Parks and Open Spaces Goal

Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces


An interconnected system of high-quality parks and open spaces is vital to the health of all Kansas Citians and the livability of the city’s neighborhoods. Parks provide places for recreation, exercise, and community gathering, and they sustain the environment’s resiliency to the effects of climate change.

Kansas City’s growth historically has been guided by its beloved system of parkways and boulevards (the oldest portions of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places). These distinctive roadways not only serve a transportation function, but also beautify the city and help set the tone for adjacent development. By maintaining and expanding this network, the city creates open space while supporting a framework for orderly growth and development (see Development Patterns and Quality Development Objective).

While it grows, Kansas City must ensure that historically underserved communities have equitable access to parks and open spaces. That effort must be balanced with planning for parks in areas of new growth (see Parks and Open Spaces and Complete Communities Objectives).

Open spaces can be on public or private land. The city should connect its open spaces with its system of parks, boulevards, and trails and facilitate public access and recreation where appropriate. To solidify those connections, the city needs to create a citywide plan that defines the entire system and which can be refined during area plan updates (see Parks and Open Spaces Objective).

The physical development of the city will directly affect the health of Kansas Citians and the environment. As Kansas City grows, it can improve and protect environmental systems by preserving open spaces where needed to ensure everyone has a healthy, safe, and vibrant city to call home.

The city must preserve and enhance its existing open spaces as it develops. That means guiding development so it harmonizes with rather than harms the natural environment (see Environmental Health and Resiliency Objective).

As Kansas City grows, it must continue to invest in parks and open spaces to ensure recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, improve the resiliency of the natural environment, improve public health, and support economic development and tourism.


RELATIONSHIP TO VISION STATEMENTS

The Playbook has fifteen Vision statements for Kansas City. The Playbook’s Vision describes what we want to be and outlines how we want our city to develop in the future, in line with community values and priorities. Those that are closely related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:

Affordable Community: We will create and nurture an affordable community and strive for abundant opportunity and employment at a livable wage for our residents.
Parks and open spaces are desirable neighborhood amenities and help make a complete community. The city must ensure that all Kansas Citians can easily access these amenities.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments.
Public spaces, parks, and open spaces provide cultural and natural vibrancy. They encourage community interaction, highlight cultural diversity, and foster creativity.
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Parks and open spaces improve quality of life for everyone. They promote physical health and community connection and attract residents, visitors, and employers.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Public open spaces and trails are a low-barrier, low-cost place for physical activity. To create equitable neighborhoods, the city must provide equal access to these places.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
Parks and open spaces protect ecosystems by preserving their ecological functions, such as infiltrating and cleaning stormwater, providing wildlife habitat, and cleaning the air.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Many historic and cultural resources are in or adjacent to parks and natural areas. As the city expands its system of parks and open spaces, it should preserve those historic resources.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
Kansas City can use smart city technology to track how its parks and boulevards are used and monitor the environmental conditions that affect its open spaces. The city can use data to refine plans to improve and expand these systems.
KC Uniqueness: We will preserve and enhance those things that make Kansas City unique – the small town feel with big city amenities and the wide range of diverse environments and neighborhoods.
Kansas City was designed to include parks, boulevards, and open spaces, and these elements are still key to its unique identity. Preserving them while the city grows will keep Kansas City rooted in its origins and serve current and future residents.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Parks and open spaces complement and strengthen all neighborhoods and housing types by providing shared green space for recreation, community gathering, and social connection.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Well-connected mobility options – public transit, bike lanes, trails, and pedestrian pathways – boost equitable access to parks and open spaces. The system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces also physically connects communities.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, and infrastructure.
The landscaping, architecture, art, and general quality of parks and open spaces break up the monotony of urban landscapes and provide natural context for city architecture and infrastructure.
Regional Collaboration: Our city will continue to be the heart of the region. We will remain collaborative with our regional partners with a renewed focus on building partnerships to achieve the aspirations of this plan.
As the city plans for parks and open spaces, it should ensure these systems are connected to adjacent communities.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Parks and open spaces preserve natural areas, natural systems, and green infrastructure that are critical to the city’s overall resiliency to climate change.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers.
Parkways and boulevards are a major part of the overall mobility and traffic circulation system, allowing people to access jobs and other economic opportunities. Parks and open spaces also make the city a more livable and attractive place to visit, live, or establish a business.
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.
Parks, trails, and open spaces, especially the city’s boulevard system, are part of the network of walkable transportation routes that connect the city.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted below:

Addressing Disinvestment: Direct investment to communities that have been abandoned or have experienced long-term disinvestment.
Citywide Accessibility: Ensure services, utilities, and transportation options are provided to everyone.
Community Collaboration: Empower people from different parts of the KC community in working together to solve problems.
Community Engagement: Empower people to shape their communities and recognize that communities value things differently.
Complete Communities: Ensure that people can meet their needs in their own neighborhood without having to travel long distances.
Housing Affordability: Ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.
Inclusive Design: Ensure that development incorporates design features that consider people of all abilities.
Providing Services: Commit to taking care of the built environment and providing the same quality of maintenance and services citywide.
Welcoming Spaces: Ensure that public spaces and amenities are designed to support diverse, culturally authentic, and family-friendly activities, no matter how much money a person is able to spend.



RELATIONSHIP TO BIG IDEAS

The Playbook identifies five Big Ideas for Kansas City. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:

Fostering neighborhoods that accommodate all ages, lifestyles, and incomes by  diversifying and densifying housing choices and creating complete communities  that facilitate a high quality-of-life
Parks, open spaces, and boulevards in Kansas City are important parts of complete neighborhoods. Through them, people of all ages, incomes and physical abilities can access amenities that promote personal health.
Creating a  physically beautiful city  by promoting  high quality design  in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
High-quality design, construction, and maintenance of parks, open spaces, and boulevards should be evident in the city’s beautiful landscapes.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
As the city develops, it must preserve its connected system of open spaces while also making needed park and boulevard improvements.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
Parks, boulevards, and open spaces are an important part of efficient and safe mobility for residents and visitors. They often contain trails and other mobility connections, too.
Creating a  future-proofed city  by  better anticipating and reacting  to new technologies and evolving conditions
Parks and open spaces are crucial to making the city more resilient to the effects of climate change.


RELATIONSHIP TO TOPICS

The Playbook is also structured around five Topics that organize the plan’s recommendations around specific subjects. Those topics directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:





Transportation


RELATIONSIP TO OBJECTIVES

The Playbook identifies twenty-one Objectives for Kansas City. The Objectives are the nuts and bolts of the Playbook. Each one contains detailed recommendations, strategies, and initiatives for a specific topic, framed by the overall direction the plan sets for that topic. The Objectives also set priorities and metrics for their implementation and provide supporting context, including relevant data and public input. A single Objective often supports multiple Goals and Topics.

Objectives primarily related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal:



Objectives secondarily related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal:


Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces


An interconnected system of high-quality parks and open spaces is vital to the health of all Kansas Citians and the livability of the city’s neighborhoods. Parks provide places for recreation, exercise, and community gathering, and they sustain the environment’s resiliency to the effects of climate change.

Kansas City’s growth historically has been guided by its beloved system of parkways and boulevards (the oldest portions of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places). These distinctive roadways not only serve a transportation function, but also beautify the city and help set the tone for adjacent development. By maintaining and expanding this network, the city creates open space while supporting a framework for orderly growth and development (see Development Patterns and Quality Development Objective).

While it grows, Kansas City must ensure that historically underserved communities have equitable access to parks and open spaces. That effort must be balanced with planning for parks in areas of new growth (see Parks and Open Spaces and Complete Communities Objectives).

Open spaces can be on public or private land. The city should connect its open spaces with its system of parks, boulevards, and trails and facilitate public access and recreation where appropriate. To solidify those connections, the city needs to create a citywide plan that defines the entire system and which can be refined during area plan updates (see Parks and Open Spaces Objective).

The physical development of the city will directly affect the health of Kansas Citians and the environment. As Kansas City grows, it can improve and protect environmental systems by preserving open spaces where needed to ensure everyone has a healthy, safe, and vibrant city to call home.

The city must preserve and enhance its existing open spaces as it develops. That means guiding development so it harmonizes with rather than harms the natural environment (see Environmental Health and Resiliency Objective).

As Kansas City grows, it must continue to invest in parks and open spaces to ensure recreational opportunities for residents and visitors, improve the resiliency of the natural environment, improve public health, and support economic development and tourism.


RELATIONSHIP TO VISION STATEMENTS

The Playbook has fifteen Vision statements for Kansas City. The Playbook’s Vision describes what we want to be and outlines how we want our city to develop in the future, in line with community values and priorities. Those that are closely related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:

Affordable Community: We will create and nurture an affordable community and strive for abundant opportunity and employment at a livable wage for our residents.
Parks and open spaces are desirable neighborhood amenities and help make a complete community. The city must ensure that all Kansas Citians can easily access these amenities.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments.
Public spaces, parks, and open spaces provide cultural and natural vibrancy. They encourage community interaction, highlight cultural diversity, and foster creativity.
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Parks and open spaces improve quality of life for everyone. They promote physical health and community connection and attract residents, visitors, and employers.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Public open spaces and trails are a low-barrier, low-cost place for physical activity. To create equitable neighborhoods, the city must provide equal access to these places.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
Parks and open spaces protect ecosystems by preserving their ecological functions, such as infiltrating and cleaning stormwater, providing wildlife habitat, and cleaning the air.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Many historic and cultural resources are in or adjacent to parks and natural areas. As the city expands its system of parks and open spaces, it should preserve those historic resources.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
Kansas City can use smart city technology to track how its parks and boulevards are used and monitor the environmental conditions that affect its open spaces. The city can use data to refine plans to improve and expand these systems.
KC Uniqueness: We will preserve and enhance those things that make Kansas City unique – the small town feel with big city amenities and the wide range of diverse environments and neighborhoods.
Kansas City was designed to include parks, boulevards, and open spaces, and these elements are still key to its unique identity. Preserving them while the city grows will keep Kansas City rooted in its origins and serve current and future residents.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Parks and open spaces complement and strengthen all neighborhoods and housing types by providing shared green space for recreation, community gathering, and social connection.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Well-connected mobility options – public transit, bike lanes, trails, and pedestrian pathways – boost equitable access to parks and open spaces. The system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces also physically connects communities.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, and infrastructure.
The landscaping, architecture, art, and general quality of parks and open spaces break up the monotony of urban landscapes and provide natural context for city architecture and infrastructure.
Regional Collaboration: Our city will continue to be the heart of the region. We will remain collaborative with our regional partners with a renewed focus on building partnerships to achieve the aspirations of this plan.
As the city plans for parks and open spaces, it should ensure these systems are connected to adjacent communities.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Parks and open spaces preserve natural areas, natural systems, and green infrastructure that are critical to the city’s overall resiliency to climate change.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers.
Parkways and boulevards are a major part of the overall mobility and traffic circulation system, allowing people to access jobs and other economic opportunities. Parks and open spaces also make the city a more livable and attractive place to visit, live, or establish a business.
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.
Parks, trails, and open spaces, especially the city’s boulevard system, are part of the network of walkable transportation routes that connect the city.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted below:

Addressing Disinvestment: Direct investment to communities that have been abandoned or have experienced long-term disinvestment.
Citywide Accessibility: Ensure services, utilities, and transportation options are provided to everyone.
Community Collaboration: Empower people from different parts of the KC community in working together to solve problems.
Community Engagement: Empower people to shape their communities and recognize that communities value things differently.
Complete Communities: Ensure that people can meet their needs in their own neighborhood without having to travel long distances.
Housing Affordability: Ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.
Inclusive Design: Ensure that development incorporates design features that consider people of all abilities.
Providing Services: Commit to taking care of the built environment and providing the same quality of maintenance and services citywide.
Welcoming Spaces: Ensure that public spaces and amenities are designed to support diverse, culturally authentic, and family-friendly activities, no matter how much money a person is able to spend.



RELATIONSHIP TO BIG IDEAS

The Playbook identifies five Big Ideas for Kansas City. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:

Fostering neighborhoods that accommodate all ages, lifestyles, and incomes by  diversifying and densifying housing choices and creating complete communities  that facilitate a high quality-of-life
Parks, open spaces, and boulevards in Kansas City are important parts of complete neighborhoods. Through them, people of all ages, incomes and physical abilities can access amenities that promote personal health.
Creating a  physically beautiful city  by promoting  high quality design  in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
High-quality design, construction, and maintenance of parks, open spaces, and boulevards should be evident in the city’s beautiful landscapes.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
As the city develops, it must preserve its connected system of open spaces while also making needed park and boulevard improvements.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
Parks, boulevards, and open spaces are an important part of efficient and safe mobility for residents and visitors. They often contain trails and other mobility connections, too.
Creating a  future-proofed city  by  better anticipating and reacting  to new technologies and evolving conditions
Parks and open spaces are crucial to making the city more resilient to the effects of climate change.


RELATIONSHIP TO TOPICS

The Playbook is also structured around five Topics that organize the plan’s recommendations around specific subjects. Those topics directly related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal are highlighted in grey below:





Transportation


RELATIONSIP TO OBJECTIVES

The Playbook identifies twenty-one Objectives for Kansas City. The Objectives are the nuts and bolts of the Playbook. Each one contains detailed recommendations, strategies, and initiatives for a specific topic, framed by the overall direction the plan sets for that topic. The Objectives also set priorities and metrics for their implementation and provide supporting context, including relevant data and public input. A single Objective often supports multiple Goals and Topics.

Objectives primarily related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal:



Objectives secondarily related to the Parks and Open Spaces Goal:


Page last updated: 16 Apr 2023, 06:11 PM