How do you plan your hoods? Do you start with a general storyline for the development for the hood and then make a map? Or do you fiddle with the map and adapt from there?

Very good question!
Well, first I create a map on paper. I try to rotate my 'hood because between SimCity and The Sims 2, there is a rotation! I also try to create my own neighborhood to be able to use Criquette's objects (especially the big Airport and Railway). Then I take pictures of my creation!
But I often have to modify my 'hood because there are always some problems :-)

1 very nice cheat code :
modifyneighborhoodterrain on/off -> modify terrain with [)], [^],[*] (need FreeTime EP)

well, mostly I do this in the same order;
1. what theme is the neighborhood going to have?
2. what kind of lots/houses shall I build?
3. how will the roads go?; I do this on paper.
4. hood making in Sim City.
5. testing and if necessarily make changes.
6. placing the lots.
7. add big hood decorations.
8. building the houses.
9. adding smaller hood decorations.
10. make and add the sims.
11. latest details.
12. play.

I usually plan it out on paper, too. And with all the awesome decorations that Criquette has made lately, I've just had to start a new 'hood, which I'm hoping to share here on MTS2. :D

I usually just have an idea of what type of neighborhood I want, then I let my intuition guide me.

I never have blank spaces. I always cover patches up with trees, and if in a urban place, I place a building on the patches.

I start with a new terrain, either one I made, downloaded or just a maxis one.
I place some trees in the empty places where I know I won't be able to put lots or anything else.
I start my first house and see how it looks in the neighborhood.
If it doesn't look right---I bulldoze and start over.
After first house done, houses are imediately built up around it in a simular style---to keep up a cohesive feel.
From there I start to decorate the parts with the houses, and eventually the whole neighborhood is filled with houses and decor that look quite natural together.
Sims come last or near the end, with their stories and lifes shaping the neighborhood even further.
I always remember---everything can easily be changed

I start in SC4 ... I never have a clue about what I´m doing, I just fiddle around until something is looking like something I could use ... then test in TS2 ... back to SC4 to re-arrange ... testing again and so on
Then I start building and where I think I might want to build a house in the furture, I place a lot and fill it with trees, so it looks like a part of the hood decorations, I almost never use other hood decor but trees and rocks ... I can´t make it look right.

I choose a terrain first. It must be:
1) mostly flat (designing houses on hills is not for me);
2) have several beach lots (I like them very much);
3) with a dense net of roads, and with no big spaces between the roads, because I like 'hoods with the city look.

I never create Downtown and Shopping District, only Uni and Vacation subhoods. Thus, everything that must be downtown (clubs, shops, parlora, restaurants, etc.) is in the centre of the main hood. I start with the community lots, and only then proceed to the residential ones.

I prefer my hood to look like a real city, so, each part of it can be in a different architecture style. I begin with medeivalish buildings, and then proceed to more modern architecture. Hood decoration? - A lot of trees, some rocks, water towers... Nothing special.

Ah, and all Maxis terrain suck. I download SC4 terrains for my hoods.

As of now, I'm building a Sim kingdom. Yes, not just a hood, kingdom! This means a main hood, with subhoods for farmlands etc.
And usually, I don't spend time looking for a good looking hood. I just use standard ones.

This, I found a very hard question. I start with sims, I create a certain sim and think what would be a perfect world for him or places I would love to go. The After this I could go to places (If I can) such as beaches or national parks and then I use google to look at the geography of a location, then also where my island will be, the moon, mars or some where in the pacific, then I hit the sketch books and just draw. Once I think I have something I start in CAW and fiddle. After I thik i have done enough wor, I go back to Sunset Valley or Riverview and really study the world's and what goes into them. If you want info on my most recent project go to http://gatescove.weebly.com

Rileyjcquinn, that sounds pretty interesting as well
I've never really done that before, creating a world for a sim, would be great to try out one day
thanks for the inspirational post

Not based around a whole sim, well it is but its based on a story of that sim and fleshed out and has heavy ties in but thats it just like the Altos with Brideport or Langrabb with Sunset Valley its that kind of integration