The efficiency of all utilities and operations, food, O2, cement, mines, etc decrease to the point that outputs or level ups stop happening. Every game I start quickly ends in habitats and my city status leveling back down and and becoming unplayable.
Please get me over this hurdle!
Hi @gakivi and welcome 
Yes it can become a bit of a log jam after a while 
Efficiency can be hard unless you get an idea on how to set up production lines.
Setting up roads in lines and blocks from raw materials to finished goods is a good idea, Building unconnected blocks for materials that do not need to be delivered i.e. concrete goes to the storehouse but doesn’t need to go any further - so a small block.
Probably a good idea is to join Discord and chat there. Also others often put up images of their layouts and game saves - so try some of their saves for ideas.
The Dionic Discord server is a friendly place and questions are always welcome
I probably explained it poorly. My startup communities are very small. Less than 60 residents. 2-3 habitats, a few farms, 1 or 2 atmosphere plants, blue lab and factory, a concrete factory and one steel factory. Warehouse and spaceport.
As I try to progress up the tech tree into green and appliances, I see that food has begun to get low and finally the habs will start to downgrade. The farm efficiency that started out as 100% is down to maybe 20%. Adding additional farms just seems to lower the efficency rather than increasing total production. Actually, all of the processors (O2, mines, factory’s) behave this way, efficiency drops over time and adding capacity does not overcome the problem. I see the futility of continuing when the efficiencies get down int single digits so I end that attempt and try again with different technology focuses, but that is not the problem.
Is keeping everything compact the answer? I haven’t focused on that yet, but maybe concrete delivery for new construction happens without the need for roads and can be separated, but all the other necessities need interconnected roads. My start up is so small that traffic is not an issue and its hard to see how distance can be the problem as everything is located in a 4 block square.
It is a bit difficult commenting without seeing what is going on.
Sending a screenshot/s of your entire village and industries would help. And if you go onto Discord you can post a game save which would be the best 
It sounds like employment might be an issue? Or you are building up too quickly?
Normally the game guides you through reasonably well in the early stages. So follow it closely, but keep and eye on workers and that all buildings are getting oxygen, power, food, etc and not running short of anything… 
Sorry, forgot to reply to some of your queries 
Re: Size - a small village doesn’t really help as you will crowd yourself out over time.
Yes, try a separate concrete work block - it will help early on.
Layouts are very much trial and error and there aren’t many large screenshots here atm, though here’s one:
There are quite a few layouts to look at on the Dionic server with many innovative ideas.
Joining is easy and you don’t have to text/talk - just scroll through the older comments in the various InfraSpace channels
I don’t have much time to read right now, but please check 2 things:
Lacking one of them is the most common reason for decreased efficiency.
I may have figured it out. Better spacing on windmills for max power efficiency seems to be what I was missing.
Glad you found the culprit 
The windmills zones can not overlap or they lose a percentage of their output.
Try to leave a lot of room next to the main through-roads, as you will later replace them with 4 or 6 lane roads. 