The cities grow in vertical and horizontal axis both. If you go to the east or west side of the map you will find vertical city lines with 7 day beginner protection.

Some players solely rely on bots for resources, I used only them to raid resources so that i could avoid picking fights with active players. So they are useful in the map.

Likewise small level cities like level 2,3,4 etc. are useful for siege rankings, so they are not deleted. These cities are not relevant for most players but important to some.