Last year, we began a series breaking down the city’s newly adopted comprehensive plan, Imagine Lexington 2045 .
The 349-page plan focuses on long-term planning + urban growth to address the needs of all Lexingtonians. Before reading on, catch up on the first three iterations:
- Building + sustaining successful neighborhoods
- Protecting the environment
- Creating jobs + prosperity
Now, we’re onto the next theme: Improving a desirable community. Particularly, how the city can enhance our quality of life, connectivity, and attract new residents.
The plan outlines policies that would help create more equitable access to our streets for all commuters. | Photo by @femibranded
🛣️ Connectivity
The first pillar in making Lexington more desirable is ensuring our street systems connect Lexingtonians to all corners of the city. This means upgrading the current transportation infrastructure through:
- Designing complete, multi-modal streets + policies to support all types of commuters
- Creating safer walkways and bike paths
- Rethinking parking policies to improve pricing + management
- Implementing alternative routes to reduce traffic
🐎 Placemaking
Having pride in our city means creating quality spaces that are accessible, walkable, and actually desirable. The plan outlines these strategies to do so:
- Creative placemaking — Short-term, lower-cost plans that improve public spaces
- Tactical placemaking — A diverse group of community members come together to spark dialogue about space usage
- Strategic placemaking — Long-term (5-15 years) specialized projects (think: Town Branch Commons )
Beyond the obvious, the city aims to support Lexington in less visible ways. | Photo by @femibranded
🤝 Support
What’s a community without support? But the plan outlines that this needs to go beyond the obvious — it means making improvements to the less visible aspects like education, healthcare, public safety, and social services. The plan specifically highlights these policies to help achieve this:
- Ensuring elementary + middle schools are located in residential areas and high schools primarily along collector streets
- Including more biophilic design to support students’ mental health
- Expanding wireless connection throughout the city.
- Launching initiatives to provide more equitable healthcare access
- Promoting social services that support mental health and address those experiencing homelessness