Do urban centers support regional goals? An assessment of regional planning in Denver

Abstract Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the United States have instituted regional strategies to encourage development around mixed use, higher density urban centers in response to air quality and transportation challenges. Because MPOs lack regulatory authority, these organizations have relied on voluntary approaches to coordinate regional planning for land use and transportation. While scholars have examined voluntary regional planning, there have been few studies of the urban centers concept. In Denver, Colorado, the MPO’s Metro Vision plan promotes local adoption of centers supported through incentives. In this study, we examine whether existing conditions and future plans for centers support regional goals. Our approach relies on interviews and spatial data to categorize centers and evaluates whether each type of center is likely to achieve regional goals for transit, design, density, diversity, and destination. This work generated a typology of five center types: historic town centers, greenfield, industrial, commercial, and suburban mixed use. We find that the adopted centers fall short of meeting regional goals under existing conditions, but future plans for center types show promise. This typology offers more refined strategies and targeted incentives for other metropolitan regions considering a centers policy to support regional goals. There is also a need for better regional monitoring and improved indicators to assess progress.