Public Spaces and Amenities Topic

Public spaces and amenities are areas that are accessible to everyone. They can be privately owned locations, too, that are open to public use. Typical public spaces are parks, streets and curbs, sidewalks, plazas, public gathering places, public facilities, and green spaces. Their design reflects and is shaped by the people who use them. Public spaces help define neighborhoods and give them identity. If they are designed well, with various ways for people to use them, these areas can become important civic gathering places for community events. Because public spaces can play such an important role in community life, the city must plan for them at the start of new capital improvement and development projects rather than retrofitting them into existing areas.

Parks and open spaces, including boulevards, parkways, and trails that connect green spaces, are vital to the physical health and wellbeing of Kansas Citians. They are part of healthy, livable neighborhoods (see also Complete Communities and Environmental Health and Resiliency Objectives). A major aim of the Playbook is to expand the parks system into all areas of the city.

In addition to parks, the city’s cultural, recreational, shopping, entertainment, and outdoor destinations make it inviting and attractive and support a high quality of life. Amenities only found in Kansas City draw people from all over the region and give it an identity as a fun, eventful place to be. To maintain that identity, the city should strive to expand and support cultural and entertainment districts, festivals, and community events. Ensuring equitable access to these amenities adds to the desirability of neighborhoods and the city overall.

Quality public spaces can make it easier to get around the city for all modes of transportation. Landscaping and green infrastructure should be maximally used to help manage stormwater runoff, improve air and water quality, and reduce urban heat islands.

Public spaces and amenities are necessary for a strong, complete, community-focused society. Because public space is such a valuable resource, the city should avoid converting these spaces to private use, a transition that’s difficult to reverse. The city must improve the appearance, accessibility, programming, and use of parks, public spaces, and other amenities for people at all income levels and in a diversity of contexts across the city.


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 Public Spaces and Amenities Topic 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.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments.
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
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.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, 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.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers..
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic are highlighted in grey 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

There are five Big Ideas for Kansas City in the Playbook. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those that are closely related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic 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
Public spaces are most vital and most used when there is a diversity of users. This means creating space for people of all ages and incomes that can be used throughout the day and year. Public spaces offer flexibility for pop-up commercial or community events that can add to amenities that create complete communities. These shouldn't replace permanent spaces, but they can quickly add vitality to a community.
Creating a physically beautiful city by promoting high-quality design in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
Public spaces should reflect the character of a neighborhood or city. Through high-quality design, developers connect to that character and promote civic pride. These spaces often spark adjacent residential and retail development, which means there is a financial incentive to create attractive public spaces and maintain them over time.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
Public spaces include open, undeveloped green spaces that have many benefits for the city. To protect natural resources and environmental systems, the city needs to identify spaces that should remain undeveloped and undisturbed.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
How easily all Kansas Citians can access a public space is tied to the quality of that space. Parks and other public spaces intended for active use and public gatherings must be equally accessible by walking, biking, transit, or other transportation.
Creating a future-proofed city by better anticipating and reacting to new technologies and evolving conditions
Changes in climate and weather patterns are expected to bring significant shifts to the natural systems and infrastructure the city depends on. Planning for and protecting open, undeveloped spaces is vital for a more resilient city.


RELATIONSHIP TO CITYWIDE GOALS

The Playbook identifies ten Citywide Goals for Kansas City. Those that are directly related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Connected City: Increase mobility options and create a more connected city
Functional, vital public spaces are those everyone can access, easily and equally. Having a variety of mobility options supports that access.
Diversity and Opportunity: Ensure the built environment strives to eliminate disparities, embrace diversity, and create economic opportunity
Strong public spaces and amenities generate and support healthy public environments, and those environments create economic opportunity and support diversity.
Environment for People of All Ages: Create a better environment that will attract and retain young people and allow residents to age-in-place
Public spaces can give people opportunities for social interaction, income, and physical activity.
Healthy Environment: Promote a healthy city through environmental sustainability and resiliency
Public spaces are key in a healthy city. They promote active mobility, such as walking and cycling, which can reduce the number of cars on the road, reduce air pollution, and improve public health. In well-designed public spaces, people can exercise, play, and connect with nature, which promotes physical and mental health. Public spaces also contain green infrastructure such as trees and waterways, with benefits such as better air quality, water retention, and shade that can mitigate urban heat islands. They can also provide habitat for wildlife, helping to maintain biodiversity in urban areas. Spaces can be designed to be resilient to climate change effects by using sustainable design principles and materials, such as permeable surfaces, green roofs, and rain gardens, and by planting species adaptable to changing climate conditions.
History, Arts, and Culture: Preserve and celebrate our community character, history, arts, and culture
Art can be displayed, and culture and community celebrated in public spaces. Making public spaces that can accommodate these uses reinforces community.
Parks and Open Spaces: Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces
By zoning land as parkland or open space, the city can block development in these areas and guide planning for adjacent development in line with open spaces. Additionally, the city can require private developers to include parks, open spaces, and other types of public spaces as part of new development projects. With public-private partnerships, the city can leverage private funds to expand and maintain its system of parks, boulevards and open spaces. These may be partnerships between local government and private organizations, as well as partnerships between local government, businesses, and community groups. A strong funding mechanism, such as a parks bond or a park district, should be established as a steady source of funding to protect, improve, and expand the system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces.
Smart City: Create a smart city through innovation and new technology
The city should use smart city technology in public spaces to gather data and better understand urban patterns and service provision. These are opportunities to reach diverse populations on a regular basis.
Strong and Accessible Neighborhoods: Create strong and desirable neighborhoods and ensure housing choice and affordability
Public spaces are the glue of strong neighborhoods. They promote community engagement, social cohesion and a sense of place. People use them to reach work, school, services, shopping. They also are where people meet and build relationships that become the foundation of a robust, tolerant, and enduring community. They support affordability by providing access to transit, jobs, essential services, and public recreation. Diversity and affordability of housing allow Kansas Citians of all income levels to have a stake in their community, increasing civic participation and public safety, and fostering a greater sense of community pride.
Sustainable and Equitable Growth: Target physical investments strategically and ensure that growth and revitalization are sustainable and equitable
Public spaces become familiar and stable elements of all communities. They endure and, as people and businesses change around them, they continue to reflect their community.
Well-Designed City: Promote high-quality design in public investments and development
High-quality development in public spaces promotes community pride and private-sector investment. Design standards encourage private developers to create buildings and spaces that visually and functionally suit the public space. Quality public space design also improves the economic outcomes for a community by, for example, raising property values and promoting tourism.


RELATIONSHIP 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 Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:
Objectives secondarily related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:


RELATIONSHIP TO MEASURES OF SUCCESS


Successful implementation of the Playbook on issues related to Public Spaces and Amenities would result in:


A city where neighborhoods are anchored by safe, attractive, vibrant public spaces. These spaces, from public paths like sidewalks to nodes like parks and plazas, are a forum for public connection and economic vitality.
Economic development in and around public spaces, from big (such as large employers and retailers) to small (such as micro-businesses in smaller spaces or public spaces).
Convenient access to parks, and safe and accessible places to walk. These promote positive public health outcomes. Walking is a low-cost form of exercise with few barriers, and public spaces are a place to do it.
Public spaces that are well-used and active will increase public safety.
Robust, healthy environmental systems and open spaces that help mitigate anticipated impacts of a changing climate.


The Playbook identifies Measures of Success that help the city gauge whether it is meeting the goals and objectives of the plan. The following metrics relate to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:


1% for Art Locations
Increase
Annual visitors to Kansas City
Increase
Historic (or eligible for historic register listing) resources demolition
Decrease
Hotel tax revenue
Increase
Life expectancy
Increase
Miles of new sidewalks
Increase
Miles of protected bicycle facilities
Increase
Miles of repaired sidewalks
Increase
Pedestrian crossing distance between major barriers
Decrease
Population with access to a park (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Population with access to a trail (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Public transit access; half-mile radius by level of service (total jobs, total for minorities and low-income populations, zero-car households, affordable housing units)
Increase
Share of population in complete community areas (minority and low-income populations)
Increase
Urban tree canopy coverage
Increase


Public spaces and amenities are areas that are accessible to everyone. They can be privately owned locations, too, that are open to public use. Typical public spaces are parks, streets and curbs, sidewalks, plazas, public gathering places, public facilities, and green spaces. Their design reflects and is shaped by the people who use them. Public spaces help define neighborhoods and give them identity. If they are designed well, with various ways for people to use them, these areas can become important civic gathering places for community events. Because public spaces can play such an important role in community life, the city must plan for them at the start of new capital improvement and development projects rather than retrofitting them into existing areas.

Parks and open spaces, including boulevards, parkways, and trails that connect green spaces, are vital to the physical health and wellbeing of Kansas Citians. They are part of healthy, livable neighborhoods (see also Complete Communities and Environmental Health and Resiliency Objectives). A major aim of the Playbook is to expand the parks system into all areas of the city.

In addition to parks, the city’s cultural, recreational, shopping, entertainment, and outdoor destinations make it inviting and attractive and support a high quality of life. Amenities only found in Kansas City draw people from all over the region and give it an identity as a fun, eventful place to be. To maintain that identity, the city should strive to expand and support cultural and entertainment districts, festivals, and community events. Ensuring equitable access to these amenities adds to the desirability of neighborhoods and the city overall.

Quality public spaces can make it easier to get around the city for all modes of transportation. Landscaping and green infrastructure should be maximally used to help manage stormwater runoff, improve air and water quality, and reduce urban heat islands.

Public spaces and amenities are necessary for a strong, complete, community-focused society. Because public space is such a valuable resource, the city should avoid converting these spaces to private use, a transition that’s difficult to reverse. The city must improve the appearance, accessibility, programming, and use of parks, public spaces, and other amenities for people at all income levels and in a diversity of contexts across the city.


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 Public Spaces and Amenities Topic 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.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments.
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
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.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, 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.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers..
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic are highlighted in grey 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

There are five Big Ideas for Kansas City in the Playbook. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those that are closely related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic 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
Public spaces are most vital and most used when there is a diversity of users. This means creating space for people of all ages and incomes that can be used throughout the day and year. Public spaces offer flexibility for pop-up commercial or community events that can add to amenities that create complete communities. These shouldn't replace permanent spaces, but they can quickly add vitality to a community.
Creating a physically beautiful city by promoting high-quality design in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
Public spaces should reflect the character of a neighborhood or city. Through high-quality design, developers connect to that character and promote civic pride. These spaces often spark adjacent residential and retail development, which means there is a financial incentive to create attractive public spaces and maintain them over time.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
Public spaces include open, undeveloped green spaces that have many benefits for the city. To protect natural resources and environmental systems, the city needs to identify spaces that should remain undeveloped and undisturbed.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
How easily all Kansas Citians can access a public space is tied to the quality of that space. Parks and other public spaces intended for active use and public gatherings must be equally accessible by walking, biking, transit, or other transportation.
Creating a future-proofed city by better anticipating and reacting to new technologies and evolving conditions
Changes in climate and weather patterns are expected to bring significant shifts to the natural systems and infrastructure the city depends on. Planning for and protecting open, undeveloped spaces is vital for a more resilient city.


RELATIONSHIP TO CITYWIDE GOALS

The Playbook identifies ten Citywide Goals for Kansas City. Those that are directly related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Connected City: Increase mobility options and create a more connected city
Functional, vital public spaces are those everyone can access, easily and equally. Having a variety of mobility options supports that access.
Diversity and Opportunity: Ensure the built environment strives to eliminate disparities, embrace diversity, and create economic opportunity
Strong public spaces and amenities generate and support healthy public environments, and those environments create economic opportunity and support diversity.
Environment for People of All Ages: Create a better environment that will attract and retain young people and allow residents to age-in-place
Public spaces can give people opportunities for social interaction, income, and physical activity.
Healthy Environment: Promote a healthy city through environmental sustainability and resiliency
Public spaces are key in a healthy city. They promote active mobility, such as walking and cycling, which can reduce the number of cars on the road, reduce air pollution, and improve public health. In well-designed public spaces, people can exercise, play, and connect with nature, which promotes physical and mental health. Public spaces also contain green infrastructure such as trees and waterways, with benefits such as better air quality, water retention, and shade that can mitigate urban heat islands. They can also provide habitat for wildlife, helping to maintain biodiversity in urban areas. Spaces can be designed to be resilient to climate change effects by using sustainable design principles and materials, such as permeable surfaces, green roofs, and rain gardens, and by planting species adaptable to changing climate conditions.
History, Arts, and Culture: Preserve and celebrate our community character, history, arts, and culture
Art can be displayed, and culture and community celebrated in public spaces. Making public spaces that can accommodate these uses reinforces community.
Parks and Open Spaces: Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces
By zoning land as parkland or open space, the city can block development in these areas and guide planning for adjacent development in line with open spaces. Additionally, the city can require private developers to include parks, open spaces, and other types of public spaces as part of new development projects. With public-private partnerships, the city can leverage private funds to expand and maintain its system of parks, boulevards and open spaces. These may be partnerships between local government and private organizations, as well as partnerships between local government, businesses, and community groups. A strong funding mechanism, such as a parks bond or a park district, should be established as a steady source of funding to protect, improve, and expand the system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces.
Smart City: Create a smart city through innovation and new technology
The city should use smart city technology in public spaces to gather data and better understand urban patterns and service provision. These are opportunities to reach diverse populations on a regular basis.
Strong and Accessible Neighborhoods: Create strong and desirable neighborhoods and ensure housing choice and affordability
Public spaces are the glue of strong neighborhoods. They promote community engagement, social cohesion and a sense of place. People use them to reach work, school, services, shopping. They also are where people meet and build relationships that become the foundation of a robust, tolerant, and enduring community. They support affordability by providing access to transit, jobs, essential services, and public recreation. Diversity and affordability of housing allow Kansas Citians of all income levels to have a stake in their community, increasing civic participation and public safety, and fostering a greater sense of community pride.
Sustainable and Equitable Growth: Target physical investments strategically and ensure that growth and revitalization are sustainable and equitable
Public spaces become familiar and stable elements of all communities. They endure and, as people and businesses change around them, they continue to reflect their community.
Well-Designed City: Promote high-quality design in public investments and development
High-quality development in public spaces promotes community pride and private-sector investment. Design standards encourage private developers to create buildings and spaces that visually and functionally suit the public space. Quality public space design also improves the economic outcomes for a community by, for example, raising property values and promoting tourism.


RELATIONSHIP 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 Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:
Objectives secondarily related to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:


RELATIONSHIP TO MEASURES OF SUCCESS


Successful implementation of the Playbook on issues related to Public Spaces and Amenities would result in:


A city where neighborhoods are anchored by safe, attractive, vibrant public spaces. These spaces, from public paths like sidewalks to nodes like parks and plazas, are a forum for public connection and economic vitality.
Economic development in and around public spaces, from big (such as large employers and retailers) to small (such as micro-businesses in smaller spaces or public spaces).
Convenient access to parks, and safe and accessible places to walk. These promote positive public health outcomes. Walking is a low-cost form of exercise with few barriers, and public spaces are a place to do it.
Public spaces that are well-used and active will increase public safety.
Robust, healthy environmental systems and open spaces that help mitigate anticipated impacts of a changing climate.


The Playbook identifies Measures of Success that help the city gauge whether it is meeting the goals and objectives of the plan. The following metrics relate to the Public Spaces and Amenities Topic:


1% for Art Locations
Increase
Annual visitors to Kansas City
Increase
Historic (or eligible for historic register listing) resources demolition
Decrease
Hotel tax revenue
Increase
Life expectancy
Increase
Miles of new sidewalks
Increase
Miles of protected bicycle facilities
Increase
Miles of repaired sidewalks
Increase
Pedestrian crossing distance between major barriers
Decrease
Population with access to a park (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Population with access to a trail (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Public transit access; half-mile radius by level of service (total jobs, total for minorities and low-income populations, zero-car households, affordable housing units)
Increase
Share of population in complete community areas (minority and low-income populations)
Increase
Urban tree canopy coverage
Increase


Page last updated: 11 Apr 2023, 06:19 PM