Aberdeen City Council is undertaking a transformative master planning exercise for its City Centre. The ultimate plan will provide City Council with a bold and aspirational vision for the future of Aberdeen and will be coupled with a delivery programme that will set out how such a future can be financially and organisationally achieved. Given Urban Strategies’ experience in conducting similar competitive city centre strategies, we were retained by BDP, the City’s lead consultant, to develop an analysis of city building processes and provide strategic input into the generation of a final master plan. The final baseline review identified trends in city centre regeneration strategies found in the UK and beyond, provided a critical global perspective and an analysis of ‘lessons-learned’.