As we begin the last stretch towards the final reviews, each segment of the Greenline is finalizing their segment designs based on Chuck Flink’s feedback from last week.  Alongside our adjustments, we’re planning out our exhibit for the Greenline opening on May 11th at the Central Library. We’re working on compiling all of our research, laying out posters, and expressing the narrative of the entire Greenline and its individual segments in a way that is understandable by people who have never heard of the Greenline.

Exhibit Planning at the Central Library

To gain a better understanding of the Greenline from a cyclist’s perspective, we thought it was important to do a bike tour of some of the segments. Lee Trotter with “Free Wheels for Kids”, let us borrow bikes and joined Andrew Arfstrom of West Bottoms Bicycles and Mark Horne of HOK to lead us in a tour. We rode from West Bottoms Bicycles, along the Riverfront Heritage Trail, to the Town of Kansas Bridge, into Kaw Point Park, and finally ending at the newly re-opened Rock Island Bridge. It was helpful to experience some of the specific alignment issues along the trail for ourselves, like when we had to get off our bikes under the Union Pacific bridge. 

I’ve been working on the South segment team along the Crossroads in our studio groups. Recently, we’ve had discussions over our gateway locations, and what the relationship between 19th Street and 18th Street looks like with the proposed opening of the Streetcar on 18th.  With our segment being a medium to house art and events, we’re currently designing strategies to potentially close certain segments of the Greenline to house these elements for business events or First Fridays.

In our seminar, we also met with Doug Stockman of Helix Architecture + Design.  Going over many of Helix’s projects over the years, we take this to give us a better understanding of what affordable housing could look like while keeping an element of community and architecture in our projects.

As we move into the final week of studio, we begin to refine and finalize our designs to reinforce our narrative for our team’s segments.  

Written by Andrew Bui, Fourth Year Architecture Student

The studio this week welcomed landscape architect and author of Greenway Imperatives, Chuck Flink. Each segment team presented their current progress for the Greenline, showing more cohesive plans and stronger coordination across proposals. Chuck offered thoughtful feedback and shared insights from his experience.

I am part of the north segment team, and he encouraged us to look at the Loop Levee Trail in Louisville and the Brickline Greenway in St. Louis. He also emphasized how impactful and restorative greenway systems can be for the local ecology of the Missouri Riverfront.

While in town, Chuck presented “Connecting Communities and Landscapes” as part of the Making a Great City lecture series. The studio attended to better understand the potential impact of the Greenline in Kansas City. He shared examples from projects across the US and explained how greenways preserve valuable land, act as green infrastructure, shape movement through cities, reduce flooding impacts, and support local economies. Before the lecture, program director Lauren Harness and a few students attended a roundtable discussion with Chuck and other leaders in the city involved in the Greenline and other biking infrastructure projects.

In seminar, we heard from Karan Gupta, a project manager from North Carolina with a focus on panelized construction. He walked us through the process and how it is influencing the construction industry.

Overall, the studio gained a lot from this week’s guests. As we move toward the end of the semester, the focus will shift to refining and strengthening the cohesion of our Greenline proposals.

Written by Lauren Brueggemann, Fourth Year Architecture Student

This week at KCDC was all about refining our ideas and strengthening how we communicate them. As we prepare to present next week to Charles Flink, author of The Greenway Imperative, our focus has been on developing clear, compelling visuals and narratives that explain our design decisions. It’s an exciting opportunity, his expertise in greenway planning will offer valuable insight into how we can shape the Greenline into a successful and impactful project for Kansas City.

A big part of our work has been digging deeper into the story behind each segment of the Greenline. KCDC had the opportunity to have a table at the “Spirit of Downtown” Exhibit this week, so we got to practice communicating our story of the Greenline to different audiences.

I’m part of the southern segment team, and much of our effort has gone into finalizing our route. Every decision we’ve made has specific reasoning, and this week we focused on making sure that story comes through. It’s not just about choosing a path, but about clearly explaining why that path matters.

We also had the chance to learn from two guest critics who helped push our thinking further. Dani, an industrial designer, encouraged us to consider the smaller-scale details, things like wayfinding and site elements, and how they shape the overall experience of the Greenline. Her perspective highlighted how these details contribute to a cohesive narrative on the ground.

Liam, from West 8, offered insight into visual storytelling at a larger scale. He emphasized how to create compelling graphics and present them in a way that strengthens the narrative of each segment. His feedback helped us think more critically about how our work is read and understood by others.

Outside of our studio work, members of the east, north, and west teams visited Blip Coffee to watch a different Kansas State planning studio present their master plan for the West Bottoms. Although their project is still in progress, they presented to gather community feedback, which was incredibly insightful to observe. It was a great reminder that master planning is an evolving, collaborative process shaped by ongoing dialogue.

Overall, this week was about clarity, refining not just our designs, but the stories behind them. As we head into our presentation next week, we’re feeling more prepared and excited to share our vision.

Written by Ally Jenkins, Third Year Regional and Community Planning Student