Urban Centre Planning
Kelowna has five Urban Centres that are expected to accommodate roughly 40 per cent of the City’s future growth. One of the major pillars of the Official Community Plan (OCP) is grow Urban Centres into vibrant, pedestrian friendly areas with access to amenities and a mix of land uses within close proximity. Chapter 4 of the OCP provides policies to help achieve this pillar. Encouraging development in the five Urban Centres aligns with the City's efforts to contain urban growth and encourage sustainable development.
To support the development of our Urban Centres, we have numerous policies and plans.
The Thriving Urban Centres Future Directions Report builds on previous work completed from the Urban Centres Roadmap. The Future Directions Report establishes a new strategic path for transforming the City’s five Urban Centres into vibrant complete communities. Common opportunities and challenges are addressed collectively with tailored solutions that respond to each Urban Centre’s unique circumstances to help them each realize the vision of a thriving, inclusive, complete community. The next steps following our Future Directions Report are to implement the action items.
The current state of Urban Centre's has been completed in the 2024 Thriving Urban Centres Trends Report.
To support the development of Kelowna’s Urban Centres, it is necessary to ensure a high quality of life for residents and create attractive locations for visitors and workers. The Urban Centres Explorer is an interactive dashboard enhancing and modernizing the City's data-driven decision-making. This dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of each of the five Urban Centres, covering aspects such as population, housing, daily needs, transportation, climate and environment, and future directions. It is powered by data from Model City, BC Assessment, Environics, and other City data sources, offering accessibility to Council, staff, and the public through an interactive interface.
View the Urban Centres Explorer
The North End is one of the most dynamic and diverse neighbourhoods in Kelowna, and it is changing rapidly. Set between Knox Mountain Park to the north and Clement Avenue on the south, the North End neighbourhood contains a range of distinct areas, from wartime residential housing, to long-established industrial businesses, and a young and growing Brewery District. With significant development on the horizon for this area, the City has prioritized a neighbourhood planning process for the North End. On April 8, 2025, Council endorsed the North End Plan, which will guide the area over the next 30 years and beyond.
The Capri-Landmark neighbourhood, located between Gordon Drive and Spall Road, and Highway 97 and Springfield Road, is one of Kelowna’s major employment hubs and an attractive location for apartment living. On April 1, 2019, Council endorsed the Capri-Landmark Urban Centre Plan.
The detailed plan will guide redevelopment over the next 20 years and beyond, including the locations of parks and public spaces, development standards, and transportation solutions.
The Civic Precinct Plan is a future land use plan guiding the long-term redevelopment of key sites in Kelowna’s Civic Precinct area over 25 years (2016-2040). The Civic Precinct area, also known more broadly as Kelowna’s Cultural District, is located between Clement Avenue to the north, Queensway Avenue to the south, Water Street to the west, and Ellis Street to the east.
The plan identifies key sites for future mixed-use development to support downtown living (former RCMP site on Doyle Avenue, former Interior Health site on Ellis Street), and also protects sites (Kelowna Community Theatre, City Hall Parking Lot, Memorial Arena) for future civic uses to support a dynamic Cultural District. The plan establishes the City’s goals for the redevelopment of sites by defining future land uses, design guidelines, public space enhancements and partnership opportunities that will position the area to become a vibrant mixed-use district.
