In a complete community, people can access most of their daily needs, including work, shopping, services, education, and socializing, within a convenient travel time from where they live. Ideally, that means a 10- to 15-minute walk or bike ride. A transit stop, which every resident should be able to reach with a 15-minute walk or bike ride, can connect residents to less frequent destinations.
Most urban centers and suburbs that developed before World War II were complete communities, where people often traveled by streetcar to reach their daily destinations. Suburbs built later, in the personal automobile age, have fewer daily destinations located near the people who need to reach them. However, these suburbs could be adapted to encourage more frequent trips on foot or by bike.
Commercial and recreational amenities in some urban areas have waned as people moved away, making it harder for those living in underserved areas to access services and resources that can improve their quality of life. Developing complete communities can lead to a more equitable city by increasing access to economic opportunities and resources for everyone.
Building complete communities doesn’t mean eliminating personal automobile use. It means creating communities where people are not required to own a car to meet their daily needs. Kansas Citians who don’t have access to cars, by choice or not, should not have to choose where they live based on the lack of or presence of amenities and critical services.
Complete community planning should also be responsive to the community context. In places where walking is difficult and automobile use is prevalent, the city should require bicycle, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development; provide multimodal facilities; and reduce automobile dependency as much as practical.
Reducing dependence on personal vehicles is key to reducing carbon emissions and achieving Kansas City’s climate goals. The transportation sector is responsible for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Kansas City, according to the 2022 Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan. Kansas City’s goal is a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To get there, the city must make it as easy to walk, bike, or take transit as it is to drive.
INDICATORS OF SUCCESS
By designing complete communities, Kansas City will provide more opportunities, equitably, to residents. If the city successfully implements this Objective, people won’t need to own a car to reach most daily services, and many will choose to walk, bike, or take transit to their destination. By traveling on foot or by bike to neighborhood destinations, people will interact more frequently with their neighbors, strengthening community bonds. Local businesses will thrive from increased foot traffic.
BENEFITS
Equitable access to daily needs, amenities, and economic opportunities
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle crashes
Higher property values and improved neighborhood livability
Increased net migration to Kansas City
Opportunity for social interaction in the community
Spending at locally owned business
CONTEXT
Complete communities are the result of integrated land use, economic development, and transportation planning efforts. The option to walk or bike to daily destinations provides individual quality of life benefits and societal economic and environmental benefits. Equitable access to commercial and public amenities is possible with intentional planning and economic development efforts.
Share of population in complete community areas, minority, and low-income populations (increase)
KEY CONCEPTS
Conduct a complete community asset analysis
To determine where complete communities exist – and don’t exist – in Kansas City, the city needs to define what constitutes a complete community, based on the context of each neighborhood. Once a definition is created, the city will map neighborhoods that lack specific types of assets needed for a complete community. The city can then use these gaps to drive decisions in area planning, economic development, and infrastructure planning. This mapping analysis should be repeated periodically to measure changes.
Prioritize asset-based community development
Economically distressed areas might not have all the amenities needed for a complete community, but the city shouldn’t overlook the assets they do have. A neighborhood may not have a 30,000-square-foot grocery store, but it might have a small corner store with groceries. The city should explore strategies to help businesses expand and improve their products and services to better serve area residents.
This approach will support local businesses and entrepreneurs, who tend to reinvest in their communities. The city also can form comprehensive economic development strategies for these areas and work with businesses and community partners to attract and support businesses that fill asset gaps (see also the Business Attraction and Retention and Community Development and Revitalization Objectives).
Improve walking and biking infrastructure
Investing in sidewalks, curb ramps, safe street crossings, bicycle facilities, and trails is needed to create complete communities. Even if a community has a complete set of assets, if it doesn’t also have walking and biking infrastructure, residents won’t be able to safely reach these assets without driving. The city must ensure residents have safe, direct, comfortable, and accessible physical connections to destinations and public transportation (see also Mobilityand Access to Jobs Objectives).
Support complete communities with consistent land use planning and regulation
The city should encourage housing construction near transit, shopping, and employment. New development should be walkable. This can be accomplished with land use strategies that increase the variety of uses in specific areas and connect these uses to surrounding neighborhoods.
As the city updates land use maps during the area planning process, it should evaluate how the creation of complete communities may be affected. Area plans should identify locations where the city can promote walkable mixed-use development, commercial centers and corridors, and public institutions.
These strategies should be responsive to the context of the area. Strategies for areas with entrenched auto-oriented development will be different than strategies for areas that are generally walkable but don’t have enough destinations to meet residents’ daily needs.
The market needs of businesses must be considered, too, when building complete communities. For example, what residential density does a small corner store need to survive and thrive? Once the city adopts an area plan, it should initiate rezoning (including pedestrian and transit-oriented zoning overlays) to allow the desired activities and pedestrian- or transit-oriented design to be built (see also the Quality Development Objective).
Promote equitable outcomes by limiting displacement and making high-amenity neighborhoods accessible to all
Equity is at the core of complete community planning. Economically distressed areas, where residents can’t access daily destinations such as shopping or parks, should be prioritized in implementing the Complete Communities Objective. The risk is that enhancing distressed areas so they become complete communities may increase property values so much that lower-income residents are displaced. To avoid this, there should be abundant living choices for people of all incomes and backgrounds in areas with high potential to be developed as complete communities. The city must work with partners to develop and maintain an adequate amount of affordable housing (see also the Housing Affordability and Diversity Objective).
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ACTIONS (CSAs)
Conduct a complete community asset analysis
CC-1
Address communities with critical gaps in a citywide plan independent of the area plan update process. In these areas identify travel time boundaries and analyze asset gaps within those boundaries through a market analysis, identify strategies to create the density needed to support those assets or other economic development tools to attract missing assets. Determine what walking, biking, and transit improvements are needed to serve the area.
CC-2
Apply a citywide complete community goal to specific areas by using the area plan update processes. During the area planning process, identify additional priority areas for complete community analysis described in CC-1 above.
Prioritize asset-based community development
CC-3
Implement the Smart Moves fast and frequent transit network and identify additional fast and frequent corridors in the next Smart Moves plan update (see also Access to Jobs, Public Transit, and Mobility Objectives).
CC-4
Create and implement comprehensive development strategies to attract desired assets to Complete Community Priority Development Areas. These strategies should address all elements needed to attract these establishments and services include funding, marketing, potential partners, and recommended public improvements (see also Community Development and Revitalization and Business Attraction and Retention Objectives).
Once gaps in services are identified, collaborate with economic development and community organizations to form strategies to fill these gaps.
Engage development and business-attraction partners and community organizations to bring needed businesses and services.
Improve walking and biking infrastructure
CC-5
Formalize a citywide complete community goal for walking and biking trips, based on various community contexts. Services or establishments that are “essential” (i.e., required) or “supportive” (i.e., nice to have) for a complete community should be considered. Develop an analysis with relevant, frequently updated data to classify areas as:
Complete Community (essential and supportive services) Emerging Complete Community (essential services only)
Community with Critical Gaps (missing some or all critical services or establishments)
Undeveloped/Not Applicable
CC-6
Incorporate walking and biking infrastructure recommendations from citywide planning and the area plan update process into the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.
Support complete communities with consistent land use planning and regulation
CC-7
Amend the zoning map in accordance with the future land use plan to encourage development of desired assets and require pedestrian- and transit-oriented development.
Promote equitable outcomes by limiting displacement and making high-amenity neighborhoods accessible to all
CC-8
Develop a citywide strategy to encourage investment in Complete Community Priority Development Areas (Emerging Complete Communities, Communities with Critical Gaps) based on community input, equity goals, and market feasibility.
CC-9
Use the area plan update processes to identify opportunities for more variety in housing options adjacent to transit corridors, commercial areas, and employment. Identify opportunities for compact and walkable mixed-use development (see also Quality Development Objective).
In a complete community, people can access most of their daily needs, including work, shopping, services, education, and socializing, within a convenient travel time from where they live. Ideally, that means a 10- to 15-minute walk or bike ride. A transit stop, which every resident should be able to reach with a 15-minute walk or bike ride, can connect residents to less frequent destinations.
Most urban centers and suburbs that developed before World War II were complete communities, where people often traveled by streetcar to reach their daily destinations. Suburbs built later, in the personal automobile age, have fewer daily destinations located near the people who need to reach them. However, these suburbs could be adapted to encourage more frequent trips on foot or by bike.
Commercial and recreational amenities in some urban areas have waned as people moved away, making it harder for those living in underserved areas to access services and resources that can improve their quality of life. Developing complete communities can lead to a more equitable city by increasing access to economic opportunities and resources for everyone.
Building complete communities doesn’t mean eliminating personal automobile use. It means creating communities where people are not required to own a car to meet their daily needs. Kansas Citians who don’t have access to cars, by choice or not, should not have to choose where they live based on the lack of or presence of amenities and critical services.
Complete community planning should also be responsive to the community context. In places where walking is difficult and automobile use is prevalent, the city should require bicycle, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development; provide multimodal facilities; and reduce automobile dependency as much as practical.
Reducing dependence on personal vehicles is key to reducing carbon emissions and achieving Kansas City’s climate goals. The transportation sector is responsible for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Kansas City, according to the 2022 Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan. Kansas City’s goal is a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To get there, the city must make it as easy to walk, bike, or take transit as it is to drive.
INDICATORS OF SUCCESS
By designing complete communities, Kansas City will provide more opportunities, equitably, to residents. If the city successfully implements this Objective, people won’t need to own a car to reach most daily services, and many will choose to walk, bike, or take transit to their destination. By traveling on foot or by bike to neighborhood destinations, people will interact more frequently with their neighbors, strengthening community bonds. Local businesses will thrive from increased foot traffic.
BENEFITS
Equitable access to daily needs, amenities, and economic opportunities
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle crashes
Higher property values and improved neighborhood livability
Increased net migration to Kansas City
Opportunity for social interaction in the community
Spending at locally owned business
CONTEXT
Complete communities are the result of integrated land use, economic development, and transportation planning efforts. The option to walk or bike to daily destinations provides individual quality of life benefits and societal economic and environmental benefits. Equitable access to commercial and public amenities is possible with intentional planning and economic development efforts.
Share of population in complete community areas, minority, and low-income populations (increase)
KEY CONCEPTS
Conduct a complete community asset analysis
To determine where complete communities exist – and don’t exist – in Kansas City, the city needs to define what constitutes a complete community, based on the context of each neighborhood. Once a definition is created, the city will map neighborhoods that lack specific types of assets needed for a complete community. The city can then use these gaps to drive decisions in area planning, economic development, and infrastructure planning. This mapping analysis should be repeated periodically to measure changes.
Prioritize asset-based community development
Economically distressed areas might not have all the amenities needed for a complete community, but the city shouldn’t overlook the assets they do have. A neighborhood may not have a 30,000-square-foot grocery store, but it might have a small corner store with groceries. The city should explore strategies to help businesses expand and improve their products and services to better serve area residents.
This approach will support local businesses and entrepreneurs, who tend to reinvest in their communities. The city also can form comprehensive economic development strategies for these areas and work with businesses and community partners to attract and support businesses that fill asset gaps (see also the Business Attraction and Retention and Community Development and Revitalization Objectives).
Improve walking and biking infrastructure
Investing in sidewalks, curb ramps, safe street crossings, bicycle facilities, and trails is needed to create complete communities. Even if a community has a complete set of assets, if it doesn’t also have walking and biking infrastructure, residents won’t be able to safely reach these assets without driving. The city must ensure residents have safe, direct, comfortable, and accessible physical connections to destinations and public transportation (see also Mobilityand Access to Jobs Objectives).
Support complete communities with consistent land use planning and regulation
The city should encourage housing construction near transit, shopping, and employment. New development should be walkable. This can be accomplished with land use strategies that increase the variety of uses in specific areas and connect these uses to surrounding neighborhoods.
As the city updates land use maps during the area planning process, it should evaluate how the creation of complete communities may be affected. Area plans should identify locations where the city can promote walkable mixed-use development, commercial centers and corridors, and public institutions.
These strategies should be responsive to the context of the area. Strategies for areas with entrenched auto-oriented development will be different than strategies for areas that are generally walkable but don’t have enough destinations to meet residents’ daily needs.
The market needs of businesses must be considered, too, when building complete communities. For example, what residential density does a small corner store need to survive and thrive? Once the city adopts an area plan, it should initiate rezoning (including pedestrian and transit-oriented zoning overlays) to allow the desired activities and pedestrian- or transit-oriented design to be built (see also the Quality Development Objective).
Promote equitable outcomes by limiting displacement and making high-amenity neighborhoods accessible to all
Equity is at the core of complete community planning. Economically distressed areas, where residents can’t access daily destinations such as shopping or parks, should be prioritized in implementing the Complete Communities Objective. The risk is that enhancing distressed areas so they become complete communities may increase property values so much that lower-income residents are displaced. To avoid this, there should be abundant living choices for people of all incomes and backgrounds in areas with high potential to be developed as complete communities. The city must work with partners to develop and maintain an adequate amount of affordable housing (see also the Housing Affordability and Diversity Objective).
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ACTIONS (CSAs)
Conduct a complete community asset analysis
CC-1
Address communities with critical gaps in a citywide plan independent of the area plan update process. In these areas identify travel time boundaries and analyze asset gaps within those boundaries through a market analysis, identify strategies to create the density needed to support those assets or other economic development tools to attract missing assets. Determine what walking, biking, and transit improvements are needed to serve the area.
CC-2
Apply a citywide complete community goal to specific areas by using the area plan update processes. During the area planning process, identify additional priority areas for complete community analysis described in CC-1 above.
Prioritize asset-based community development
CC-3
Implement the Smart Moves fast and frequent transit network and identify additional fast and frequent corridors in the next Smart Moves plan update (see also Access to Jobs, Public Transit, and Mobility Objectives).
CC-4
Create and implement comprehensive development strategies to attract desired assets to Complete Community Priority Development Areas. These strategies should address all elements needed to attract these establishments and services include funding, marketing, potential partners, and recommended public improvements (see also Community Development and Revitalization and Business Attraction and Retention Objectives).
Once gaps in services are identified, collaborate with economic development and community organizations to form strategies to fill these gaps.
Engage development and business-attraction partners and community organizations to bring needed businesses and services.
Improve walking and biking infrastructure
CC-5
Formalize a citywide complete community goal for walking and biking trips, based on various community contexts. Services or establishments that are “essential” (i.e., required) or “supportive” (i.e., nice to have) for a complete community should be considered. Develop an analysis with relevant, frequently updated data to classify areas as:
Complete Community (essential and supportive services) Emerging Complete Community (essential services only)
Community with Critical Gaps (missing some or all critical services or establishments)
Undeveloped/Not Applicable
CC-6
Incorporate walking and biking infrastructure recommendations from citywide planning and the area plan update process into the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.
Support complete communities with consistent land use planning and regulation
CC-7
Amend the zoning map in accordance with the future land use plan to encourage development of desired assets and require pedestrian- and transit-oriented development.
Promote equitable outcomes by limiting displacement and making high-amenity neighborhoods accessible to all
CC-8
Develop a citywide strategy to encourage investment in Complete Community Priority Development Areas (Emerging Complete Communities, Communities with Critical Gaps) based on community input, equity goals, and market feasibility.
CC-9
Use the area plan update processes to identify opportunities for more variety in housing options adjacent to transit corridors, commercial areas, and employment. Identify opportunities for compact and walkable mixed-use development (see also Quality Development Objective).
In a complete community, people can access most of their daily needs, including work, shopping, services, education, and socializing, within a convenient travel time from where they live. Ideally, that means a 10- to 15-minute walk or bike ride. A transit stop, which every resident should be able to reach with a 15-minute walk or bike ride, can connect residents to less frequent destinations.
Building complete communities doesn’t mean eliminating personal automobile use. It means creating communities where people are not required to own a car to meet their daily needs. Kansas Citians who don’t have access to cars, by choice or not, should not have to choose where they live based on the lack of or presence of amenities and critical services.