Walkable. Liveable.
Neighbourhoods.
Our Vision
Exeter has a vision for growth as a connected city region consisting of thriving linked communities set within an exceptional environmental setting. This clear vision represents a commitment to strengthen neighbourhoods; create new communities; invest in sustainable transport; and deliver the infrastructure needed to attract investment and improve quality of life.
The realisation of this vision for the city and surrounding region is dependent on the continued success of the city of Exeter. Successful cities ensure the wellbeing and prosperity of their communities and act as a focus to jobs, leisure, culture and shopping. To stay successful, cities must have a clear plan for how they will respond to, and take advantage of, major changes in technology, social expectations and the environment.
Successful cities are people places. ‘Business as usual’ planning and development processes on their own will not be enough to ensure Exeter can achieve its potential and give all its citizens the chance to live the best possible lives. As the Liveable Exeter programme brings together the strands of the clear vision that the City has for the transformational change that is needed to benefit the people and businesses of the city. These strands include, commitment to becoming a carbon neutral city by 2030; becoming an active and accessible city; Exeter’s UNESCO City of Literature status and weaving culture into the heart of the city’s development and building 12,000 new homes for the city by 2040.
Liveable Exeter represents nothing less than an ambitious and long-term renewal of the city’s fabric to meet people’s needs for homes, jobs and services in the 21st century.
For more information about the City of Exeter's Vision for 2040, click here (PDF).
E. Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1898)
“A town, like a flower, or a tree, should, at each stage of its growth, possess unity and the effect of growth should never be to destroy that unity, but to give it greater purpose.”
GARDEN COMMUNITIES
Exeter was granted Garden City designation in 2019 and as such Liveable Exeter was born. Working in close collaboration with local architects and partners the programme will create new homes for the city guided by Garden City principles. These principles have all been built into the core of Exeter’s Vision for 2040.
Liveable Exeter will encompass eight sites around the city including Water Lane and Saint David’s. For more information on these sites and how you can get involved with how they develop, please click on the link below.
View Liveable sites
Our partners

Liveable Exeter is an ambitious 20 year programme that embodies the City’s vision for the future of Exeter.
To bring this vision to life, Exeter City Council are working in collaboration with a diverse range of partners from public and private sector organisations across the city and South West region.
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