The urban design concept of Community Identity underscores the importance of developing and enhancing communities within Albuquerque's metropolitan area.
Communities are geographic places that have distinct identities.
In the mid 1990's, the City of Albuquerque Planning Department conducted workshops around the metropolitan area in an attempt to identify the city's communities. People were given maps of the metropolitan region and asked to identify their house, their neighborhood, and their community. Albuquerque's metropolitan area has a rich diversity of communities, each exemplifying a unique set of characteristics, environments, and lifestyles that set them apart as special places. Its extensive vegetation and evidence of its historic Hispanic traditions set it apart. It contains Kirtland Air Force Base and is characterized by its ethnic diversity.