Erasing the Redline Together: The Troost Avenue Story

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Certification Maintenance

CM | 0.75

Course Details

Racism and lack of investment have deeply impacted many neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri. While there has been a dismantling of systems that created these inequities, few efforts to support community-driven and equity-focused redevelopment have taken place. Even after the elimination of redlining, the lack of corrective actions leaves many communities economically compromised with lower quality-of-life for residents. This becomes apparent at the neighborhood edge where stable neighborhoods can be found across the street.

This course focuses on Troost Avenue where leaders on the east side (predominantly people of color) and west side (predominantly white) directed planning efforts focused on bridging the racial and economic divide establishing land use and guidelines through discussions at the dinner table, photography walks and displays, community research, self-promoted town hall meetings, and more.

Learning Outcomes

  • Prepare design regulations to address inequities in community development based upon a common foundation of facts and a citizen-driven process.
  • Empower community members to assume leadership of meetings and public engagement processes in the preparation of supplemental requirements to improve the quality of new development in their neighborhood.
  • Foster project developer support for supplemental land use, zoning, and streetscape regulations crafted by a diverse group of community leaders with varied needs and expectations.