Visualize Utah’s Centers
As your community grows, a center can become the heart of your city or town. While each center is unique, they share some common features. Centers are where people gather, where public spaces, commerce, and housing meet, and where transportation choices offer convenience and ease. Key ingredients include a mix of uses, pedestrian-friendly streets, and a concentration of amenities and housing. Focusing on your center (or multiple centers) can spark vibrancy, economic growth, and positive impacts for your entire community.
This collection of resources is designed for use as you consider centers in your community. You’ll see images and descriptions of centers at a range of scales and within a variety of settings. Explore these resources with an eye toward what might be useful for your context, whether a rural town, suburban community, or major urban area. Maybe you’ll see a set of images that could illustrate some goals you have for Main Street, or maybe you appreciate the visualizations that illustrate a center along a rail line.
Funded with Utah Land Use Training Funds, these resources were created to be applicable statewide and are based on recent input collected from over 80 communities of varying size across the State of Utah.
Centers at Different Scales
From a small neighborhood center that makes connecting with neighbors at a local café a reality to a metro center that becomes the region’s employment powerhouse and cultural core, centers can fit a variety of contexts. Maybe you’re in a mid-sized city that could focus on some neighborhood centers to improve quality of life for residents. Or maybe you’re in a suburban area that lacks a historic downtown and would benefit from a new city center with more housing options and job opportunities. Centers can be right-sized and adaptable to fit the needs of today…and tomorrow.
The Wasatch Choice Vision features the centers above.
- The small town center gallery shows possibilities for smaller rural communities.
- The Mixed-use Corridor gallery shows a linear variation of a Neighborhood Center or City Center.
A Network of Centers Benefits Everyone
Centers improve air quality and reduce congestion.
Strong centers put destinations in closer reach to nearby areas, reducing the need for lengthy car trips. When centers also mix housing, jobs, and shopping in a walkable setting, more residents can choose to walk, bike, or use public transit. Shorter driving distances, as well as more walking, bicycling, and transit use combine to reduce both pollutants from vehicles and traffic congestion.
Webinar - See It to Believe It: Visualizations and Interactive Tools to Inspire Your Next Center
Discover new resources that bring the Wasatch Choice Vision to life. This webinar introduces City and Town Center vignettes and 3D panoramas, highlighting economic benefits and quality-of-life improvements. Learn how Utah planners helped shape these tools, see examples from communities of all sizes, and get practical steps to use them locally—supporting housing, jobs, and vibrant, connected places.
Download Resources
Interested in using visualizing centers resources in your community? Download the desired package from the links below.
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