Berkley, Michigan is a first-tier Detroit suburb with a declining population and improving opportunities.  The city's old master plan was traditional and offered little inspiration for the future.  The new master plan is based on catalytic project principles.  Catalytic-based plans are well-suited for first-tier, built-out suburbs that seek to boost targeted areas rather than revise their overall vision for expanses of land uses.

One example is the catalytic help given a downtown by establishing a centralized plaza.  In Berkley, this will occur on two sides of their main street, replacing unused expanses of auto parking with an urban gathering place and activity center.  The plaza will combine green space, a water feature and an ampitheatre, surrounded by mixed uses that add commercial depth and residents to the downtown.

The project built on a citywide Visioning plan that had been prepared.  It included preparing a market gap analysis to guide economic development, refocusing downtown development efforts, consideration of an opportunities map to highlight locations for improvements, identifying troubled residential areas and recommending solutions to avert a downward spiral, and improving the linkages between the key surrounding businesses and a new, more compact downtown.

Finally, LSL focused on bungalow redesign opportunities that respected the small lot sizes but showed ways to moderize the dominant housing base in the city.  New locations for Traditional Neighborhood Development and multiple family residences were identified to help stem further population decline.