Hurry Production

§ There are various ways to increase a city's Productivity, some permanent, some of limited duration. Here are some examples:
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Increasing Productivity

§ Population Growth
§ The bigger a city, the more population that is available to work the land and thus generate hammers. It is generally a good idea to grow your Cities as large as the health and happiness of the city will allow.
§ Improvements
§ Tile improvements such as Mines increase the productivity of a hill or certain Resources. A Watermill will increase the productivity of squares next to a river. And there are others, as well.
§ Buildings and Wonders
§ Many buildings and wonders increase your productivity. For example, a Forge increases a city's productivity by 25%, while the Three Gorges Dam wonder increases all of your cities' productivity by 10%.
§ The Great Engineer
§ A Great Engineer can be sacrificed for a large number of production points, but this act consumes the unit. Great Engineers are useful for rushing early wonders.
§ Specialists
§ The Engineer Specialist increases his city's productivity by two hammers. Other specialists may increase productivity as well.
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Civics

§  Organized Religion: The Organized Religion civic increases a city's productivity by 25%, but ONLY when that city is constructing a building and only if your state religion is present in the city.
§ Universal Suffrage: Universal Suffrage increases Town productivity by 1. It also allows you to spend gold to complete construction of a unit or building.
§ Bureaucracy: Bureaucracy increases the production (and commerce) in your capital by 50%.
§ Slavery: Slavery allows you to sacrifice a city's population to complete production on an item.
§ Nationhood: Nationhood allows you to "draft" a city's population for military service. Drafting military units causes unhappiness and a reduction of population in the drafted city.