A Conversation with Tim Keane, Baltimore City’s New Planning Director

Join LAI in welcoming the new director the Department of Planning, Tim Keane, to Baltimore!  Mr. Keane brings fresh insights and leadership experience to the position following previous stops in Charleston, Atlanta, Boise, and Calgary. Learn how Mr. Keane’s experiences at these previous stops can inform a new direction for development and growth in the City and larger region.  

As Baltimore’s Planning Director, Keane will oversee urban planning and design, land use and zoning, development, and capital budgeting, as well as the City’s sustainability, food policy, and historic preservation offices. He will lead the department in its mission to build Baltimore as a diverse, sustainable, and thriving city of neighborhoods and as the economic and cultural driver for the region. 

His approach to urban planning, which emphasizes focusing on people to design cities effectively, was briefly outlined in a 2024 piece published by Scientific American. 

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Tim Keane, Acting Director, Department of PlanningOver his career, Tim Keane has led the planning departments of four significant cities: Charleston, South Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Boise, Idaho; and Calgary, Canada. As the General Manager of Development Services for Calgary, Keane helped guide a rezoning that increased affordable housing opportunities citywide. Prior to Calgary, Keane was the Director of Planning and Development Services for Boise, Idaho, where he led passage of the first new zoning ordinance for the city since 1966. For nearly seven years, Keane was the Commissioner of City Planning for Atlanta, Georgia, where he led Atlanta City Design, a citywide design concept centering equitable development that was incorporated into the city’s charter. He also rebuilt Atlanta’s permitting operations with a new business plan, implemented in advance of the busiest construction period in the city’s history. In Atlanta, he also invented an Anti-Displacement Tax Fund to help protect low-income homeowners from displacement. Before Atlanta, Keane worked for the city of Charleston for over 16 years, including as Director of Planning, Preservation & Sustainability. In Charleston, he led economic development in the city’s downtown. In 2024, Keane returned to Charleston, helping lead the first reorganization of city government since the 1970s. Keane holds both a Master of Science in Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in Planning from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He also served as a Fellow at the University of Miami School of Architecture and on the adjunct faculty at the College of Charleston.