Performance can be measured by reference to the spatial form of the city and the quality of spaces, recognizing that local context is often the primary influence on development and redevelopment. Previous developments and proposals can serve as a basis for what established place there originally.
An environment can be used to communicate the past and the present that form an extended pattern. Patterns in time are often celebrated, with holidays and the seasonal shifts, often influencing the uses of public and private spaces. The dimensions identified by Lynch are not too rigid or prescriptive to resist changing qualities of the environment. The consideration of a temporal factor in the identified dimensions of performance makes them consider needs of future development and anticipated challenges.
The absolute of future development for the Valentine neighborhood is construction of more housing units, with diversity in housing stock comparable to what was available in the neighborhood’s past. Small apartments, ranging in 3 to 6 units, comprised the majority of units in structure in Valentine.
Lighting is necessary to visually experience and interpret our surroundings. Consideration must be given to the position of the sun to plan for lighting needs at all times of day.
Lighting elements should be contribute to a well-developed streetscape, even during daytime. Ornate lighting, like the above photo from Chesterfield, can establish a sense of place. An appearance resembling historic lighting poles and genuinely historic lighting helps pedestrians be immersed in the composite of the many elements of the public realm.
The Valentine neighborhood lacks historic lighting, with pole-mounted LED cobra lights being the most common lighting used for streets and sidewalks. These lights are directly over streets, leaving them better lit than adjacent sidewalks.
Existing Lighting in North Valentine, as depicted in the above map, is concentrated on the north side of blocks. This is likely due to the north side of structures in the Northern Hemisphere always being in shadow, requiring more light in lieu of sunlight.
The orientation of the remaining structures to face east or west provides ample natural lighting from the sun to the south, east, and west sides of the structure east.
As the sun’s position moves throughout the year, the north side of structures may be cast in longer shadows that stretch the span of the street. Ample lighting is needed on the north side of structures to establish a comfortable environment, comparable to the south facing side of the structure. The south facing side is appealing to pedestrians for the warmth, increased visibility, and intention is design given to south facing sides of a structure.
The beginning of fixed route transit service to the Valentine neighborhood began October 1, 1889 as the Washing and Summit cable car line
• Provided access from West Bottoms to Downtown and the north side of the Valentine neighborhood
• Ran from Union Depot on Ninth to Washington. Washington to about 13th-14th Streets, continuing on13th-14th Summit Street. Summit Street to 29th Street
• Service was reduced to Southwest Boulevard in early 1901
Source: KC History https://kclibrary.org/art-objects/map-greater-kansas-city-suburbs
In 1920 the Valentine neighborhood was served by the 21 Jackson-Roanoke streetcar route
• Service on the streetcar route from 1910’s
• Destination sign would read Jackson – 24th on Northbound trip
• Destination sign would read Roanoke – 45th or Summit – 39th on Southbound trip
• Streetcar service along Summit Street until widening and repaving of Summit Street in 1951
In 1944 the Valentine neighborhood was served by the 57 Jackson-Roanoke streetcar route
• Service continued from 21 streetcar route from 1910’s
• Destination sign would read Jackson – 24th on Northbound trip
• Destination sign would read Roanoke – 45th or Summit – 39th on Southbound trip
• Streetcar service along Summit Street until widening and repaving of Summit Street in 1951
Source: KC History https://kchistory.org/image/broadway-boulevard-valentine-road-0
Streetcar service along Broadway Boulevard concluded in 1940’s
• Routes 4 and 48 provided service on Broadway Boulevard from 1920’s to 1940’s
• Route 4 ran from Ward Parkway and 59th Street to Belleview Avenue, winding on Westport Road and Broadway Boulevard to Downtown
• Route 48 ran from Downtown along Broadway Boulevard to 39th Street, providing service east-west between State Line Road and Broadway
Broadway Boulevard is serviced by a single bus route, traveling from the Plaza to Armour
• Begins at the Plaza Transit Center, travelling up Broadway Boulevard and turning East onto ArmourBoulevard
• Runs on Armour Boulevard / 35th Street to Van Brunt, returning from Van Brunt Loop
• Connects St Luke’s Hospital to the Kansas City VA Medical Center along a dense residential corridor
• Route 35 has 435 daily riders in January 2026
Main MAX service was rerouted to Broadway Boulevard for nearly ten years
• Provided 20-minute headways either direction from Waldo to River Market and Columbus Park
• Travelled along Grand Boulevard through Downtown, on Pershing Road, turning onto Penn Valley Drive / Broadway Boulevard
• Ran from 5AM to 12AM from Monday – Saturday
• Reduced service on Sundays
The Main Street Extension of the KC Streetcar replaced Main Max service
• Operates at 10-12 minute frequencies
• Runs from 5 AM to 12 AM Monday-Thursday
• Runs from 5 AM to 1 AM Friday and Saturday
• Runs from 6AM to 12AM Sunday
• Connects River Market to South Plaza, UMKC
• Encourages Transit Oriented Development (TOD) on the Main Street Corridor
• 7,873 daily riders in January 2026
RideKC Route 31 provides East-West connectivity on the 31st Street Corridor at 15 minute frequencies
• 15 minute frequencies make it the most frequent bus route in the state of Missouri
• Not the most frequent bus corridor (Prospect Avenue)
• Runs from 5 AM to 12 AM Monday-Saturday
• Runs from 5 AM to 10 PM on Sunday
• Connects southern Independence to the core of Kansas City
• 1,931 daily riders in January 2026
Route 39 provides East-West transit on the 39th Street Corridor
• Operates at 30 minute frequencies
• Runs from 5 AM to 12 AM Monday-Saturday
• Runs from 5 AM to 10 PM on Sunday
• Connects KU Medical Center and Volker / Roanoke Neighborhoods to the East Side
• Deviation to VA Medical Center
• 584 daily riders in January 2026
Where access is provided, pedestrian and sidewalk infrastructure is well designed
• Southwest Trafficway has few points to cross the roadway
• Certain streets have unsafe crossings
• Road diets to Main Street and Broadway Boulevard have improved walking conditions along the respective corridors
• New tree plantings in the neighborhood will provide shade and clean air
For our second blog post, we are showing the history of Valentine buildings and streets in our assigned blocks from 1900 to today in 25-year intervals through figure ground maps. My assigned area is Pennsylvania Ave-Karnes Blvd and 32nd-34th St. Maps will be shown first, followed up by a data analysis, then 1940s Tax Assessment photos to see the kind of character the neighborhood has lost.
Maps
I thought the best way to illustrate this is through color-coding:
Map 1: 1900 Based on 1909 Sanborn Maps
Structures to be Demolished: 17
Map 2: 1925 Based on 1925 Atlus
Newly-Built Structures: 102
Map 3: 1950 Based on 1951 Sanborn Maps
Structures to be Demolished: 109
Newly-Built Structures: 8
Map 4: 1975 Based on 1975 Historic Aerial Photos
Structures to be Demolished: 10
Newly-Built Structures: 4 (Counting All College Buildings)
Map 5: 2000 Based on 2002 Historic Aerial Photos
Structures to be Demolished: 1
Newly-Modified Structure: 1
Map 6: 2025 Based on KC Parcel Viewer GIS Data
Newly-Modified Structure: 1
Data Analysis
The significant trend in this data presents a large number of structures built from 1900 to 1925, and an even larger number demolished from 1950 to 1975. From 2000 to 2025, the area has not seen as significant activity besides Metropolitan Community College – Penn Valley expansions.
It is also worth noting that all residential lots east of SW Trafficway are owned by Colonial Highlands, and the block Jefferson & 33rd is owned by KC Life Insurance, they also own the left half of Pennsylvania & 34th.
The foremost thing I noticed while looking at these photos is the significant loss of commercial activity, with some buildings closely resembling a sort of character that Brookside is known for:
1940s Tax Assessment Photo, Block 40
1940s Tax Assessment Photo, Block 52
What is also apparent is the dramatic loss of multi-family homes. This area had many colonnaded six-and-fourplexes, but none remain:
1940s Tax Assessment Photo, Block 40
1940s Tax Assessment Photo, Block 41
1940s Tax Assessment Photo, Block 40
The last thing I’ll note is the loss of some simplistic and tiny craftsman single-family homes, which are notably smaller and minimal than the shirtwaist homes lining the Coleman Highlands blocks:
Figure-ground study of the North Loop area circa 1930. Source: Sanborn-Perris Map Company, Ltd. (1896/1907, 1925); Tuttle-Ayers-Woodward Company (1925).Figure-ground study of the North Loop area circa 1960. Source: Sanborn-Perris Map Company, Ltd. (1949, 1957, 1958).Figure-ground study of the North Loop area circa 1990. Source: Sanborn-Perris Map Company, Ltd. (1958); U.S. Geological Survey (1991).Figure-ground study of the North Loop area circa 2025. These are the existing conditions at the time of publication. Source: Kansas City, MO Parcel Viewer.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is located in a diverse urban environment with a variety of neighborhoods and districts surrounding it. The development of campus is certainly influenced by the surrounding districts and neighborhoods, and vice versa.
One way in which the surrounding neighborhoods affect the development of campus is through their demographics and socioeconomic status. UMKC has a diverse student body, and the surrounding neighborhoods can provide opportunities for students to connect with different cultures and backgrounds. However, if the surrounding neighborhoods are economically disadvantaged, it may be more difficult to attract students and faculty to the area.
Additionally, the safety and security of the surrounding neighborhoods can have an impact on the development of campus. If the neighborhoods are perceived as unsafe, it may be more difficult to attract students and faculty to the area, and the university may need to invest in additional security measures.
On the other hand, the development of campus can also have an impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. UMKC has made efforts to partner with nearby neighborhoods to promote economic development, improve infrastructure, and enhance community engagement. The university has also played a role in revitalizing the surrounding area, such as through the creation of the UMKC Innovation Center and the redevelopment of the historic Brookside neighborhood.
In this Existing analysis project I made two district maps. One for Volker Campus and one for the Hospital Hill Campus.
My contribution to the analysis was transportation mostly focusing on the Hospital Hill Campus and the area directly south that connects to the Volker Campus.
The transportation team was responsible for representing traffic counts, directional turning traffic, pedestrian traffic, speed limits, and bus routes.
This map indicates the values of vehicles that are turning north, south, east, and west at major intersections from 19th St to Linwood Blvd. We found the majority of traffic is circling around the hospital hill campus because 31st St and Linwood Ave are carrying traffic from highway 71, and Main St is a connecting through Kansas City from Downtown to the Volker Campus. The main point of entries into Hospital Hill are south of 22nd St at Gillham Rd and Troost Ave.
This maps represents the average daily traffic, and the total number of vehicles that entered the intersection throughout a 12 hour period. The roads that mold hospital Hill, Troost Ave and Gillham Rd, show lower than predicted stressed streets. As shown above in the directional traffic map, 31st and Linwood are the most traffic traveled streets with a stress level of 10,000 to 19,999 cars per day.
Below is the map of connecting roads between Hospital Hill and Volker Campus. The level of stress on major roads such as Troost Ave and Main St changes as you pass Emanuel Cleaver Blvd. Another east and west street, MLK Blvd, is a high stress street that connects to highway 71 located east of campus. The stress level of these streets indicates that many students commute to campus via the highway system instead of intercity roads.
We also gathered the various speed limits around both campuses. I found that within Hospital Hill, the speed limit stays at 25 mph on Holmes St, Charlotte St, and Campbell St. The highest street that cuts through campus is 25th St where it rises to 30 mph. In addition, Grand Blvd is 25 mph because of Crown Center and it changes to 30 mph as you exit that area. All other roads in the surrounding area are 35 mph.
I produced sections and plan view of two different intersections of Troost Ave. The first intersection is at 27th and Troost which is directly in front of the Hospital Hill dorms, and the second is located at 51st and Troost on the bottom right corner of campus. We wanted to highlight the differences in infrastructure for pedestrians and cars. The first intersection has a median, a well defined painted area for pedestrians to cross, and on street parking to slow traffic down. The second intersection is a five lane street including a turn lane, and has a crosswalk indicated by only two white lines.
The studied area is from 51st to the North to 55th in the South. And from Holmes on the Eastside to Forest on the West. The area was mostly made up of residential living space, and that continues to this day. Although the two universities have made growth, they have also experienced set backs. The universities acquired some of the residential homes, and the community responded by feeling threatened of change in their neighborhoods. There might be something to the student ‘lifestyle’ that most neighborhood communities don’t want to put up with, as well.
We see a lot of residential growth in between 1925 and 1970. And it seems built-up fairly equally with the universities growth. We also see the commercial area on Troost gain is size. And the Church at 52nd and Troost is finally built. What stood before that, was a parish school. From 1970 to 2020, we see that some of the single-family housing is bought and razed by the school to create, a parking garage at 53rd and Rockhill. For the most part the housing is still in tact from its original placement prior to the 1925 Sanborn Maps. The biggest loss in housing seems to be the homes on the west end of Troost between 53rd and 54th. There is plans for that area to become student housing in the new Master Plan.
I think that this area was late to develop and by the time it did develop, cars had already become a popular mode of transportation. And it is worth noting that Troost used to be a streetcar road. But that could not withstand the transfer to the automobile. This transformation is furthered by the construction of not one, but multiple parking garages being built between the 1970’s and the 2020’s; there is the one mentioned at Rockhill and 53rd, but also the Rockhurst garage at Troost and 51st, and the Stowers Research Institute garage at Troost and 50th. This confederation of parking is unorganized and is exclusive to each group. It seems that the universities did not help make the area more walkable either. Even though when we think of universities there is a walkability/connectivity to the image of a campus. The progression of UMKC becoming a commuter school seems only natural. As the area was developed mostly in the context of the car, none of the single family residential has been up-zoned and roads and parking have been updated for more use. While walkways and bike paths seem out of character for this area now. And little has been done between the universities or its neighbors, even in between the city and the universities, to create walkways that work for the area.
In 1925, the neighborhood clearly used to be single family homes with some buildings that occupied roughly two to three units. There were two separate hospitals which were labeled as “General Hospital” and “Colored Hospital” which is located just north of the large complex. These hospitals that were not nearly as large as the one seen in 2020, and the city blocks were uniform to each other. During the last century, we can see some development starting to take shape for the hospital and school that occupies the space in the present day. The southwest edge of the map used to be occupied by single-family homes, small businesses, a small variety of multifamily homes. While there are some homes that are still standing today, most of them have been replaced for the University of Missouri-Kansas City to build an additional campus that houses the school of dentistry, the school of nursing, and the school of pharmacy. In addition to the campus, Children’s Mercy Hospital is located adjacently with plenty of parking structures scattered through Holmes Street and Charlotte Street.
From 1925-2023, the land has changed from a sparse to very dense. The roads have been realigned from standard blocks along 23rd to accommodate the growth of the general hospital that is now the University of Missouri-Kansas City Hospital Hill Campus. The growth of this learning hospital brings along a large parking structure located at the southern border. Directly below 22nd Street, their are several other facilities including the Truman Medical Center and University Health.
The Troost Park area has seen a trend over the past several decades of a drastic decrease in population. Our detailed study area is home to fewer than 1000 people. Kansas City, MO is experience the complete opposite trend. It has only increased in population since 1990. However, there has been a very recent sign of reinvestment for the Troost Park area. From 2010 to 2018, there has been a small increase in population by about 200 people.
Figure 1. Population around Troost Park from 1950 to 2018. (US Census, ACS 2018)
Housing in the area follows the same pattern. Many units have been demolished since 1950, but there has been a small resurgence in recent years. This is a sign of reinvestment, which almost always bring gentrification. There is no doubt that the Troost Park area requires reinvestment in housing in order to create a vibrant community. We do need to be cautious moving forward, though, to prevent displacement of the existing residents. It is imperative that the existing neighborhood remains in-tact in order for reinvestment to be successful.
Figure 2. Housing Units around Troost Park from 1950 to 2018. (US Census, ACS 2018)
Works Cited US Census 1950, US Census Bureau US Census 1960 , US Census Bureau US Census 1970 , US Census Bureau US Census 1980 , US Census Bureau US Census 1990 , US Census Bureau US Census 2000 , US Census Bureau US Census 2010 , US Census Bureau ACS 2018, US Census Bureau
