Cities XL is a nice experience close to Sim City, but suffers from terrible performance once the city gets larger. The version I played must have had a memory leak or something, because it became more or less unplayable when I had filled up half a map. Devs didn't seem to care, though and just re-released the game several times again with only minor changes (and still terrible performance issues): It also lacks heavily in regards of sound or immersion (no effects, rather boring music, no persons rendered). Would not recommend it unless you get it very cheap.
Tropico is a quite nice city builder if you want to build up a carribean island in a banaa republic as El Presidente. The series is rather iterative, but if you have never played any of the old parts you probably won't notice. Nice mix of economic and political management, with some humor mixed into it. Very flavorful music and nice radio station announcment add quite a bit to the immersion.
Banished is a game I can highly recommend. Much smaller scope (more of a town builder than a city builder), but each person is modelled in detail. like SC4 it is a tough nut to crack, but not that challenging once you have figured it out. Graphics and sound are only "okay-ish", but the fact that you have seasons and people running around makes for a very nice immersion factor. Oh, and, did I mention it is basicially a 1-man project (2 if you count the music)? Great!
Anno offers some nice city building, combined with a heavy focus on production chains and logistics. One thing I really like about the series are the graphics (they are just amazing) and the AI opponents (who will frequently talk to you and make remarks on your situation, tauning or admiring you). If you want a medieval setting get 1404, if you are a fan of Sci-Fi give 2070 a shot. I was quire reserved about the latter, but once I got it during a sale I was hooked pretty quickly, because it had lots of cool improvements and ideas. One thing that is terribad though: U-Play DRM. Argh!
