Downtown Columbia Plan

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

In the 1960’s, Jim Rouse envisioned Columbia as a new kind of American city, that through rational planning, would avoid the problems associated with larger cities of the time. Forty years later, the award-winning planned community was still lacking a vibrant urban center. The Downtown Columbia Plan is a 30-year master plan for evolving Columbia's suburban-oriented Town Center into a socially, economically and environmentally-sustainable urban community. Following an extensive planning and community engagement process, the Howard County Council approved the Downtown Columbia Plan on February 1, 2010. The Plan will guide the mixed-use development of 5,500 residential units, 1.25 million square feet of retail uses and 4.3 million square feet of commercial development, including 600 hotel rooms. The vision for Downtown Columbia reflects a holistic approach to environmental sustainability programs, transit and transportation infrastructure, urban design, full-spectrum housing policy, arts and cultural activities and organizational development designed to facilitate a variety of community programs and services. In addressing these core elements of community life, the result will be a productive city center where people live, work, learn and play all within an enriched natural setting that is well-connected and pedestrian-friendly.