Someone mentioned optimization above somewhere --- I think part of the optimization problems during construction rest with how big the object is that you are constructing. It seems that later on the more large objects that you have built the slower it becomes when you want to build another. It doesn't seem to effect houses (2x2) as much as it does farms (5x5).
The game also seems to slow the larger of a population you have either wandering aimlessly or looking for work. If it isn't something implemented already, could some of those citizens who are idle be idle inside of a house? Like walk to it and close the door and stop being processed as an entity? Or could a worker limit not exceed a certain number. Right now you're allowed to make everyone a worker and that makes everyone look for a job to do -- maybe "workers" could be split into groups? Farmers, Bakers, Lumberjacks, etc, that can't increase beyond X amount determined by how many buildings of that type you have. Would that help with the number of people trying to do a certain job?
One thing I've noticed also is that Storage is just put wherever they feel like putting it. I have many storehouses near wood, farms, and bricks but those storehouses seem to have any assortment of items in them. Would it be beneficial to have specialized storehouses for each type of item? I was waiting for the little peons to finish getting a surplus of food before they could continue building and they were running to the storehouses far away from the ones I put near the bakeries and farms to store their food and wheat when those nearby storehouses were not full.
But all any all I'm amazed at how active the development on this is and I'd love to see where the game goes in the future. The game already has a lot more features and depth to it than I thought it had initially and it's going to get even better down the road. There's so much potential in this.