Before fully understanding what has led to the current day Valentine Neighborhood, I knew it as a coffee shop. A beautiful section of homes lining Southwest. Specifically the mediterranean style home on the corner of Southwest and Valentine Rd. I remember coming down southwest as a kid, hoping that someday I should live in that terracotta corner home.

There is a stunning range of homes in the area, and there were many more, I imagine, before I learned of the harm that the Kansas City Life insurance company has brought to the area with the removal of many of these homes, including the most recent 23 that have been demolished within the last three years.

https://savevalentine.com/demos%2Fbefore-and-after

After being assigned this project, we were asked to do a simple investigation and this site was not hard to find. Members of the community as well as people in Midtown and throughout the city, are documenting the process in which homes are being removed from this area, seemingly without warrant. The site Save Valentine is a compiling of the homes that have been demolished, and what the community is doing to try and save the remaining ones.

These homes have been demolished because KC Life Insurance Company, one of the main stakeholders in the area, had purchased the land these homes are on quite some time ago. They are now using that power to tear them down as they please, without any confirmation of what they plan to do with the vacant land. This leaves large swaths of field in the neighborhood where we could be putting housing as we face a crisis in this country.

The Save Valentine effort is challenging this by trying to gain a historical designation for the area surrounding The Norman School, already on the historical registry, as a means to protect some of the remaining housing in the area.

As we progressed through this project, we were given the chance to understand more about the area, but really came to no other conclusions about why this major stakeholder is taking away all of the opportunities for people to live in this area. It is my hope that we soon find out what their intentions are, and in the meantime, to shed light on how the community has come together and how it intends to fight back against things it does not want to see happening in its community.

Looking at w 42nd, east Roanoke Rd and south Westport Road, all the years from the 1800s through 2026 now the changes in this area when it comes to living spaces have increased, but open areas in transportation has decreased. As a population of Kansas City increases throughout the years. The total amount of space increased as well for living and other outside activities. right now Valentine is going through an issue of losing homes due to property being bought out and no plans for development. 

Starting with the amount of living spaces in 1891 during those times there weren’t a lot of people in the Kansas City area, but enough for them to create streets and train lines . Same thing goes for 1990 as well, I’m not increased people making that increase with space but during that time there wasn’t a lot of housing or development there. Going through 1990s and 2026 we can see a boom of businesses and housing options have spread, but the catcher is the way how the streets are designed has changed over time. All of this is important as a future planner and for other community people so they can know their history of where they live or their neighborhood.

The first set of graphs based on the environment underground. The first map shows us where the points of gas  tanks, the single brown field, and protentional hazards,  this tells us that the street that has majority of tanks are mainly along the Broadway. As the second map is  a lay out of the typographic map that tells us about the flood zone areas. Knowing where those flood zones or brown areas are located it can help build that picture of what all will need to be done during the excavation process during any new development.

For the second board, my job was to locate all asset parts of this area, in volving all business. The asset map like the LGBTIQ and music map this is showing the locations of the business in valentine, including  the home business that happen in this area. What I found really cool was that there are a lot of home business/ other business are located on the ground floor. Tying this all together, this lets us know what might be missing in the valentine area when it come to other amities.

Looking at the public realm in areas like Valentine and throughout Kansas City, parking lots have become one of the most dominant features of the urban landscape. Kansas City has long been shaped as a car-oriented city, where people depend on vehicles to move from one destination to another. Because of this, many developments are required to provide large amounts of parking regardless of the actual activity or community need. In Valentine, there is a noticeable balance between green open space and paved parking areas, showing how much land is dedicated to storing cars rather than creating spaces for people. While areas like Westport and the Country Club Plaza use parking garages more frequently, much of the surrounding area still relies heavily on surface parking lots. Along streets such as 33rd Street to Knickerbocker Place, several companies control large blocks of parking, including some of the largest lots owned by Kansas City Life Insurance Company.

Urban theorists such as Jeff Speck and William H. Whyte discuss the importance of the public realm and how cities function when spaces are designed primarily around people instead of automobiles. A successful urban environment is not just about providing parking; it is about creating a mix of uses, walkability, social interaction, and memorable public spaces that give people a reason to return.

Cars remain necessary in many parts of Kansas City, especially in suburban areas like Parkville, where developments are designed differently because of location and lower density. However, the overall objective remains the same: creating environments where people feel comfortable gathering, walking, relaxing, and spending time outdoors. Parking lots do serve a purpose, but they also represent opportunities. These large paved spaces could incorporate green infrastructure, public gathering areas, recreational uses, temporary markets, or safer pedestrian connections that accommodate not only the people who drive cars, but also the people who do not. The goal is not necessarily to eliminate parking, but to rethink how these spaces can contribute more to the community and create a healthier, more connected public realm

What sets this park area different from others that we have in Kansas City is an interactive leading trail separation from Park activities to our activities, a waterfront design complementing the apartment complex’s. Looking closely in to this park, the incentive is to give people different opportunities . There are more than 10 small parks (that are smaller than a mile) that are in Kansas City, Missouri and each of those parks just have a lot of open area. keep it in mind Green areas are very important to Metropolitan areas because of a lot of pollution due to highways and factories. There are other cities in the US that have examples of great urban parks, urban trails that protect open space ,pedestrians, Bikeriders and other small forms of transportation. Kansas City is one of those places that have ample opportunities to make this happen and have but it’s missing a few things. (Name of valentine park) will be enclosed by the people who live int this area, (making their aprtmant number feel Ike a real community), connecting parts to other areas with open space (connecting pennvally park and MCC), as well as connecting other areas with high volume of people ( Main Street, old Westport, plaza, ) keep in mind of the people who use to live in that area keeping them together and giving them a space( loosing homes to kc life, buying property, no plan of new ideas). 

Having an enclosed park that is sounded by those who live in this area like mentioned before.  

 

It has been an incredibly engaging and interesting experience to get to know and understand and plan for the Valentine neighborhood. Through our work with the past, present and future, I was able to create a design for the future of this little North Western corner of the neighborhood that takes what we know and have, and creates a plan for its future that honors those things.

Inspired by what I know about the area already, I created a site analysis that represented what exists there. Unfortunately, there are only two used structures in the area. They are single unit homes. Outside of that, the existing buildings are abandoned. To the North, MCC is an asset that could be better used in the community and boasts itself as Kansas Cities favorite vocational school. There is a lot of green space and potential in this area.

I know that climate change will impact this area, and the entire country so being prepared for that is critical. Working with MCC will create cohesiveness and highlight trade programs, and hopefully carry over into the neighborhood and creating more housing will only help the potential influx of people having to move because of climate change and people already experiencing houselessness in Kansas City.

There are several plans in place in Kansas City already that support potential for the future. With trade schools on the rise, it would only be beneficial for MCC to be more engrained in the community. The East West transit study wants to bring more public transportation to the area. Bridging the Gap and the KC Spirit Playbook both embrace a climate forward future by adopting an Urban Forest plan that would help fight against heating and heavier rains in our future.

The site plan and implementation steps are listed above. With all of the room on the site, I recommended adding in multiple at cost, affordable and transitional housing options. At least 200 units total. The implementation steps will take 5- 20 years to complete and should cost around $200,000,000.00.

Finally, making emphasis on climate change adaptation, housing necessity and working with MCC to create community between the school and neighborhood, I believe that North West Valentine can prosper and become a hub for all of midtown and benefit everyone who lives and comes there.

In my study of Valentine in Kansas City, I focused on everyday elements of the public realm walls, fences, and bollards, that often go unnoticed but strongly shape how space is experienced. These features act as physical and visual boundaries within the city, quietly organizing movement, access, and behavior.
Walls and fences clearly separate private property from shared or publicly accessible space, signaling where entry is restricted and where control shifts from collective use to individual ownership. Bollards, while less visually dominant, serve a similar function by managing movement and preventing certain types of access, often guiding how pedestrians, vehicles, and public space interact.
Together, these elements reveal that the public realm is not completely open or neutral. Instead, it is carefully structured through boundaries that define who can enter, linger, or pass through. In this sense, walls, fences, and bollards become more than physical objects they are indicators of the ongoing division between private and public space.

In the end

From 1950 through much of the late 20th century, marriage was widely viewed as an expected part of adulthood in the United States. Social norms strongly encouraged people to marry young, start families, and follow a heteronormative lifestyle. During this time, being unmarried later in life was often uncommon, and heterosexual marriage was considered the social standard. Census data from the 1950s and 1960s reflected this expectation, with the majority of adults listed as married.

Over the decades, attitudes toward relationships and personal identity gradually changed. The women’s rights movement, increased access to higher education and careers, changing economic conditions, and greater acceptance of different lifestyles all contributed to shifts in marriage patterns. By the 1990s and 2000s, people were marrying later in life, and more individuals chose to remain single, cohabit without marriage, or pursue nontraditional relationships.

Today, marriage is seen more as a personal choice than a social requirement. Society has also become more accepting of different sexual orientations and family structures. Because of these changes, modern census data shows a more balanced distribution between people who are married and those who have never married. Unlike in the 1950s, where marriage was expected for most adults, current trends reflect greater individual freedom and a wider variety of life paths.

 I’m presenting my proposed site plan for the Valentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. My project is centered around one big idea: creating a mixed-use neighborhood market that brings together housing, local business, and community opportunity in one place. This project is about more than just buildings, it’s about creating a system where people can live, work, learn, and grow together. It brings together culture, opportunity, and thoughtful urban design to strengthen the Valentine neighborhood.