Arup develops masterplanning and urban design solutions that can beneficially shape the long-term development of our towns and cities. We think beyond just buildings, to encompass the wider and more enduring socio-economic benefits that can be achieved for communities.

We help clients produce inclusive and enjoyable places to live and work, that promote decarbonisation, protect and enhance ecology, and encourage active travel and public transport. Our expertise is underpinned by deep technical knowledge of interrelated infrastructure systems, from water and energy to transport and data.

We work closely with authorities and communities, to engage, design and deliver their ambitions. Our approach balances constraints and opportunities, from site conditions, social and economic factors and environmental issues, to market demands, regulatory and community issues. And we always ensure new development harmonises with the existing urban fabric.

Discover how we can help

Strategic masterplanning

Arup works as a masterplanning partner on urban development schemes of all sizes, from individual neighbourhoods to new cities, around the world. 

Strategic masterplanning

We work with clients and stakeholders to identify the key drivers that will lead to positive urban growth, building on our deep understanding of the relationships between people and the built environment. 

Adelaide city Plan

The City of Adelaide is defining a vision for its future which aims to shape a dynamic, thriving city. The City Plan is a guide, developed for the City of Adelaide. It includes a framework for future growth and enhanced liveability, through improvements to physical, social and green infrastructure, and a digital tool which tests and examines these aspirations through a digital twin model of Adelaide. We designed the City Plan with architects City Collective and collaborated with architects Mulloway Studios and Aboriginal Urban Design, a consultancy which provides First Nations perspective and context.

The strategic aspect of masterplanning is a chance to learn from the past, and plan for a city’s current and future needs. We work collaboratively with Arup’s wider team of economic and financial researchers, to enrich any scheme with local insights and a clear definition of what can be achieved.

In our work we also prioritise a role for nature, creating strategies that are not only environmentally-led, but also aim to restore and enhance natural ecosystems. This dimension of urban masterplanning has become critical as cities around the world attempt to implement natural solutions to rising temperatures.

Urban regeneration and adaptation

Lack of investment, rapid social change, industrial trends, there are many reasons why an area gains a need for regeneration.

Urban regeneration and adaptation

Regeneration projects are often an opportunity to address longtanding needs in a community. Masterplanning must be informed by a rich socio-economic understanding of the past and present. We work with public and private sector clients to develop exemplar regeneration strategies. 

Milan is embracing a bold regeneration strategy for its first carbon-neutral social housing development, L’Innesto. Arup and our partners have proposed what will be the country’s first zero-carbon affordable housing development.

We work closely with public and private sector clients, municipal leaders and communities to develop exemplar regeneration strategies. Our approach builds upon existing physical, commercial and social assets of a place to define a cohesive vision for the future. We provide flexible frameworks that consider economic and behavioural factors such as the role of high streets, workspace demand and access community services and open space.

Find out more about our work on L'Innesto

Knowledge and innovation environments

Universities and innovation clusters are reshaping areas of major cities, attracting new talent in accessible locations.

Knowledge and innovation environments

We help clients develop masterplans for academic districts that will appeal to the next generation researchers and students

Cyprus University Masterplan

Cyprus International University (CIU) is growing in size and aspiration - We were invited to develop a masterplan to guide and deliver growth for their future academic and social needs.

In today’s economy, the cities that will be successful are those that can harness and capitalise on advanced knowledge, creativity and ideas from their most innovative people, companies and institutions. 

Nurturing and developing a successful knowledge district requires that certain elements cohere, collocate and grow – this is where masterplanning can build on an area’s existing strengths and help it gain new ones. Everything from provision of labs, workplace, IT infrastructure, transport links to the supporting social and leisure infrastructure, must be planned and encouraged.

We help clients develop masterplans for academic districts that will appeal to the next generation researchers and students, and dovetail into the wider region’s economy and existing infrastructure.

Find out more about our work with Cyprus International University

Integrating transport infrastructure

Adding or extending public transport networks adds huge value to a city, particularly when the masterplanning is driven by a vision for wider socio-economic uplift.

Integrating transport infrastructure

We work closely with clients, transport planners and engineers to ensure that rail stations, metros, airports, maritime ports are integrated with their built and natural environments.

Barcelona El Prat masterplan

The Barcelona-El Prat Airport Master Plan is a development project commissioned by Aena, a world leading airport operator. We provided services - including urban and infrastructure design, airport and economic planning - to develop the client's vision for Barcelona as a gateway for innovation in the Mediterranean.

Benefits can be achieved on small projects as well as along entire lines or around hubs.

We work closely with clients, transport planners and engineers to ensure that rail stations, metros, airports, maritime ports are integrated with their built and natural environments. Our masterplans promote last-mile active travel as an opportunity to intensify development responsively around transport infrastructure to ensure seamless connections to mixed-use development, vital services, leisure, retail and residential neighbourhoods.

Waterfronts and ports

In every country the development of the waterfront and port environment is shaped by a range of dynamic economic factors, from trade to leisure to demographics.

Waterfronts and ports

We help clients all over the world to reimagine how combinations of community and vital infrastructure can be developed.

Ulsoor Lake

Ulsoor Lake is part of a network of hundreds of reservoirs in the vibrant city of Bangalor. Arup were brought on board to provide a holistic vision, approach and solution to enhance the public culture and environment in and around the lake, with a detailed implementation strategy and a series of short-term quick win initiatives to attract strategic long-term investments for the 18km² catchment area.

Climate change is now a hugely important factor. Arup shapes waterfront masterplans that provide a foundation for urban renewal along rivers, harbours or coastlines, protecting communities and prioritising natural solutions over hard engineering to create long term resilience to increased flooding and sea levels.

Find out more about our work at Ulsoor Lake

Inclusive, socially vibrant places

A thriving city is one that works well for young families, all socio-economic groups, that provides opportunities for work, leisure and travel to the abled and disabled alike.

Inclusive, socially vibrant places

Masterplanning can play an important role in ensuring that cities and neighbourhoods work well for all the communities they comprise. 

Imagination of Belfast

Cities are becoming less inclusive for children. With 35% of Belfast’s population aged 25 or under, Belfast City Council recognised the need to design for the youngest in the population and place them at the heart of city planning. Working with the Resilient Cities Network and the council, we developed a framework and design strategy that creates a more healthy, inclusive and child-friendly city centre in Belfast.

Left unchecked, it’s all too common to see districts segregate along social or economic lines over time, leading to generations with little social interaction or shared experience.

Masterplanning can play an important role in ensuring that cities and neighbourhoods work well for all the communities they comprise. We work with our clients to identify and connect stakeholders, bringing together diverse viewpoints to create masterplans that serve the whole community. Our approach takes time to understand a city’s past and present, its social and spatial history, before imagining its future.

Repurposing legacy infrastructure

Major pivots in the economy are often spurs to creative urban development.

Repurposing legacy infrastructure

We help clients transform sites, guiding them through the relevant planning processes, to identity future potential for energy facilities and estates that are nearing their end of life.

Cooling towers at a coal-fired power station

In Australia our team is envisioning how infrastructure such as disused power stations can become 'engines of the future' - supporting new clean energy provision and economic development.

Just as many cities converted 19th century textile warehouses into residential buildings in the 20th, energy infrastructure is facing similar questions.

Major opportunities exist as countries transition to renewable energy systems. Masterplanning provides an opportunity to think through how these ageing energy assets and estates can take on new roles for the community.

We are working on giving new life to decommissioned power plants, both within brownfield urban districts, as well as on the fringes of major conurbations. We help clients transform sites, guiding them through the relevant planning processes, to identity future potential for energy facilities and estates that are nearing their end of life.

Learn more about how we could repurpose coal-fired powerstations