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Architecture vocabulary · Urban Planning and Design

Master plan

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounCommon term

In architecture, master plan means: A long-term plan for developing a large area, such as a campus, neighbourhood or city district, showing land uses, buildings, streets, open spaces and phases.

In Turkish: master plan, ana plan, nazım plan

How it is used

Architects and urban designers prepare, draw up and update master plans; individual buildings are then designed within them. Also written masterplan, and offices use it as a verb: 'to masterplan a site'.

Example sentences

  1. The university's master plan shows three new faculty buildings around a central green.

  2. Our competition entry included a master plan for the whole waterfront.

Common collocations

  • prepare a master plan
  • campus master plan
  • master plan phases
  • urban master plan
  • zoningThe system of dividing a city into areas where only certain uses, such as housing, offices or industry, and certain building sizes are allowed.
  • public spaceSpace that is open and accessible to everyone, such as streets, squares, parks, waterfronts and the public areas of civic buildings.
  • mixed-useDescribing a building or area that combines different uses, such as housing, shops, offices and public facilities, instead of keeping them separate.
  • urban sprawlThe uncontrolled spread of low-density development, such as housing estates, shopping malls and roads, into the countryside around a city.
  • densityHow much building, or how many homes or people, there is on a given area of land, often measured in dwellings or people per hectare.

More terms: Urban Planning and Design

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