City Center Master Plan Update
Revitalizing a regional and cultural center
Downtown Birmingham suffered from disinvestment and decline following the race riots and suburban expansion of past decades. Building on its unique heritage and assets the city hired UDA to prepare a Master Plan update to transform downtown into a vibrant regional center. The plan was prepared with extensive public engagement and brought clarity to the downtown as a series of districts, including the Civil Rights District; Midtown and the Theater District; the Loft/Design District; the Civic Center District and a growth area for the University of Alabama Medical Center. A focus of the plan was the creation of a new central park on an existing underutilized railyard. That park has been completed and has had a transformative effect on the surrounding downtown.
Photograph © Denis Tangney Jr.