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Amid decades of an ongoing makeover and generations of evolving visions, one of the most sought-after and character-enriched Jerusalem neighborhoods finally has a master development plan. Soon Nachlaot will have more housing, more open spaces and more parking - all conceived with the goal of retaining its unique charm.

For those in the know, it's no wonder that Nachlaot is such a hotbed of funkiness and construction. First, there's the location, sandwiched between the Machane Yehuda market and Gan Sacher (Sacher Park), and just a hop and a skip away from the government center, the city center, the city entrance - and not that far from the Old City.

Then there are its charms. The neighborhood, founded in the 1800s with Moses Montefoire's money, is filled with cobblestone streets and winding alleys, some of which make the Old City's own arteries look like wide boulevards.

Though the area is traditionally home to a strong community of blue-collar old-timers, as of the late it has become a hot spot for artists, musicians, singles and young families - especially those with a more granola-ey religious outlook.

While the neighborhood has retained much of its historic quaintness in the face of gentrification, the city has grown up all around it, increasing pressure on the area. A few years ago, the city council decided to draw up a master plan for the southern part of the neighborhood, bordered by Bezalel, Shmuel Hanagid, Mordechai Narkis, Ben Tzvi and HaGra streets. The plan calls for the redevelopment of a 190-dunam area which currently packs in some 935 apartments. By redesigning the area, the city will be able to create about 300-350 additional housing units encompassing an additional 50,000 square meters of built up area.

However the gentrification of Nachlaot in this case doesn't have to mean the end of the neighborhood as locals know and love it. The planning process was undertaken with the input of local residents and in conjunction with Lev Hair, a local community administration that oversees much of the city center. The plan takes the areas historicity into account while also providing for larger open spaces, nicer parks and more parking, a chronic concern in the cramped quarter.

"It was important for the public to be involved in the planning," Michal Karmon, a community social director with Lev Hair, explains to GoJerusalem.com.

Keeping the process transparent and collaborative has been especially important in this area, which has struggled to maintain a balance between the newcomers, the "natives" who lived there before the neighborhood became a cultural and real estate juggernaut, and the "soul" of the shuk and the neighborhood. Making sure the people living in Nachlaot, and not just those sitting in cubicles in Safra Square or Tel Aviv, had a say, was an essential element.

"Really, the residents created the plan, this was really a public process," Karmon says.

Architechts Salma Milson-Arad and Avner Simon designed the new master plan. They previously gained kudos for their renovation of Jerusalem's historic Shai Agnon House.