Imagine Austin Update
Imagine Austin Update
The Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan is Austin’s plan for the future. Shaped by ideas and contributions from the community, this 30-year plan is based on our greatest asset: the people of Austin. Imagine Austin provides a roadmap for the future and guides City decision-making when setting goals and policies.
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The City of Austin has kicked off an update to the City’s comprehensive plan known as Imagine Austin!
Project Overview
What is a Comprehensive Plan?
A comprehensive plan is the long-range plan for a city. Developed with the community, it sets a unified vision for a city's growth and development over a 20-to-50-year time period.
What is Imagine Austin? Why does it exist?
Adopted in 2012, the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan is Austin’s plan for the future. Shaped by ideas and contributions from the Austin community, this 30-year plan for the city is based on Austin’s greatest asset: its people. Imagine Austin is Austin’s guiding document that establishes goals and policies across eight different Priority Program areas and provides a roadmap for achieving our community’s future, as represented by our vision statement:
A Vision for Austin’s Future
As it approaches its 200th anniversary, Austin is a beacon of sustainability, social equity, and economic opportunity; where diversity and creativity are celebrated; where community needs and values are recognized; where leadership comes from its citizens; and where the necessities of life are affordable and accessible to all.
Austin’s greatest asset is its people: passionate about our city, committed to its improvement, and determined to see this vision become a reality.
The vision statement answers the question, “What sort of city do we want Austin to be?” with a series of principles that address the physical and social evolution of the city and the overall well-being of its residents. To help make the vision a reality, the comprehensive plan directs us toward becoming a city of complete communities throughout Austin.
Why are we updating Imagine Austin now?
The Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan was adopted 12 years ago. While its vision remains relevant today, some aspects of the plan need to be updated for Imagine Austin to continue to be an effective guiding framework for our city.
City staff performed a review of Imagine Austin 10 years after its adoption and then held listening sessions about the plan with community groups. That work has shown that four vital themes should be incorporated in the update process: sustainability, racial equity, resilience, and access to opportunity. Furthermore, to keep Imagine Austin current, staff will be working to ensure that the comprehensive plan is internally consistent and aligns with more recently adopted plans and Council priorities. To guide this work, staff will seek to engage the community through an equitable participation process, seeking input and feedback from as many Austinites as possible.
Over the past decade, Austin has seen tremendous growth and change, and Imagine Austin has helped guide our decision-making in that time. Lending your voice to this update process will help ensure that Imagine Austin addresses current inequities facing our city, and accounts for emerging challenges that are important to our community.