Mixed Use and Urban Villages

Urban Villages

The Fort Worth City Council is working with private developers, business groups, and neighborhood associations to transform many of the central city's older commercial districts into vibrant "urban villages."  These active, diverse, prosperous, and memorable urban villages will help promote the central city as an appealing alternative to the generic and often congested office parks and subdivisions of the suburbs.


Vision and Benefits

Urban villages are urbanized places that have a concentration of jobs, housing, commercial uses, public spaces, public transportation and pedestrian activity. They are frequently centered around significant intersections. Although the vision for each of Fort Worth's villages is unique, they all share certain characteristics.  Within these relatively compact geographical areas, different land uses are found side-by-side or within the same structures. This mix of uses in the village, including a variety of owner- and renter-occupied multifamily residential products, is located in taller buildings with minimal setbacks from the street and reduced parking requirements, achieving the densities necessary to support transit and pedestrian activity, attract private investment, and create a sense of place.  Pedestrian activity and access to alternate modes of transportation have the added advantage of helping to improve air quality by reducing reliance on autos. 

Urban villages serve as catalysts for public and private investment and support renewed economic activity in the central city, effectively building on the strengths of the area and connecting to adjacent neighborhoods.


Planning Process

In 2005, the City Council directed the City Plan Commission to evaluate existing and potential new urban villages.  As a result, several villages have been added or combined, and two have been eliminated from the original thirteen.  Currently, the City is implementing strategies from the original report for sixteen urban villages.  Three strategies--capital improvements, mixed-use zoning, and economic incentives--are central to the revitalization effort. 


Mixed-Use Zoning Guide


Why does the City encourage mixed-use development in appropriate locations?

The City of Fort Worth Comprehensive Plan designates mixed-use growth centers as areas where compact, pedestrian-scaled, mixed-use neighborhoods and commercial centers should be developed. Within these growth centers, and in other appropriate areas, such as designated urban villages, mixed-use zoning helps provide a desirable combination of compatible residential, office, retail, and selected light industrial uses. Vibrant, compact, mixed-use districts can:

o        Help to reduce the frequency and distance of car trips

o        Foster safe, active pedestrian environments;

o        Provide residential and employment density to support transit, neighborhood businesses, and public transportation; and,

o        Attract new residents and employers looking for urban amenities.


What is the purpose of this guide to the mixed-use zoning standards?

The mixed-use zoning standards are significantly different than the conventional development standards of other commercial districts. Because the classifications are intended to encourage a compatible mix of residential and non-residential uses, the mixed-use standards place more emphasis on the form, or design, of new development.  An illustrated guide is the most effective way to present these form-based standards.


Download the City of Fort Worth Mixed-Use Zoning Guide: Click Here to Download