The City of Austin is kicking off a community-centric effort to update the City of Austins’ comprehensive plan known as Imagine Austin.

First adopted by Council in 2012, Imagine Austin is a 30-year plan that maps out a vision of Austin as 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. Since its approval, Austin has gained more than 100,000 new residents, median home prices have more than doubled, City Council has moved to a single-member district system, and voters approved a transformative transit investment in Project Connect. These events and others underscore the need for a revision to the City’s comprehensive plan.

Last year, City Council authorized the update as part of the adopted City budget.  The Imagine Austin update will feature multiple phases of community engagement and last through 2026. The first phase begins this month, when Planning Department staffers will head out to every corner of the city to initiate conversations with residents and community groups about priorities and shared visions for Austin’s future.

“Our comprehensive plan is a living, breathing document that should reflect the values of our community,” said Planning Director Lauren Middleton-Pratt. “The Austin of 2024 doesn’t look like the Austin of 2012, and we know our city will continue to change and evolve. We look forward to collaborating with as many Austinites as possible to ensure that we create a document that shepherds an equitable, opportunity-rich future for everyone.”

The first version of Imagine Austin was ratified after two years of extensive public engagement that featured the input of thousands of community members. It laid out a vision for a compact, connected city that is affordable, environmentally sustainable, and promotes pathways to prosperity for all. Imagine Austin has been amended multiple times throughout the years to incorporate planning documents that transfer those ideals into concrete goals, some of those plans include the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint, the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, and the Water Forward Plan. Including those community-vetted goals in the City’s comprehensive plan ensures accountability for the City’s leaders who have used these collective documents to guide decisions about housing, transportation, environmental, and land development policies throughout the years. During the upcoming revision, City staff will seek to integrate recently adopted Council policies to ensure the plan is internally consistent and implementable while also updating the document to reinforce its foundational commitments to racial equity, resilience, sustainability, and access to opportunity. To guide this work, staff will seek to engage the community through an equitable public participation process.

The City has published a new website where residents can learn more about the process, provide feedback through an online survey, invite staff to community meetings, and sign up for email updates. That information and more can be found at speakupaustin.org/imagineaustin.