One of the goals in the Legacy Plan is to increase infill development in the older urbanized areas of Winston-Salem where there is already a large public investment in roads, sewer, and other infrastructure. The City-County Planning Board is preparing infill guidelines designed to make infill development compatible with existing development. Such infill development will reduce pressure for greenfield development and costly new infrastructure in areas distant from the city.

While supporting higher density development, the Legacy Plan seeks to preserve green space and calls for an extensive system of parks and preserved natural areas connected by a network of open spaces and greenways. Greenways are linear open space corridors that are used for conservation and recreation. They are typically located along stream corridors and include pedestrian trails. To date, 16 miles of trails have been built along 6 different greenway corridors. An additional 34 miles of trails are proposed in the Greenway Plan for development over the next 15 years.