It’s hard not to be encouraged by what’s happening in Kansas City.
On both the Kansas and Missouri sides, there are indications that the conversation is shifting. The assumptions about development that led Kansas City to become one of most car-centric metropolitan areas in the world (it has more freeway lane miles per capita than any other U.S. city) are now being challenged.
Here are a few hopeful signs:
Kansas City, Missouri recently commissioned a groundbreaking fiscal assessment by Joe Minicozzi of Urban3.
Last week, the Kansas City-based architecture and design firm, Gould Evans, co-sponsored an event with Minicozzi and our own Chuck Marohn, where they discussed what Urban3’s findings mean for fiscally responsible development in Kansas City.
Kansas City, Missouri is creating a new comprehensive plan. This is an opportunity to make the next twenty or thirty years of development radically different than the last seventy (which have been mostly disastrous). Kevin Klinkenberg—a Kansas City-based urban designer, planner, and architect—wrote just last month on our site about what a “Strong Towns master plan” might look like.
Today’s episode of the Strong Towns podcast goes deep on what is happening in Kansas City. Recorded in front of a live audience in Kansas City, Strong Towns president Chuck Marohn talks with Joe Minicozzi, principal at Urban3, Kevin Klinkenberg of K2 Urban Design, and Dennis Strait, principal and board member at Gould Evans. The four of them discuss not only what makes Kansas City an anomaly (including that pesky state boundary and the resulting clash of cultures) but also how its built pattern is representative of cities around the Midwest...and indeed around the country.
Also discussed:
10:00 - The “border war” between Kansas and Missouri, now thankfully in a truce, as both states raced to the bottom to lure big business with tax subsidies and development incentives
12:30 - The pressure among cities to “keep up with the Joneses” — in this case, through big, splashy projects (convention centers, downtown sports stadiums, etc.) — and how Kansas City is learning a better way
16:10 - Whether or not there’s any recognition of the damage done by 60 years of edge development, and how it is limiting cities from pursuing new opportunities
22:45 - Perception vs. reality on the “parking problem”
33:40 - Kansas City, Missouri’s streetcar “starter line” — and whether it is a vanity project or an important culture shift that’s bringing more cohesion to an urban area
43:00 - The challenges and opportunities of the comprehensive planning process in Kansas City, Missouri
55:30 - Important lessons that other cities can learn from Kansas City
Kansas City is justifiably well-known for many things—great barbecue and great jazz, for example. Maybe a few years from from now it will also be famous for pioneering a way for cities out of suburban-style development and into a stronger future.
Steve Mouzon: How Do We Rebuild Maui?
Walkable City Design Is Critical for Economic Health
Citizen Versus Developer? No! It’s Citizen As Developer.
Four Communities Are Becoming Examples of Change
From 500 to 5,000: What Strong Towns Members Are Doing to Make Their Places Better
Dollar Stores Are Leeching the Economic Vitality of Communities Across the U.S.
Ian Lockwood: Thoughts From an Engineer
What’s Going On With the Recent Bank Failures?
Growth Through Destruction
On the Conservative Reaction to 15-Minute Cities
The Property Tax System is Broken—Regrid Works on Tools to Help Fix It
Jeff Speck on the 10th-Anniversary Edition of Walkable City
Lawsuit Update: Making a Stand for Engineers in the Minnesota State Court of Appeals
Mike Hathorne: Where Does Decision-Making Need to Occur in Our Communities?
Ben Hunt: In Praise of Bitcoin
Thanks for a Great Year
Sam Quinones: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth
Get Ready for #BlackFridayParking
The Impact of Systemic Racism on Jackson’s Water Crisis
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Most Comprehensive Resource Strong Towns Offers
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Red Eye Radio