Comprehensive Plan
Lexington, Kentucky Passes Urban Growth Plan
The city’s new master plan sets out requirements for mixed-use development.
Olympia Draft Transportation Plan Zeroes in on Complete Streets, Bike Infrastructure
The city’s comprehensive plan update could signal a shift in transportation planning priorities to a more comprehensive approach that ensures safer roads for all users.
ForwardDallas Lays out Bold Vision, Lacks Teeth
The land use plan outlines ambitious goals for the city’s future, but offers little in the way of concrete changes.
Preserving, Restoring, and Revitalizing Juneau's Downtown
For the past six years, a commission of Juneau, Alaska, residents has examined every aspect of downtown and created Blueprint Downtown to lay the foundation for what comes in the next 20 years.
Maine Law Promotes Smart Growth
New state legislation encourages cities to plan around ‘smart growth’ principles to preserve farmland and open space, and use infill development to build more housing.
Pittsburgh To Develop Comprehensive Plan
The city voted to spend $6 million on a plan to address future development.
Fort Worth Amends Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Industrial Zone
After residents protested the size and location of a proposed industrial growth zone, the city council voted to adopt an amended version of the plan.
Can Brooklyn Change the Conversation on Comprehensive Planning in New York?
The Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn is the largest comprehensive planning effort by land area in the U.S. since L.A. updated its plan in the 2000s, and the latest attempt to advance comprehensive planning in a city that has grown cynical about it.
Opinion: Voters Deserve to See the Draft ‘One Seattle’ Plan
Despite a promise to release a draft comprehensive plan update in April and with elections in less than a week, Seattle residents are still waiting to see the city’s proposal for how to guide development in the next decades.
Proposal Focuses on Downtown Milwaukee Revitalization
A city plan calls for reimagining an elevated freeway that cuts through downtown communities and redeveloping public properties.
Seattle Planning Commission Urges Reimagining of the City’s Streets
In a set of recommendations submitted to the city, the commission calls for revised land use and transportation policies that reclaim public space from cars and shift focus away from vehicle throughput to more pedestrian-oriented uses.
What Are Zoning Amendments?
Zoning amendments change the existing zoning code by either of two methods: changing the text of the zoning code or changing the zoning map.
Seattle Works To Revise Comprehensive Plan
The city has developed five concepts for updating its comprehensive plan to increase density and reverse the legacy of exclusionary zoning.
What Should the ‘Next Seattle’ Look Like?
With the city getting ready to update its comprehensive plan, one writer examines some models for improving affordability, accessibility, and community in Seattle.
Seattle Ponders a New Approach to Zoning for its Comprehensive Plan Update
The city of Seattle will have an updated comprehensive plan by the end of 2024, with zoning changes to follow by 2025.
Rochester, New York Drafts a Zoning Map to Match its New Comprehensive Plan
The Rochester 2034 Zoning Alignment Project is implementing the award-winning Rochester 2034 Comprehensive Plan.
What Is the Garden City Movement?
Born as a reaction to the crowded, dirty conditions in turn-of-the-century London and other industrial cities, the Garden City movement offers an idealized planned community designed to join elements of town and country.
A Battle Brews Over Housing Density In Seattle
The newly elected Seattle City Council will take up the debate over single-family zoning in the city.
Dallas Launches New Comprehensive Plan Process—15 Years After ForwardDallas
The city of Dallas adopted the ForwardDallas plan in 2006, setting a grand ambition for a more walkable, transit-friendly city. Some of the work toward that vision will have to continue with the next comprehensive plan.
What Are Comprehensive Plans?
The comprehensive plan, sometimes also referred to as a master plan or a general plan, is the foundational document of long-term planning and zoning in the United States.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Santa Clarita
Ascent Environmental
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
