21st Century (2000–present)

Sacramento General Plan 2040

2023 · United States · North America · National modernization and capital-city building · Planned by City of Sacramento
Aerial view of the downtown Sacramento skyline, 2023
Aerial view of the downtown Sacramento skyline, 2023 · CC BY 4.0

Core idea

Corridors, infill, climate policies

Why it matters

California capital’s growth reset

Description

The Sacramento 2040 General Plan, adopted by the City of Sacramento in 2023, is the state-mandated comprehensive plan guiding the physical development of California's capital city. Its central moves are to channel growth into infill sites and existing commercial corridors, to permit a broader range of housing types across formerly single-family neighbourhoods, and to embed climate policy throughout, pairing the plan with a climate action and adaptation element. Prepared by city planning staff with consultant support and extensive community engagement, it covers the entire municipal territory and sets the framework for zoning reform and corridor-focused reinvestment.

Significance

The plan drew national attention as one of the first big-city general plans in the United States to move towards ending exclusive single-family zoning citywide, placing Sacramento at the forefront of the 2020s American debate on housing reform. It exemplifies how California's housing legislation and climate mandates have reshaped the traditional general plan into an instrument of intensification and decarbonisation. Its influence lies less in formal innovation than in demonstrating political feasibility for zoning reform in a mid-sized state capital.

What shaped it

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.