With little taxpayer investment, a dynamic Moshe Safdie-designed Center for the Performing Arts has arisen in Kansas City. Hampton Stevens says that the companies are betting on the power of the arts to attract investment and attention.
Stevens writes that city leaders are actively seeking to attract "the 'creative class'-the well-educated workers with bourgeois-bohemian tastes whom urban scholars have identified as the engine of urban growth. Since 2000, The Kansas City Star estimates, the city has spent more than $1.5 billion on cultural facilities, including the Steven Holl–designed expansion of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the new Power & Light entertainment district, and the Sprint Center arena."
FULL STORY: Kansas City Bets on Culture
A Brief History of Kansas City’s Microtransit
The city’s costly experiment with on-demand transit is yielding to more strategic investment.
Kansas City Adding Speed Bumps for Traffic Safety
The city is adding the traffic calming measures at 50 high-risk intersections.
New Kansas City Stadium Offers Limited Parking
Unlike many sports arenas surrounded by seas of concrete, the new CPKC Stadium has parking for just 2,000 vehicles, hoping most sports fans will arrive by transit.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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