

[Katy88]

I have a city area with a street layout, then 4 villagers spread out in the rural areas. I like the mix!

Spoiler: Map!

 

[niko2]

Scattered around the map with at most 2 really close to each others, but also leaving some island areas completely without buildings.

 

[FlimsyAxe]

I want them all close cause it's easier to hunt for DIYs

 

[shayminskyforme88]

Mine is a mix, I have two residential districts on my island.

 

[ThomasNLD]

6 live in a neigbourhood, south of the river. The other 4 live scattered around, mostly because of a lack of space.