Comprehensive Planning Process
Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It has roughly 300,000 people living in 90 neighborhoods within its 58 square miles. Pittsburgh serves as the administrative seat of Allegheny County and is the principal city of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area, also known as Greater Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh has a storied and well-documented history of growth and prosperity, decline and collapse, and eventual rebound. In the early 1800s, the city became known as the “Gateway to the West.” This nickname referenced Pittsburgh’s location at the confluence of three major waterways. The Allegheny River and Monongahela River converge at what is known as “The Point” to form the Ohio River. This intersection positioned Pittsburgh as a leader in the trade industry for products such as coal, steel, timber, glass, oil, iron and limestone. By 1911, Pittsburgh manufactured half of the nation’s steel and the industry dominated the local economy. Due to the amount of pollution given off by the steel factories the city had a new nickname - “The Smoky City." As the domestic steel industry collapsed, Pittsburgh was left to face widespread decline and population loss. However, over the past 30 years, Pittsburgh has been able to diversify its economy, focusing on the higher education, medical and life sciences, tourism, and technology sectors.
Before we look to the future, we need to acknowledge our past, from the legacy of heavy industry to the heavy-handed government policies that disrupted neighborhoods and displaced residents and contributed to the degradation of the region’s air, soil and water. Today, Pittsburgh is a city that is both prosperous and unequal. Current conditions note an increase in the homeless population, rents and house prices are increasing at a pace that threatens our status as an “affordable city” to live, and historically marginalized communities continue to see higher rates of poverty, environmental injustices, poor health outcomes, and unequal access to opportunity.
In over 200 years as a chartered city, Pittsburgh has never created an integrated comprehensive plan to guide its growth. The city’s comprehensive planning efforts up to now have been through a piecemeal approach that engaged residents city-wide on one or two topics at a time. Most plans have been completed at the neighborhood level, with each having its own distinct character, history, and culture. While important, this has resulted in a patchwork of plans, completed at different times, to various levels of detail. The lack of a comprehensive plan also leaves the neighborhood plans with no context to ground them. An integrated citywide comprehensive plan will ensure that future neighborhood plans have a consistent and shared vision for the future.
Climate Justice / Just Transition
The foundational approach to Pittsburgh’s citywide comprehensive plan must be adhere to climate justice and Just Transition principles.
The City seeks to address the root causes of climate change, while simultaneously addressing a range of racial, social, and environmental injustices. These systemic injustices continue to exist in all many aspects of life for Black, Indigenous, and other non-White communities throughout the city. Racist land use policies and practices at the federal, state and municipal levels of government that targeted Black residents in many US cities, including Pittsburgh, have left a legacy of spatial and economic segregation that has been passed on from generation to generation. This is not the only story of Black life in Pittsburgh. Despite the struggles Black residents endured they persevered. Pittsburgh’s Black residents inspired and influenced the city and the region through the creation of small businesses, cultural institutions and civic organizations. Black residents continue to reshape the city’s social and political structures to advance equal rights, equal justice and equal access for all Pittsburghers.
As Pittsburgh continues to transition from an economy driven by extraction to one that is regenerative and multi-sectoral, we have an opportunity to center the health, safety and success of all city residents and communities. Envisioning a city where all residents have access to clean air and water systems, means that Pittsburgh must develop sustainable land use practices, emphasize the use of renewable energy, and provide economic opportunities in all clean economy sectors. The City wants to ensure all Pittsburghers have access to the economy of the future in a place that embraces its rich diversity of cultures, traditions and abilities welcomes immigrants and refugees, and unlocks innovation that is needed for the city to thrive.
This comprehensive planning process should not only strive to address past land use failures but ensure every resident in every neighborhood sees themselves as part of the future prosperity of the city. For this reason, the process must recognize and consider how the interrelated cultural, social, environmental and economic factors have on land use and related policies proposed in the Plan.
For more information and to sign-up for future community engagement related to Pittsburgh's Comprehensive Plan process, please visit our EngagePGH page.
Pittsburgh has a long history of comprehensive planning which has helped to shape the city and inform the work on the current Comprehensive Plan.
1889-1910
Project based planning begins under direction of Pittsburgh’s “Father of Park” Edward Bigelow, leading to the creation of Schenley Park, various Oakland cultural amenities, public libraries and museums.
1907-1908
The Pittsburgh Survey, a pioneering sociological study of Pittsburgh funded by the Russell Sage Foundation of New York City, is completed. The Survey is published in magazines, including Collier’s, in 1908 and 1909, before being expanded into a series of six books published between 1909 and 1914. The Pittsburgh Survey is considered a landmark of the Progressive Era reform movement.
1909-11
Frederick Law Olmstead completes and presents a plan, "Main Thoroughfares and the Downtown District" to the City (was originally intended to be a Comprehensive Plan but was scaled back).
1920s
The "Citizen’s Committee on the City Plan" is created by business interests in Pittsburgh. A series of six reports were completed: Pittsburgh Playgrounds (1920), Major Street Plan (1921), Parks (1923), Transit (1923), Railroads (1923) and Waterways (1923). The Playgrounds and Major Street Plan were adopted by the City's Planning Commission in 1922. An update to the Major Street Plan was completed by the City in 1926.
1930s
The City conducts the "Real Property Inventory of Pittsburgh," providing the first comprehensive study of housing conditions across the City and serving as the basis for the Public Housing programs established under the Housing Act of 1937. Robert Moses prepares the "Arterial Plan for Pittsburgh," a ten-year plan for thoroughfare projects.
1942
The Planning Commission begins preparing the 5-year Capital Improvement Plan annually.
1945
The Planning Commission releases the "Groundwork and Inventory for the Master Plan," presenting major data on the City.
1947-1948
A "Preliminary Master Plan for Pittsburgh" is created including the following plans: "A Generalized Plan of Prospective Land Use," "The Prospective Major Highway Network," "The Prospective Mass Transportation System," "The Prospective Railway System," and "Recreational Facilities of the Master Planning Guide."
1950s
A Zoning Ordinance rewrite occurs based on the 1947-48 documents. A Master Plan for Riverfront and Hillside Development is completed .
1960s
A Comprehensive Plan for the City of Pittsburgh is drafted but never adopted.
1968
Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code (PA MPC) is enacted by the State (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are exempted from the mandate to produce Comprehensive Plans in Pennsylvania).
1980s-90s
Pittsburgh, through both the City and partners such as the Riverlife Task Force, creates a series of plans around the City's riverfront, triggering a wave of public investments in trails and open space and private investment in development.
1999
Pittsburgh’s Downtown Plan is completed, an effort to reinforce the role of Pittsburgh's downtown in the regional economy.
1999
The City adopts a major revision to its Zoning Code.
2008
A proposal is made for the completion of a Comprehensive Plan. It was intended to consist of twelve components meant to be produced over time including topics such as: open space, historic preservation, urban design, public art, transportation, infrastructure, housing, economic development, education, energy and land use.
2010
The City releases PGHSNAP, a data resource in two parts: Asset Planning, which included data at the City-wide level, planning sector level and neighborhood level; and Action Planning, a series of metrics to determine neighborhood health.
2012
PreservePGH, the City's Cultural Heritage and Historic Preservation Plan is adopted by Planning Commission as the first part of the City's Comprehensive Plan.
2013
OpenSpacePGH, the City's Open Space, Parks, and Recreation Plan is adopted by the Planning Commission as a part of the City's Comprehensive Plan.
2015
The p4 Pittsburgh initiative is created through a collaboration between the Heinz Endowment and Mayor’s Office, creating an organizing framework for growing jobs, mobilizing capital, rejuvenating neighborhoods and improving lives; it outlines the p4 guidelines which include: People, Planet, Place and Performance.
2015
A Complete Streets Policy is developed by the City and adopted as a part of the City's Comprehensive Plan.
2017
OnePGH, Pittsburgh’s resilience strategy, is created with help from the 100 Resilient Cities Project and the City’s Department of Sustainability and Resilience, and adopted by the City’s Planning Commission.
2017
The Uptown EcoInnovation District Plan is adopted as the Department of City Planning’s first completed Neighborhood Plan in many years.
2018
Neighborhood Plans, intended to be adopted as a part of the City's Comprehensive Plan, are underway in Greater Hazelwood, Homewood and the Manchester/Chateau neighborhoods.
2018
The Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan approved by Pittsburgh City Council.
2018
New riverfront zoning, known as the RIV, is adopted as a result of a two-year effort to protect and promote the City’s riverfronts
last updated: 08/20/2025