KCRag Forum

Pigmented concrete use in buildings.

https://www.archdaily.com/910825/the-po ... with-color

The next big disruption is coming: How cities can prepare for flying cars

New roads and railways take decades of work, but flying cars can make their own way.

https://www.freethink.com/technology/flying-cars-35737

How Miami Decided Parking Is More Important Than Housing

https://slate.com/business/2022/05/miam ... using.html

Did a Highway Kill the City of Hartford?

https://commonedge.org/did-a-highway-ki ... hdaily.com

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hartf ... 72.6733723

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. A lot of things that rhyme with KC's highway problems.

^ I lived in Hartford for about 10 years. It's a strange city in many ways, more like an overgrown New England town than a traditional city:
1. It is tiny -- maybe the size of Brookside
2. It has a wealthy neighborhood -- really wealthy "The West End" which has a physical barrier (the Park River, north branch, and an adjacent railway) to the rest of the city
3. It has many impoverished neighborhoods. Like no-go ghettos. Really rundown buildings from the nineteenth century and overgrown lots.
4. It has maybe two or three middle-class neighborhoods -- a Jamaican bourgeois hood called Blue Hills and a Brazilian bourgeois hood called Parkville
5. It has wealthy companies -- really wealthy (some in the suburbs, but all nearby) Six prosperous insurance headquarters, plus Carrier Air Conditioning, Otis Elevator, Pratt & Whitney Jet Engines, Sikorsky Helicopters; Stanley Tool; and several others. The leaders of these companies mostly live in the West End or the adjacent Hartford Golf Club district (just over town line in West Hartford) OR in old town Farmington (the other uber-wealthy neighborhood in the area).
6. Amazing arts -- The Wadsworth Atheneum; the Hartford Symphony; the Bushnell Center; the Mark Twain Center -- plus several decent clubs and restaurants. Oh and Trinity College is also there, plus several graduate programs from UConn.

Anyhow, Hartford's problems are not derived from Interstate 84 -- they were there a long time before that highway was cut through town. I-91, which runs parallel to the Connecticut River, is less intrusive in town life. But it is nonetheless a huge impediment to any river redevelopment.

On TikTok, Teens Stuck in the Suburbs Get the Urbanist Pitch

Step aside, makeup tutorials and viral dance challenges — TikTok for urban planning has arrived.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... nt=citylab

Developers in China constructed a 10-floor building in just 28 hours

https://mashable.com/video/china-modula ... d-in-a-day

FangKC wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 12:05 am Did a Highway Kill the City of Hartford?

https://commonedge.org/did-a-highway-ki ... hdaily.com

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hartf ... 72.6733723

Was in Madison, WI this past weekend I forgot how transit friendly it is, there are lots of bike trails, great bus infrastructure, it would actually be a great city for light rail. Its a city similar in size to Hartford but the one thing i noticed is that the interstate does not rip right thru the downtown or anything, all of the highways are on the outer belt of the city, wonder if there were ever plans to put a highway in the downtown part of the city maybe along one of the lakes since madison is basically an isthmus.

No, Cities Aren’t Doomed Because of Remote Work

https://www.curbed.com/2023/03/remote-w ... urce=insta

Posted by urbanlab_kc on their Instagram account.

New developments should be deserving to be a part of Kansas City. Every new construction affects its legacy, and they should build upon it. This only happens when we hold them to a high standard so that they are economically resilient and actively improve the urban landscape.

“At least it’s better than a parking lot” is a low bar to set for a city that takes such pride in itself.

See the examples in the link.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr3wZX8JXdq ... _copy_link

urbanlab_kc
There are alternatives to “the podium block.” It is entirely possible to build an environment that reflects the existing city created in the early 20th century. Diversity in the building stock allows for better environments to walk through, more options for tenants, and a beautiful city.

This can be achieved with updates to zoning and the establishment of a city-run board that vets architectural design to respect historic districts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr3yM5WJkiX ... _copy_link

Hard pass on architecture review. Set standards but do not add another layer of human review ($) on development projects.

Yo, architects, chill.

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 6:38 am Hard pass on architecture review. Set standards but do not add another layer of human review ($) on development projects.

Yo, architects, chill.

It’s been an internal discussion with UrbanLab on that matter for sure. Big picture is sometimes more difficult to explain to some folks who are more project oriented by nature. I’ll pass along the feedback overall though.

Design review should be mandated in historic district across the city.

St. Louis has the Cultural Resources Office, which reviews new projects and demolitions within historic districts in the city. They make sure those projects fit with the character of the neighborhoods and districts, but can be more lenient as long as an architect makes an effort with the design. If the CRO determines a project does not meet the standards, they'll refer to the case to the Preservation Board. The Preservation Board will typically approve projects as long as an effort was made to fit in with the neighborhood or the proposed neighborhood saw no investment for such a long time that it makes sense to allow it.

This process is free to the developer and adds a month of time to the planning process, but if you factor that into the planning process, it's not a problem.

There is no reason Kansas City can't have something like this as a way to ensure quality development in the oldest neighborhoods of the city. KC has quite a few historic districts, but presently, you can just come in and demolish to your heart's content. Sometimes, the city will step in and establish a historic overlay district, but that's not enough. You need to make sure projects fit in.

So, if a Cultural Resources Office were established in Kansas City with clear expectations, I'd be in full support of it as it would protect and enhance our oldest neighborhoods and lead to productive scrutiny of new developments.

Kansas City doesn’t need another level of government to slow down development. The last thing I would want is for KC to be more like STL

langosta wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 3:34 pm Kansas City doesn’t need another level of government to slow down development. The last thing I would want is for KC to be more like STL

Truth. The only places you'll find support for this already have overlays.

You certainly won't find any sympathy in the Crossroads.

Put energy into avoiding the loss -- demolition by neglect and the basic ease of demolishing things.

langosta wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 3:34 pm Kansas City doesn’t need another level of government to slow down development. The last thing I would want is for KC to be more like STL

100%

Architecture reviews are helpful to nobody except maybe the failed architects & planners working in the department.

Dave pretty much nailed it, added cost, months of delays and often the design is crappier/cheaper… even if it now “meets” the aesthetic of the area.

A tale of two suburbs

I recently rode a commuter train through San Mateo County, California, which is just south of San Francisco. San Mateo is one of the most expensive places to live in all of America, and the view from the train made it easy to see why.

Zoning restrictions in the Bay Area are almost unbelievably counterproductive. Looking outside the train window, you see lots of valuable land right next to the major commuter rail line that is used for unproductive purposes. While there are a few newer apartment buildings, mostly you see lots of ugly low rise buildings, including run down ranch houses, one story warehouses, strip malls, etc. It’s a bleak sight, and a tremendous waste of valuable real estate.

While riding in the train, I thought about the Orange Line subway through Arlington, Virginia, which is the county just south of Washington DC. It’s a nice comparison, because each country is a beacon for high paid professionals working in some of our most dynamic labor markets.

But there’s a big difference between San Mateo and Arlington counties. While the latter does contain lots of low-rise residential neighborhoods, it also allows dense high-rise development within walking distance of the subway line. According to a study by Emily Hamilton, this has led to a surge in apartment construction:
...

https://www.econlib.org/a-tale-of-two-suburbs/

Americans Spend Too Much Time in Cars. The Solution Is Simple.

What do Americans have to fear from new housing being built in their neighborhoods? Last month, a study from Sacramento reached a decisive conclusion: 63 percent of respondents said a primary concern was the impact on traffic and parking. Neither neighborhood character, school overcrowding, crime, nor environmental impact topped 25 percent.

That survey illustrates something you can see at any neighborhood meeting or on the local news: America’s automobile-dependent transportation system is making it impossible for us to fix a shortage of homes that now numbers in the millions, one reason that a new home is harder to afford than it has been in decades. The best place to build those homes is where people drive the least, and not just because neighbors want less traffic. Less driving also means a lower cost of living (transportation is the second-largest household expense after housing), fewer car crashes (a leading cause of death for young Americans), and a smaller impact on the environment (cars are the largest source of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions).
...

https://slate.com/business/2023/06/subu ... tions.html