Something of an informal reverse engineering of SimCity 3000 existed in sc3000.com's Knowledge Neighborhood. The original site is only partially available via the wayback machine now, though fortunately the articles have been preserved albeit in a slightly less convenient format here https://community.simtropolis.com/profile/157989-catty-cb/co...
The site contained a pretty amazingly comprehensive detailing of the game's mechanics and various algorithms scattered throughout the articles, to the point where it seemed to me like it'd be possible to implement a lot of the game's engine using it.