Kansas City is a car dominated culture. It  is obvious when you try crossing the street, on a crosswalk, and a police officer won’t stop for you (true story). It’s clear when you begin to walk to a local shop and find yourself walking on cracked and broken sidewalks- if the sidewalks exist at all.  As we move into a world where autonomous vehicles may replace the average person’s car, we need to keep one major concept in mind-commuters are pedestrians at some point in their commute.

We must plan for the pedestrian first. Secondly, we ought to consider bicycles and modes of public transit.  What we lost in our transportation revolution of the 1920’s was the prioritization of people. Infrastructure for cars created suburban sprawl, destroyed minority communities, and distanced job centers from employees.  How can we be sure that autonomous vehicles won’t do the same?

My hypothesis is that  being strategic and making incremental changes to our built environment, prior to autonomous vehicle mass production, is our method to return transportation to a people oriented focus.

1. Create cohesive sidewalk networks
2. Link bike facilities to regional amenities
3. Emphasize public transportation facilities that already exist
4. Re-purpose surface parking to income generating land uses
5.  Encourage incremental development

These strategies can work cohesively to ensure that wherever our transportation technologies go in the future, we don’t forget who the technology is intended for- people.

These strategies also make it possible to turn big box lots into sustainable hubs for transportation, work, live, and play.

Blue Ridge Crossing is currently anchored by a Walmart and a Lowes. It was created using TIF  which implies that the site was unable to support itself without public financing and that the City has determined making an investment in the area is worthwhile. I propose that within 40 years the street network is re-introduced, creating smaller parcels to reduce the burden on developers and encourage incremental development. a reducing or removal in parking requirements further reduces development costs.

I believe that more variety in land uses would serve a greater public of people.

Walmart has also been reducing the size of their buildings, investing in mixed use real estate, and  increasing the quality of building materials. This means that Kansas City could retain the partnership with this store – said to be a key component to this mobility hub by an anonymous KCATA employee- and  implement the strategies listed above.

This updated street network works harmoniously with smaller blocks to create a cohesive sidewalk network that reconnects the adjacent neighborhoods to the site and a more pleasant experience for users.

Downtown Leavenworth is home to many local businesses, and has remained so to this day. From bicycle shops, to surplus stores, it is clear to see how important it is to retain its local only image. Recent developments in the area are the Home 2 suites by Hilton, and the in-progress renovation of the Landing 4 theater into a B&B luxury theater. The Home 2 suits would serve visitors flying in from other parts of the country to visit relatives in the area, such as those residing in Fort Leavenworth, or even some who are incarcerated at one of the not so far penitentiary. Entertainment is one the vital elements to include in a downtown district, as such that the new B&B Theater will give residents an enjoyable pastime.

Proposed new developments are what seem to be a slightly difficult task. The new Mobility Hub will be located on the corner of southwest corner lot of Delaware and 3^rd Street, marked Lot A. This placement of the mobility hub will allow a new bus route to branch off the traffic heavy 4^th street, that becomes highway US 73 a few miles south. This hub will house many amenities for the various modes of transport. Some that are currently existing, and some that may come along within the next 20 years, such as fully autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles and further advancements in vehicular technology could drastically change the way we think about traveling, parking, and vehicle ownership. In which case, the parking lot directly south of the mobility hub, will be reutilized, visualized as Lots B and E. Downtown Leavenworth is almost all paved which does not at all help with water retention which creates the possibility of better designing lots that are still needed and redeveloping those that are not.

Lot C, is yet another parking lot that could be better utilized. This parking lot, as many others do, is to be used by people shopping in the Downtown. It is also used for parking for the building to the west, The Leavenworth Youth Achievement Center. It appears as the offices are in a different building abutting the larger building. The green space to the left of the Youth Center building is also used for outdoor activities. Other activities that they partake in, are bicycle rides. This brings in the apparent absence of any sort of bicycle infrastructure in the area. A new building will be proposed and designed to bring a larger amount of amenities that the Youth Center can benefit from.

The lot on the northeast of this, designated as Lot D is a vacant lot that went unused after the Home 2 suites were constructed. Building a new structure on this lot would be challenging, in which very much needed green space would better serve people in the area, and possibly movie-goers as they wait for their film. A past proposal of re doing a sidewalk and implementing a sidewalk with a winding path, would fit very well in a redeveloped area.

Sidewalks are home to many of the different elements in the public realm. Whether it be lighting, planters, signs, or street furniture, these elements are what make sidewalks more walk-able. Though, some of these elements may not always be found and some may not be implemented as best as they could, the focus now will be on sidewalks, paving, and the variety of pedestrian pathways.

It could be said that the specific paving used in these three walking oriented elements can make them successful, unsuccessful, as well as show the amount of effort that was done to better the public walking infrastructure. Some places choose to keep the existing design style of the sidewalks and focus on only doing repairs, while others may completely change the aesthetics of them. And by doing so, this, what some would think an unnecessary change, can change the entire feel of an area.

Many cities are making the shift to the utilization of different pavement materials on crosswalks to better identify their location as well as their hierarchy on the streetscape. Some would even prefer that crosswalks be at sidewalk-level, rather than street, in order to better give pedestrians the right-of-way, which goes unnoticed by drivers.The change in paving has also been used to clearly identify gathering spaces, with the possibility to extend towards the sidewalk, utilizing the same paving to generate a path that people walking could identify and follow.

Located in the Northland of Kansas City, Missouri, not far from the airport. North Oak Traffic Way is 10.5 miles long of road that runs through North Kansas City, Kansas City, Gladstone, Village of Oaks, Oakwood, Oakwood Park, and Oakview. Barry Road is one of the few connectors that run east to west in the Northland. Located at the site are multiple commercial buildings and a church. Just within half a mile to the west is the old Metro North Mall, which is now under construction becoming Metro North Crossing a mix-use area.

I am designing a Mobility Hub for MARC in Gardner, KS as a part of a group of Mobility Hubs strategically chosen in Kansas City’s metropolitan area.  Gardner is expecting new companies and jobs in manufacturing and warehousing and more residents moving in. The city has a population of 21,110 (source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2016) and is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 2.9% in the next 20 years, “which equals approximately 800 people per year or 280 households”  (source: Gardner Main Street Corridor Plan).

Historically, Gardner was the junction of three trails – Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail and California Trail. Furthermore, Gardner is connected to different transportation options – Rail, Air and Interstate 35. Today, Gardner receives thousands of visitors during the summer visiting the Johnson County Fair Grounds.

Gardner has potential to continue growing with future job opportunities, the quantity of undeveloped land available and the entertainment and tourism the Fair Grounds attracts.

What appears as just a Walmart and Lowes surrounded by a vast array of parking spots could be the next mobility hub of Kansas City, Missouri.

Within a 1/4 mile radii exists four bus stops that route to nearly every part of the city.

The completion of the Rock Island Corridor will connect this site to a bicycle network that crosses state lines.

Parking share methods could allows for increased  development around this hub.

This site was created using TIF funding that is nearing the end of its terms; yet, if it wasn’t for the Walmart the existing transportation network here would exist (according to a source at KCATA)

The question arises how can this site be improved in the next 20 years that maintains partnerships that support public transit ( aka Walmart) and increases the density of housing and retail to support more comprehensive mobility amenities.

A few ideas:

Maintain the Walmart partnership- they are working in other cities to downsize their stores and increase the quality if their buildings.

Create a cohesive sidewalk network- every mode user is a pedestrian at some point in their day

Re-open the street network- such a large site begs for big box stores with large parking requirements. Reintegrating a street grid with moderate sized blocks creates parcel that are easier to develop and a more pleasant pedestrian environment

Consolidate the bus stops- four bus stops within a 1/4 mile radii  disperses people, funding, and possible amenities. Consolidated provides one spot for mode switch that can be greatly enhanced

On Friday March 16, the Junior Planning Students along with representatives from MARC held a charrette and presentation on Mobility Hubs associated with the Smart Moves 3.0 Plan. As a student in this class, my fellow students and I presented the information and data we have gathered on each of the mobility hubs.  Among the attendees were various public officials associated with the mobility hubs that we randomly chose for our final project along with representatives from MARC and KCATA.

After the presentation, we invited attendees to participate in an information-gathering activity we dubbed “word salad.” The activity involved asking the participants to write down what Mobility Hubs and the future of autonomous vehicles meant to them. We then asked them to switch papers with another attendee and then highlight the words that stood out the most to them.

Next, we asked participants to follow a series of posters each representing different forms of transportation. On each poster, they were to mark which image of provided amenities was most important to enhance the individual transportation experience. This was done using a series of colored dots. Some participants even took the time to write additional amenities on the poster that weren’t available as a choice on the poster.

Finally, we invited our guests to move to the tables associated with each individual mobility hub assigned that represented the city or organization they were affiliated with. We gathered valuable input for development opportunities at our hubs as well as gain insight on the current ideas for the individual areas. Ideas and notes were represented and drawn using colorless development maps and and a box of crayons.

The information we gathered along with the experience itself were both invaluable to us as students learning about the profession. Some of the responses given for the various modes of transportation were surprising, and we discovered that both bike and bus-related amenities really matter to those involved. Unsurprisingly, as our group of attendees were all in the profession, not much emphasis was put on amenities for automobiles. Our guests also indicated  a desire for making the pedestrian experience as aesthetically pleasing as possible through plantings, trees, lighting and street art. Finally, the activities showed us that the most important amenities to include in and around mobility hubs were those that involved eating, drinking and spending money, as the amenities most selected were cafes, grocery stores, bars and small retail.

The public realm is made up of a diversity of elements. Signs are an element that communicates to the public, direct and attract people through landmarks. As we meander or travel through the city, signs assist us in wayfinding.

Signs for food and a diversity of businesses

For people to follow wayfinding signs, the signs must be easy to find and understand, match the human-scale and be attractive. There are plenty of signs that are too big or too small which a pedestrian might miss. Some signs are simply confusing to understand or even exclude people from public places.

Public Property Warning Sign

In the mission to find signs in the public realm, I realized they are everywhere and that signs can serve different functions.  They Direct and serve as Landmarks. It’s important for there to be Signs that Direct people toward the places they want to arrive to. As people commute and transfer from one mode of transportation to the next, they need signs to know when and how trips happen. People need to know whether to turn left or right to move toward their destination. Signs that Direct serve an important role in tourism, for tourists to identify where they are and easily find important places.

Overland Park Downtown Directory

Landmarks are vital to wayfinding. Landmarks have social significance and remain in our minds as a reference of a place in relation to the area. Landmarks are meeting places and can be places that are heavily traveled. Some examples of Signs as Landmarks in Kansas City are Public Art, Murals, and business and theater signs.

I am designing a mobility hub for Gardner, KS. Creating a Lynch Diagram and a Land Use map of Gardner, KS, I realized that the blocks with a diversity in Land Use are higher in density and have a greater number of landmarks and signs. These areas with a diversity in Land Use and higher density attract activity and social interactions.

(Photos are my own)