I did not grow up in cities. Until recently I have always lived in or near wilderness areas- areas that have few major roads and where nature and man meet in very different ways than they do in Kansas City. The Parks and Boulevards system is a very intriguing idea to me. To have to actually make an effort to bring nature to a city is still a strange concept. Nature and beauty has always just “been there” no one had to add it back in but it is something that has become more and more necessary as our cities grow and our access to nature becomes less obvious.

Access to green space on a daily basis has proven to be beneficial and vital to the mental, physical and emotional well-being of humans as was discussed at length in an article titled Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. For example, there are strong links between child behavioral problems and access to green space activities or lack thereof and that interaction with nature and animals is important to child development (Wolch, 2014).  The ways in which these concepts are surfacing vary from green building designs to improving connections between the city and parks.  Kessler’s vision for Parks and Boulevards system may have been conceived of nearly a century ago but it has very relevant and applicable components today.

While driving the Parks & Boulevards system in Kansas City, with a little bit of background information in tow, I can imagine what it was like in the 1940’s to go for a leisurely family drive on a Sunday afternoon and perhaps stopping along the way at Troost Lake for a picnic (Yes, I said Troost Lake). The slowly curving, wide lanes winding through beautiful homes, parks and memorials along the way. With as few cars on the road as there was then I can imagine this to have been a pleasant and enchanting excursion. Today, though there are strong remnants of past intentions evident, we are not living in the same century and many things have changed since the P&B (Parks & Boulevards) system was envisioned in the early part of the 1900’s.

Many of the neighborhoods and destinations that this system runs through and to are now run down and not as well maintained as they could be and are for the most part underutilized, with a few exceptions. The whole system feels disjointed and confusing and while driving through it there doesn’t seem to be a natural flow of the connecting boulevards. I don’t live near the system and when I owned a car I avoided it because it was inefficient, so prior to being given the background on parks and boulevards system I really didn’t understand what was happening with Kansas City streets at all. I found it unclear, fragmented and seemingly random. For instance, the pavilion structure on Paseo between 11th & 12th,  it has always seemed arbitrary and out of place to me. I didn’t understand the purpose of such a structure in that particular location, and the people that first introduced me to Kansas City couldn’t give me any information on it either.

 “Do people go there? What do you do there? Why is it there? Why would someone spend a bunch of money building something like that that no one ever uses and can’t use?” None of my tour guides could answer those questions- they only laughed and took me to Loose Park. Clearly the idea of the parks and boulevards has been lost on this city and its new residents.

I do not own a personal vehicle and I rely largely on public transportation, walking or cycling to destinations so the appeal of such a car-centric system is largely lost on me in the first place and it also causes me to be much more sensitive to issues with alternative transportation. There are bike lanes and sidewalks that randomly start and stop, as if someone started a project and midway through and got distracted by something shinny somewhere else and moved on. There is a serious lack of parking at the many stops along the P&B system so if you are driving it seems as though no one wants you to actually stop. I can’t tell if these memorials and parks were designed to have people visit or not. Many of them have benches which would make them seem as if they were welcoming to the public, or at least were once, but the access to them now is hazardous at best especially by bike or foot and lack parking otherwise. (at least this is my experience with the few that I visited) Though there are clearly attempts being made to improve and maintain this system in Kansas City, the overall feeling is one of confusing unimportance.

 An example of this is at the Kennedy Memorial at St. John’s avenue and Bellefontain Ave. It is an absolutely amazing structure that I would love to go spend my lunch break at. It seems to be well maintained and it appears that there is work being done to repair and reinvigorate the site,  but getting to it would be an absolute nightmare if you weren’t in a car.

There are no sidewalks or bike lanes and a confusing parking situation. Are you supposed to stop here? Am I parked in the street? There is a tennis court and another green space next to it as well as residential area and a very busy street separating all of these things with no way to cross it safely. There are many missed connection opportunities that could bring this space to life in a different way. I would go there if I could get there alive.

Another, just odd personal realization I had while wandering around these parks was that I I have an aversion to walking on lawns, and I’m thinking I’m probably not the only one that does. I feel like I’m walking on someone’s nice white carpet with muddy boots- any minute I’m going to get in trouble! Some of the stops along the way have this don’t tread on me feel to them. Like Bud park. It is a beautiful and huge space with lots of paths and grass… should I walk on it? What does one do with all that lawn? It’s like a painting. It serves no purpose other than to be seen, but it is sure missed when it isn’t there.  If these are really supposed to be actively used how do we promote their use?

Though the idea of introducing and maintaining nature in an urban context is a different concept for me it is perhaps more valuable and necessary in an an area like Kansas City than the places I grew up. Overall, once I understood the big idea behind the P&B system,  I found it to be beautiful and loaded with potential.  We are fortunate in Kansas City to have so many parks available to us and it is sad to see so few of them actually being used for their intended purposes any longer. The system as a whole is not necessarily valued as the amazing resources for activity, community engagement and overall health and well-being of the residents of Kansas City and it should be.  It is time to refocus its value, involve the communities in positive ways and update the system so that it can be move into this century and beyond.  And though it is highly unlikely that any of us in Kansas City will have the experience of crossing paths with a black bear on our walk through Budd Park the experience of the walk itself is no less valuable and vital.

Wolch, J. R. (2014). Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: The challenge of making cities ‘just green enough’. Landscape and Urban Planning (125), 234-244.