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A 
District refers to a tile that has been modified and worked by your 
Population. It is an essential part of a 
Settlement's development in Civilization VII and its expansions.
Mechanics[]
Districts are categorized into two types:
Urban Districts – Created by constructing a Building on a tile.- Rural Districts – Created by placing a Tile Improvement.
Established Districts expand your borders by claiming all surrounding tiles that lay within 3 hexes of your 
City Center and are not claimed by other Settlements, functioning similarly to a Culture Bomb in Civilization VI. This makes District placement a strategic tool for territorial expansion and can even be used to claim valuable tiles before rival civilizations have the chance to do so.
Furthermore, Districts provide insight into the distribution of your Rural and Urban Population, as Citizens are assigned to work in the corresponding District types. This demographic information is utilized by various game mechanics, including religion and certain side quests that respond to the population's structure.
Urban[]
Urban Districts are established upon constructing a 
Building on a tile. Every Settlement begins with one urban District: the City Center. As you construct additional Buildings, new urban Districts will sprawl outward from the City Center, expanding the footprint of your Settlement. However, 
Wonders can also generate urban sprawl, meaning that not all urban Districts need to be directly connected — some may appear further away, creating non-contiguous urban zones.
Once an urban District is established, it becomes a permanent modification to the tile. These Districts allow population to be assigned as 
Specialists and can accommodate up to two Buildings, forming a 
Quarter when fully developed. However, constructing a District does not remove underlying terrain features. For example, an urban District built on Vegetated terrain will still preserve that feature's impact on appeal, continuing to contribute to the appeal of adjacent tiles.
Additionally, urban Districts serve as a prerequisite for constructing walls on the tile, making them strategically valuable for maintaining Settlement security. In other words, placing urban Districts directly increases both the size and defensive potential of a Settlement. Since most urban Districts can be fortified, each one must be individually captured before the Settlement as a whole can be conquered.
Urban Districts, however, are not the same as Urban tiles, as Wonders count as urban tiles but do not count toward urban Districts.
Rural[]
Rural Districts are established when a 
Tile Improvement is placed. Unlike urban Districts, rural Districts are flexible, they do not need to be connected to other existing Improvements and can be placed freely, as long as they are adjacent to any other District or Wonder. This allows rural Districts to be more scattered and flexible in placement.
Each Rural District can be worked by only one Citizen, making the number of rural Districts in a Settlement directly tied to the size of its rural population.
Rural Districts are also more adaptable than their urban counterparts. They can be replaced by new developments, such as Wonders or other Buildings. When this happens, any Citizen assigned to the tile is freed up and can immediately be reassigned elsewhere. The only exception is when a 
Resource or 
Natural Wonder tile is improved — since Buildings and Wonders cannot be placed on Resource tiles, constructing a rural District over one becomes a permanent commitment.
Fortified Districts[]
With the exception of the Normans' Unique Buildings, certain Wonders, and some 
Unique Improvements, there are three standard types of Fortifications that can be built around a District:
- Ancient Walls (Antiquity Age)
- Medieval Walls (Exploration Age)
- Defensive Fortifications (Modern Age)
Fortifications play a vital role in both protecting defending 
Units and increasing the overall defensive strength of a Settlement. A District with walls is considered a Fortified District. Each Fortified District provides safety to any unit stationed there and must be captured individually before the Settlement itself can be taken. As a result, well-defended Fortified Districts can significantly slow invasions and offer important strategic advantages in both defense and territorial control.
Conquering Fortified Districts[]
In order for a Settlement to be conquered, all Fortified Districts must be captured, meaning:
- All walls need to be destroyed.
- Those Fortified Districts need to be captured.
- A Fortified District is captured when a military unit moves onto its tile. If the District has a garrisoned unit, both the Fortification and the defending unit must be eliminated first.
- If an enemy unit moves onto the tile again, the District ownership is flipped back, meaning it must be recaptured for full control.
- A Settlement is fully conquered when all of its Fortified Districts are flipped to the attacking leader.
- The City Center always acts as a Fortified District, regardless of whether it contains walls.
- Districts and Quarters that are not Fortified are irrelevant in this matter.
Note: Accepting a peace agreement does not automatically return lost Districts to their original owner. Units need to be moved onto these Districts in order to "liberate" them again.
District combat and wall bonuses[]
Sieging a Fortified District involves different mechanics depending on unit type, Fortification Age, and whether the tile is defended or not. Walls are not 
Ageless — they become weaker over time:
- One age behind → Bonuses are halved. (instead of granting 15 Combat Strength to the District, it grants 7)
- More than one age behind → No bonuses (e.g., Ancient Walls in the Modern Age).
For simplicity, the following rules apply when fighting appropriately aged walls:
- Walls add 100 HP to the District.
- Fortified Districts and the City Center have a base Combat Strength equal to the strongest unit (e.g., unit with the highest base Combat Strength) trained by the defending player. Walls add an extra 15 Combat Strength to the City Center.
- This means wall Combat Strength remains the same whether the District is defended by units or not.
- This means wall
- Units defending in a Fortified District are completely immune to damage, except when attacked by siege units.
Effectively, a Fortified District functions like a unit, usually with 100 
HP (a Walled City Center has 150, as this District is the only one to start with 50 base HP without walls, while all other Districts start with 0) and a set 
Combat Strength, but with limited modifiers.
When walls are taken down, all strength bonuses are gone, and units defending on these tiles are completely exposed. Furthermore, damaged or destroyed walls cannot be repaired manually; instead, they regenerate their health over time under the following conditions:
- The Settlement belongs to its rightful owner (e.g., not occupied and under enemy control).
- The District has no enemy units on or adjacent to it.
- The Settlement is not attacked anywhere for several turns.
See also[]
- District in other games
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