Project Overview

Areas of Nashville’s urban core are experiencing unprecedented growth and intensifying demands on infrastructure, mobility, and public space. In response, the Metro Nashville Planning Department has launched the Design & Development Strategy (D&DS), an initiative to take a fresh and comprehensive look at how Nashville’s development tools and procedures are guiding growth in the most urban parts of the city. The project is rooted in improving the predictability of Nashville’s growth and development, while ensuring that it leads to enduring, human-oriented places, the preservation of Nashville’s historic and cultural assets, equitable access to essential needs and mobility, and the cohesive long-term vision set forth in NashvilleNext. 

The D&DS study provides an opportunity to look holistically at how the urban core’s policies, zoning, design standards, and development processes function together and how they can best support the outcomes envisioned in NashvilleNext and other planning work, such as the Imagine East Bank Vision Plan (2022), Music Row Vision Plan (2019), Midtown Study (2015), and the Downtown Community Plan (2007). Further, the project will provide the opportunity to integrate the goals and recommendations of recent countywide plans like the Unified Housing Strategy (UHS) and the Choose How You Move (CHYM) transportation plan into the planning framework of the urban core.  

In addition to thinking about the policies and processes for how we grow, D&DS will investigate the feasibility of a Transferrable Development Rights (TDR) program – a tool that allows unused development rights (“air rights”) to be bought and sold within a specific geographic area – as a means to preserve and protect historic and cultural assets from redevelopment pressure. 

Ultimately, the D&DS study is a strategic planning effort intended to understand how development tools and processes are guiding growth in Nashville’s urban core, and how Nashville can best position these tools to support future growth. By assessing existing plans, tools, and processes, the project seeks to create a clear and coordinated foundation for future policy discussions about the city’s urban core. 

“The Design and Development Strategy Study is about making sure Nashville grows in a thoughtful and predictable way. By focusing on our urban core—where demand for redevelopment is most intense—we can direct growth to be best aligned with city goals while maintaining our natural resources and Nashville’s diversity of neighborhoods.” 

- Lucy Kempf, Executive Director of the Metro Nashville Planning Department 

Planning Background 

Adopted in 2015, following years of engagement and thousands of Nashvillians input, NashvilleNext provides a blueprint for where and how the city should say yes to new development. Its focus on centers, corridors, and the creation of complete, well-designed urban places also supports the direction articulated in the Choose How You Move (CHYM) transportation plan by outlining how land uses and site design can better align with Nashville’s emerging transit network. 

Choose How You Move (CHYM) is a $3.1 billion transportation improvement program overwhelmingly approved by Davidson County voters in November 2024. CHYM will improve the city’s bus system, sidewalks, bike lanes, and traffic signals, and set the stage for strategic growth across the city. Much of the D&DS initial observation area is highly accessible to the CHYM transportation network and its All-Access Corridors, laying the groundwork for successful transit-oriented development. 

Several existing planning studies specific to the urban core provide additional context for the D&DS study. Imagine East Bank Vision Plan (2022), Music Row Vision Plan (2019), Midtown Study (2015), and the Downtown Community Plan (2007) each reinforced aspirations for walkable and well-connected communities with a strong public realm. Furthermore, zoning tools like the Downtown Code (2010) and the River North Urban Design Overlay (2017) have advanced place-based development standards, such as ground floor commercial uses, high quality building materials, and other design standards . Most recently, an update to the Downtown Code’s Bonus Height Program in 2025 modernized a key zoning tool for incentivizing public benefits like public outdoor spaces in new development. Collectively, these efforts demonstrate Nashville’s growing emphasis on shaping urban development in ways that balance growth, mobility, and quality of place. 

D&DS Initial Observation Area

Initial Observation Area 

The Design and Development Strategy initial observation area is just under 3,000 acres of land at the center of Nashville and Davidson County. The initial observation area is not indicative of any required or proposed rezoning or policy boundary, but rather the extent in which preliminary observations are to be made. 

The D&DS initial observation area spans five Metro Council districts, including:  

• Metro Council District 19 – Jacob Kupin (2,263 acres of land) 
• Metro Council District 21 – Brandon Taylor (448 acres) 
• Metro Council District 17 – Terry Vo (172 acres) 
• Metro Council District 24 – Brenda Gadd (70 acres) 
• Metro Council District 18 – Tom Cash (40 acres) 

D&DS Initial Observation Area with Metro Council Districts

Subareas 

The D&DS initial observation area is broken into four subareas, each of which speak to previously adopted policy and zoning  tools within the urban core. The four subareas are: Downtown, Midtown, Music Row, and East Bank. While some analysis may be applicable to the entire initial observation area, others may be specific to these subareas.  

D&DS Initial Observation Area with Subareas 

Project Scope and Schedule

Led by the Metro Nashville Planning Department, the D&DS project is broken into three phases of work – each of which builds upon the prior phase. Public engagement will play an important role across each phase of work.  

Phase One: Analysis and Initial Assessment

The project begins with an analysis of existing conditions and trends, completed planning and policy work, and existing development tools and processes within Nashville’s urban core. This assessment will be presented during a series of public engagement events scheduled for April – see more details here. Following these events, an “Analysis and Initial Assessment” report will be published. 

Phase Two: Scenarios and Recommendations

The project will continue with an scenarios and recommendations phase where policy and regulatory scenarios will be drafted, compared, and evaluated considering the project’s goals and objectives and engagement conducted so far. These scenarios and draft recommendations will be presented during a future public engagement round. Following this engagement, an “Scenarios and Recommendations Memo” will be published. 

Phase Three: Implementation

The project will conclude with an implementation phase. Pending specific findings and recommendations from previous phases of the project, potential areas of work may include updates to policy (community plans, community character policies, and/or supplemental policies), regulatory tools (zoning and building codes), design guidelines, development review processes, and/or development incentives and bonus programs. Draft updates will be shared and refined through additional engagement rounds.