How to choose where borders auto grow?

[TheeLord]

A few times now I would like to choose where the borders will auto grow.. They always seem to want to grow where I am building my next city. Given the scarcity of border growth in civ 5, I think this would be a good feature.

So am I missing where to do this somehow? or is it really not an option in the game?

 

[Sporhund]

Theres no way to choose it. You can buy tiles specifically, and then the city might change direction.

Just a thought though, if your cities want to grow to where you plan to place next city, maybe your cities are spaced too close?

 

[PieceOfMind]

There are patterns to how the borders expand though. You'll notice for example that they tend to be more likely to go along rivers, less likely to cross rivers, less likely to climb mountains, more likely to expand onto resources, more likely to expand on tiles at a smaller radius from your city, and maybe some others.