Planning Process

Since its launch in November 2016, Envision Cambridge has reached out to the community to hear about your ideas for the future of Cambridge. An inclusive engagement program offers many ways to hear from a wide range of voices. As we enter the plan’s final year, your voice will continue to help shape the citywide plan that will serve as a guide for how the city changes over time.

Learn more about the planning process.

Year 1: Creating a Bold Vision

In the first year, community ideas and input, along with planning research, were used to identify key issues and opportunities and develop a citywide vision and set of core values. Cambridge Today is a comprehensive report on the state of the city and highlights early findings from the plan’s first year. 

Year 2: Setting Priorities

In the second year, Envision Cambridge delved deeper into the plan’s focus areas and developed draft goals, strategies, and actions for housing, economy, urban form, mobility, climate and the environment, and community wellbeing.

Year 3: Developing an Action Plan

In the final year, community conversations and scenario planning will be used to balance recommendations across each focus group to understand trade-offs and articulate priorities. We will build upon this work to create an action plan that identifies effective short-, medium-, and long-term actions to realize our shared vision.