The kidney is a model developmental system for understanding mesodermal patterning and organogenesis, a process that requires regional specification along multiple body axes, the proliferation and differentiation of progenitor cells, and integration with other tissues. Recent progress in the field has highlighted the essential roles of intrinsic nuclear factors and secreted signaling molecules in specifying renal epithelial stem cells and their self-renewal, in driving the complex dynamics of epithelial cell branching morphogenesis, and in nephron patterning. How these developments influence and advance our understanding of kidney development is discussed.