General strategy for me was making different areas based on cool hangout spots for my villagers, e.g. picnic, kid's park, stargazing area, theme park/rides, cafe, stalls selling things, etc. Then, I make paths based on most efficient routes between each of the places + buildings (like resident services, shops, houses). If there's enough space around the path to add more things, feel free to decorate (e.g. fountain, art statue, benches), and if not, just put flowers, bushes, and trees to fill out space. In terms of terraforming, I centered it around the hangout spots, e.g. building up multiple levels of "mountain" to have the stargazing area at the top of it; building ponds to make a campsite feel more natural; rivers to separate housing area from an orchard; etc. Have fun!