City planners are picturing a much different city over the next three decades than the one you see right now. Part of that is because the city's population is expected to surge to 600,000 residents by 2035.

City planners say highways and roads can't keep up with expected growth, and building new roads would be too expensive. They recommend concentrating growth in urban centers like the North Hills area and downtown, which will make transit more manageable.

Heather Brink lives at the West Building downtown.

"This is probably one of the most expensive places to live per square foot," she said.

Brink gave up living in a large Wake Forest home to be close to restaurants, bars, and the ballet.

"My husband and i walk to the ballet. how great is that," Brink said.

While living downtown might seem to expensive for many Raleigh residents, City planners are betting many people will call downtown and other urban areas home in the future.

"We see the downtown as the center of the region, and we see it growing," said Mitchell Silver, the director of the Raleigh department of city planning.

By 2035, Silver says he expects more than 1,000 new residents to come to Raleigh.

"Cities realize they need to put density where they have infrastructure invested, because to build, and maintain highways is very very expensive," he said.

The city released an updated comprehensive plan. The plans is to focus new development at places where people are already going, instead of sprawling further out into the county.

"What is happening across the county is that cities are putting infrastructure where they've already invested," Silver said.

The city will official unveil this plan on Wednesday at the Convention center. The public will be able to attend three workshops in January.

City planners say they believe 60 percent of new residents will live in urban centers, while 40 percent of new residents will live in more rural settings.

Related Link: Draft: Updated Raleigh Comprehensive Plan