PS : As was mooted by several players, early on, the above is indeed why (a) Spire, (b) Tourney, and (c) the ability to join a FS (where 0*/1* Cross-Tier Trading will more readily speed the growth of small Cities), being the in-game elements which best support & enhance the Resource-funding of early Cities, were moved so much later in the new Tech Tree(s) - and also why the new-Tech Tree specifics have been kept such a closely guarded secret, for so long, on Beta & Live, and even further obfuscated by mixing-and-matching 'old & new' Tech Trees... even to date, perhaps? No idea.
The veil of secrecy surrounding the new Tech Tree(s) (including uncertainty as to how many sub-versions might even exist...) will remain as dense as ever, too, since very few new-account old-timers, and even fewer genuinely new players, will ever discuss it on any forum, and Inno [or any other gaming house] are extremely unlikely to explain further than we've seen, which is also now commonplace industry-wide for mobile-first online games.
However, I have yet to hear anything to contradict what I've already learned from [a few!] new-Tech Tree players about (a) the removal and/or major alteration of the Repeatable/cycling Chapter Quests, to prevent the farming of Gold & Supplies (it's all about the slow-down), or (b) the fact that while shorter Research times are indeed one side of the new early-game equation, and the most overtly promoted & visible 'benefit' of the new Tech Tree, too, there are multiple counterbalancing & concomitant alterations to Mandatory Quests & more fundamental game elements besides.
One new Mandatory Quest apparently demands FAR more simultaneously existing Residences than any experienced players would ever choose to place, and another - IMO pretty cynical - Quest apparently demands that a pre-Ch.5 player places at least 40 Expansions. Wow, just wow... IMHO.
The specifics of the near-inevitable & close-calculated slowing of early play in mature social mobile games are hidden for sound commercial reasons.