With each new civ-game we have gotten more and more advanced graphics and more animations, so in Civ 5 with even higher system requirements than Civ 4, it´s time to actually be able to see your citizens when you zoom down.

Like it is now, the city looks eerily quiet and deserted if you zoom in, but I would like to see citizens (dressed in appropriate clothes for each era) walk up and down the streets, enter/exit buildings and talk with each other, and horses/cars. You will see farmers taking care of farms and animals, miners working in the mines and so on... You will also see the military units in the city posted on city walls/castle.

I think this addition would make the cities more atmospheric and living!

good idea, i agree.

I'd rather not waste valuable computing time animating the little citizens in your cities. Though I will agree the current cities look eerily empty (I preferred the bird's-eye-view of previous games: The cities looked more realistic, and I felt like a giant god looking down upon my people, so there's good reason to not make anyone out. That, and there weren't any giant soldiers standing guard. And there was nothing more satisfying than seeing your grand city sprawling all over, not confined to some square on the board. The cities in cIV are far too square for my tastes. But I digress).

That digression gives me an idea. Perhaps the cities could just be programmed to "sprawl" more naturally, with the buildings placed randomly in the city proper and adjacent tiles. Towns would also need to be placed more irregularly. If the cities looked more like natural cities, they probably wouldn't look so empty, since at least there's some sign of life.

Sure everyone wants to have a zoomed in version and see their mighty empire from city to city and people praying in temples and selling things in markets but we dont really want to kill the computer do we?

maybe they can have a predone video of a real live city scene playing in the background.