Durham City Council adopted a new three-year strategic plan on August 17, laying out five goals meant to steer city operations through 2029 as the city grapples with rapid growth, housing costs and persistent safety concerns. The plan focuses on Durham’s built and natural environment, economic prosperity, and safety, among other priorities, and reflects input gathered from residents, city employees and Durham youth over the past year.
According to a video recap posted by the City of Durham, NC Government on Facebook, the FY 2027–2029 Strategic Plan will guide the city’s priorities and work over the next three years, with implementation beginning this fall, per the post. The plan prioritizes parks, transit, infrastructure, jobs, housing, violence reduction and youth opportunities, building on a public engagement process that began nearly a year earlier.
A Year in the Making
The refresh kicked off in September 2025 with council visioning workshops, according to the City of Durham, NC Government. Public and employee surveys followed in late 2025, council members selected top priorities in February 2026, and staff spent the spring drafting initiatives ahead of the council’s final vote. That process mirrors, though at a larger scale, the one behind Durham’s outgoing FY 2024–2026 plan, which was shaped by more than 1,400 surveys completed by residents and city employees back in fiscal year 2023.
The Strategic Plan is managed by the Office of Performance and Innovation, a division within the city’s Budget and Management Services Department that tracks performance metrics, runs annual resident satisfaction surveys, and publishes public progress dashboards, the city’s website notes. City Manager Bo Ferguson, who took over Durham’s top administrative post after Wanda Page’s retirement at the end of December 2024, oversees the roughly 2,600-employee workforce tasked with carrying out the plan’s initiatives.
Housing, Transit and Green Space Take Center Stage
Under the plan’s Built and Natural Environment goal, council priorities include promoting walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, creating new parks and greenways, improving public transit, and upgrading infrastructure for flood and heat resilience, according to the city. The Economic Prosperity goal, meanwhile, emphasizes creating quality job pathways, supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, and expanding local wealth ownership through affordable homeownership and youth savings strategies…