SC4 did use similar logic, where agents would path to the nearest location to fulfil their current need (which meant that in order to design efficient cities / solve traffic problems / etc, you basically had to go on the forums and learn how the unrealistic simulation rules work from the obsessive fans who reverse engineer the game's logic via scientific experiments -- efficient designs are more about tricking the dumb AI into doing the right thing, rather than actually making 'good' designs).
However, SC4 also had a feature where you could add customized agents into the city with specific names (or import them from the Sims), and these people would live in specific houses, etc...
I'm actually really disappointed in seeing how simple the new Sim City simulation is... I was really looking forward to buying this game in a few months...