What is the KCDC?
Located in the heart of downtown Kansas City, the Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) is a nationally-recognized, service-learning urban design program that operates as a 501(c)3 nonprofit partnership among local civic leaders, professional designers, and the architecture and planning programs at Kansas State University.
MISSION/PURPOSE
Our mission is simple: promote design excellence within Kansas City’s built environment and serve the professional and civic communities in Kansas City while focusing on design innovation, thought leadership, resiliency, environmental stewardship, and local and racial equity and inclusion. We accomplish this in two ways:
1. EDUCATION
The KCDC engages university faculty and some of the region’s most talented architecture and planning students in a unique learning laboratory that actively explores real-world issues facing Kansas City’s future development. Our educational programs are built around our resident urban design studio, through which faculty and students form partnerships with local client groups and stakeholders to develop design concepts and visioning proposals addressing major architectural, urban design and urban planning issues throughout metropolitan Kansas City.
2. PUBLIC SERVICE
The KCDC serves as an independent forum for critical dialogues about architecture and planning issues, and offers technical assistance to public agencies and local community organizations. This includes everything from hosting free lectures by internationally renowned architects to collaborating with local organizations and non-profits on projects that seek to improve Kansas City's livability.
FUNDING
The KCDC has been generously supported by:
Hall Family Foundation
Regnier Family Foundation
Tom McDonnell Foundation Francis Family Foundation
William T. Kemper Family Foundation
Kansas State University
University of Kansas
The KCDC would also like to recognize our corporate and professional firm donors:
PARTNERSHIPS & Collaborations
The KCDC actively seeks to partner and collaborate with community organizations, stakeholders and residents, local governments, and design professionals to promote excellence in urban design and the built environment. Current and past partnerships and collaborations
include:
KCMO City Manager’s Office
KCMO Planning Department
Mid America Regional Council
KCK Unified Government Planning Department
KCMO Office of Culture and Creative Services
KCMO Downtown Council
KCMO Parks and Recreation
KCMO Central Industrial District Association
KCMO Industrial Council
KSU Urban Water Institute
Urban Land Institute
American Institute of Architects Kansas City
Kansas City Young Architects Forum
Better Block KC
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Public Improvements Advisory Committee
Housing and Urban Development
Historic West Bottoms Association
Asian Americans For Equality
KC Public Schools
Northeast Industrial Council
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
KCATA
Bikewalk KC
Bridging the Gap
Heartland Conservation Alliance
Westside Housing Organization
Port KC
Pendleton Heights Neighborhood Association
Northeast Alliance Together (NEAT)
Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association
Prospect Business Association
Indian Mound Neighborhood