In this paper, we consider the problem of controller design using approximately bisimilar abstractions with an emphasis on safety and reachability specifications. We propose abstraction-based approaches to controller synthesis for both types of specifications. We start by synthesizing a controller for an approximately bisimilar abstraction. Then, using a concretization procedure, we obtain a controller for our initial system that is proved "correct by design". We provide guarantees of performance by giving estimates of the distance of the synthesized controller to the maximal (i.e., the most permissive) safety controller or to the time-optimal reachability controller. Finally, we use these techniques, combined with discrete approximately bisimilar abstractions of switched systems developed recently, for switching controller synthesis. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.