There's a strategy that makes drastic changes to your city and how it operates for that one chapter. It also puts you in a very positive position for the next chapter: Woodelves. It will probably cause you to stall out somewhere on the storyline quests. I'd check out the quest line on ElvenGems and see if I really wanted the rewards. I recall skipping them and declining the ones I didn't want to do after activating Advanced Scouts for Woodelves.
Basically: Get everything you need for the chapter (except Culture bldgs) upgraded to max. Sell off all your Culture Only bldgs. Your factories will continue to produce as usual, you just won't be able to build or upgrade anything that requires culture. Your coin and supply production will return to base levels without the culture bonus. Stocking up on some coin rains and supply instants is advisable. You can do the same with culture/pop bldgs that are not giving enough pop to equal a residence. Going negative pop doesn't stop your city from running; it works just like culture. Build a huge Orc settlement. In my pre-Portal profits/instants city, I think at one point I had 50+ mushroom farms and 7 Rally Points. I *think* I upgraded 5+ of the Rally Points, but probably only around 20 of the farms. In my 2nd city, I saved Portal Profits in Dwarves/Fairies and used them liberally where I could once I got to O&G, so I had a smaller and less upgraded settlement to get the portal upgraded.
One of reasons this strategy is feasible is the huge change coming in Woodelves. You will rarely opt for a Culture Only bldg after reaching that chapter; you'll want culture/mana bldgs. This means you'll be placing the WeepingWillows and/or any event mana producers/crafted Festival Merchants you gain after you arrive in this chapter. As you sell off the farms/rally points, you'll get coins/supplies that'll help build the Willows. You'll go from negative culture to a huge culture bonus with the Willows. I recommend placing the event/crafted buildings where you're going to keep them, then placing Willows everywhere else you can fit them. There's a bunch of research after you unlock Willows and before you get to the Woodelves portal research, giving you time to amass some mana. It decays, so building an early inventory is a positive. As you need the space for the Woodelves settlement, sell off the Willows, again using the resources you get back to help with building the Woodelves settlement production bldgs.
It's possible to do most of this without upgrading residences or workshops past max Fairy level if you've got enough of each and the coin rains/supply instants. Continuing to win those in the Spire and as event consolation prizes will help some. You'll upgrade houses first to get the pop you need to start on the workshop upgrades. Then, you can take a huge portion of your city right through the ugly phase into the Woodelves architecture without having an 'Orc' city for very long, lol! Hated O&G. Hated. It. Ugliest thing in the game. The houses looked like they used toilets for models. Seriously, they went from having me collect ambrosia to me collecting dung. Ugh!