Ranking points may be the goal but as you have probably observed, your rank can go up and down a bit. The thing to focus on if you are considering ranking as a measure of your performance, is the ability to sustain a level of performance. To move up in the ranks then you build a bit faster than those around you and you will, therefore naturally move up.
Sustaining a level of performance is a question of optimization of space and production. More space means more production is possible better buildings mean you can remove (as you know) older, less efficient ones. In your case you have five challenges.
1) An excess of AW's. This will limit your space but can be very helpful if you get those AW's to at least level 10 or so. In my experience the GA is probably the most important of them and if you can move that one up even to level 15-20 it will help keep your population up. Do consider, though, which AW's you choose to move up to level 10 first. Some of them are giving you things you may not need for the space they take. The Enar's Embassy gives you one rune shard every week. And the Tome of Secrets one KP each day. Are these two a good use of the space? I didn't build them because I thought not. But you may have other calculations. Others to consider are the Endless Excavation -- supplies and 2 relics for each province scouted (are you short of relics or expect to be?)' Thrones of High Men -- ranking points and culture -- (can you get the ranking points more efficiently from another residence or other building?; and, Lighthouse of Good Neighbors -- increased effect of the EE spells and some mana (Do you use EE spells continuously? Do you need a mana boost and could the space used be better used for mana producing buildings?).
2) Too much unused population. The population number you see on the screen is the excess population you have. At your level having 8,000-10,000 on hand should satisfy your immediate needs and thus, anything in excess, is taking room and since your score is based partly on working population, excess pop doesn't help in that regard.. As SoggyShorts said, putting those ice rinks in storage might be a good idea. At 3700 pop each 3 of them could be stored without hurting your ability to grow. In any case, if you have 24 residences and 1 magic residence. That should be enough if you keep them up to the highest level possible and raise your GA to level 15 or so.
3) Sets. Each of your sets, to achieve maximum impact, must be arranged optimally. This has resulted in creating very large "blocks" of buildings which cannot be easily placed without wasting space. Each set has to be considered for the space it's taking and what's it contributing. Usually the lower the set, unless you've used RR spells to raise them up each chapter, the less it is worth. Removing the Phoenix Cult set, for instance, nets you an expansion and 1/2 since it's made up, in your case, of 7 buildings.
4) Keeping space for T1 level buildings. These can be thrown up in almost no time when needed and unless you have excessive space too many of them take up more space and are not as efficient as putting up only the ones you need. If an event calls for 5 workshop productions of 9 hours you should have 5 workshops working away at them. Sometimes maximizing and event performance might be worth it, but usually, I find, a moderate few extra T1 or Workshops is enough. If you are planning your event by looking at the list of quests you can gauge things pretty well and keep those number down.
5) Due to the number of AW's and other "excess" buildings you don't have a lot of space. Once you add the current portal and 8 admin buildings you have no space to complete the research tree for the chapter. You will, therefore, have to either buy more space or slow your pace/lower your ranking for a bit, to achieve a more efficient and effective city.
In addition, you might consider raising your portal to lvl 4, looking at egems to determine the total amount of resources you 8 admin buildings need to produce, producing that, and then removing most of them -- keeping 3-5 as necessary. Each one takes up 1 expansion so removing 5 would really help find the room for the other buildings you will need to complete the chapter.
Here is a link for how most of that might work:
Just my thoughts, and sorry if they are a "wall of text" but at least they aren't repetitive.
AJ
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