So here's some pie-in-the-sky thoughts. Some of these might be better for VT II than VT 1.x...

RTS (Warcraft) style clearing and building houses for peeps
By this I mean that there are maybe 4 houses when I start and some clear land, but in order to expand my population, I need to 1: clear a plot 2: pave a road to it (with stones I have hit with my pickaxe) 3: build a house (with trees I have cut down). Houses can go anywhere, either side of the river, as long as there's a road back to the central shopping district.

Houses can have more than one person live in them.
Even after college, I knew pairs of people who lived in 315 sq ft apartments. Perhaps you have to add-on rooms to get more people in the house. This also gives you the option for larger populations.

Peeps who age and retire
The game says everyone gets older, but only the mayor and child do. Even if they just reach 60, 'retire' and are replaced by a new person, it would make them seem less like alien vampires. Maybe even have kids, have more than one person per house. If 3 people

Shopkeepers are peeps as well
When the store or the bank is closed, they should live in houses and offer quests. They should eat.

Peeps should go to the movies
'The Mayor's private cinema' seems economically unfeasible.

Garbage should include popcorn containers and drink cups from the cinema
Near a cinema, it usually does...


Anyway, just a few ideas, from pebbles to boulders...