Plan Bay Area 2050+ Draft Blueprint Strategies
Newly released planning analysis from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) outlines how the nine-county region can advance an affordable, connected, diverse, healthy and vibrant Bay Area for all residents by the year 2050. The analysis was conducted as part of the Draft Blueprint – essentially a “first draft” of what will become the final adopted plan. The Blueprint lays out the refined strategies that aim to make the plan's vision a reality.
The planning analysis relies on technical models and simulations to measure how successful the strategies would be in achieving shared goals for the future, such as housing affordability, reduced emissions and much more.
More information on the plan’s strategies and the Bay Area’s projected growth can be found in the Plan Bay Area 2050+ Draft Blueprint Compendium. Below are some key findings from the Draft Blueprint analysis.
Improved Housing Affordability
The Bay Area’s supply of affordable housing units would increase seven-fold to nearly 1 million permanently affordable homes.
As we develop the Final Blueprint for Plan Bay Area 2050+, staff are exploring refinements to the plan’s housing strategies that will reduce the cost of housing, while also preserving and expanding the region’s supply of affordable housing. The plan also projects that more low-income households will be able to live in both transit-rich and high-resources areas.
More Sustainable Travel Patterns
The share of commuters who travel by transit, biking and walking is projected to double.
While this does move the region in the right direction, achieving an even greater shift away from solo driving will require additional focus in the development of the Final Blueprint to meet the plan’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal.
Recovery of Downtowns
The Bay Area’s three largest cities – San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose – can expect a 35% increase in downtown activity.
“Downtown activity” encompasses in-person workers, residents and people traveling into downtown for other purposes. The topic of in-person work is a subject of much discourse today, particularly as hybrid and remote work have become the new normal for many. While downtown recovery may currently seem slow and uncertain, Plan Bay Area 2050+ anticipates a full recovery by 2050, spurred by an increasingly efficient use of office space and a more balanced mix of commercial and residential land use.
Increased Land Conservation
By 2050, the plan’s strategies would create 780,000 new acres of parks and open space.
Major investments in preserving habitat and creating new parks increase preserved lands by around 30 acres per thousand residents. Vulnerable ecosystems are further invested in through the Draft Blueprint, topping 2 million acres protected. The plan’s sea level adaptation strategy incorporates a large portfolio of green and grey infrastructure investments and helps restore over 100,000 acres of marshlands in the region.