VISION 2040 is a regional strategy to accommodate the additional 1.7 million people and 1.2 million new jobs expected to be in the region by the year 2040.

VISION 2040 recommits the region to:

• Focus growth in urban areas, concentrated in centers and compact communities.
• Strengthen linkages between land use and transportation planning.
• Preserve and protect rural and resource lands.
• Address the needs of a diverse population.

• Moves from a conceptual plan to a clear and specific strategy based on distributing growth into regional geographies.
• A revised structure for multicounty planning policies that includes goals, policies, actions, and measures. (Multicounty Planning Policies Quick Reference)
• An environmental framework for decision making and integration of growth management, transportation, and economic development planning.
• An expanded environmental section that addresses habitat, water and air quality, and climate change.
• A strengthened economic section focused on businesses, people, and places based on the Regional Economic Strategy.
• A separate housing section.
• New policies that address the relationship between the built environment and health.
• Attention to regional urban form and design.