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Guiding Principles for Civic Design

THE PUBLIC REALM is a city’s face to the world. Great cities are distinguished by the quality of their public places, the integrity of the built environment, and the social and cultural vitality of their public life. As citizens, public officials, professionals and property owners we are all stewards of the public realm; collectively, we are charged with the responsibility to provide and maintain a built environment that represents the pride, spirit, dignity and enterprise of Kansas City.

As history shows us, Kansas City has consistently endeavored to find its own character. A city is a living ecology of many natural and man-made forces — earth, infrastructure, streets and sidewalks, buildings and public spaces — and people. Each of these features functions independently and as part of a dynamic whole. The regional landscape, the city’s growth and metropolitan development, and the social structure and culture of our city are all embedded in an ongoing process of dynamic change. Because the city is ever changing, we need to draw on common, agreed-upon principles to fashion policies that maintain and build upon past successes.

With this in view, we offer these ten Guiding Principles for Civic Design.

1. Nurture design excellence through leadership by example.
   Public buildings and public spaces — parks and the public right-of-way — should establish a high standard of architectural and urban design excellence, serve as deliberate opportunities for innovative design, and set an example for private developers to emulate. Good design should be a key consideration in the development of new public buildings, as well as the basic infrastructure that shapes the character and vitality of a city’s streets, sidewalks, parks, boulevards, and plazas.
   
   
2. Create an authentic sense of place.
   The physical form, patterns, activities and uses of the public realm should embody the unique characteristics of the people, place, natural environment and civic intentions of our city. To foster a distinctive and vital public realm, local planning and zoning, building regulations, and development policies should enable entrepreneurial investments by reducing startup costs, mitigating risk, and helping to build an active base of consumers to support locally-owned and operated ventures.
   
   
3. Design streets for people.
   The safest street is one animated by a high level of human activity and presence. Streets dominated by and designed exclusively for automobiles are incompatible with the very notion of a livable city. No street should serve a single purpose or function; rather, streets should simultaneously support and encourage automobile, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian travel, and enable ease of movement among a range of buildings, uses, and activities. Every public investment in transportation infrastructure is also an opportunity to reinforce the character of local neighborhoods, foster economic development, protect the natural environment, conserve historic places, reduce automobile dependence, and enhance quality of life.
   
   
4. Provide quality art in the public realm.
   Public art selected through a dedicated public process creates local identity and adds experiential dynamism to the public realm. By celebrating Kansas City’s rich artistic culture, we enhance the city's national identity and help invigorate and support the local economy while attracting tourists and new residents.
   
   
5. Sustain and improve urban neighborhoods.
   The public realm is the physical glue that defines the character and integrity of urban neighborhoods. Housing that is safe, affordable, well-constructed and designed to fit the character of its neighborhood contributes to a vibrant public realm, increases quality of life, and builds social equity and civic engagement among neighbors. Healthy neighborhoods also are built on a mix of incomes and lifestyles, and offer varied options for shopping, employment and entertainment.
   
   
6. Respect the integrity and value of the urban fabric.
   Like a human being, the City is alive and, as it matures, it continues to refine and develop its own sense of character. The Crossroads, West Side, Brookside, Hyde Park and 18th and Vine Districts exemplify a balance between excellent design and organic evolutionary process. Different building forms, scales and types, as well as complementary land uses, should be permitted and integrated into the texture of any urban area. Older buildings help define the contours of the public realm, and public policies should facilitate their adaptive reuse for new uses and activities without compromising their architectural character or imposing inappropriate or unrealistic regulatory burdens on property owners.
   
   
7. Strengthen Kansas City with integrated public transit.
   Effective public transit serves the City and the region by improving access to the urban core and reducing traffic congestion and pollution. Transit also strengthens the urban fabric by supporting walkable neighborhoods, urban density, and mixed-use development. Development policies and incentives should promote transit-oriented development, and transit should be used to foster stronger connections between urban and suburban areas.
   
   
8. Respect natural ecosystems and the beauty of the regional landscape.
   Sustainable design is an ethical necessity in the face of dwindling energy stocks and natural resources. Design and development regulations should work in concert to ensure that the public infrastructure that supports private development actively conserves and protects sensitive natural environments. Design solutions also should be tailored to the specific climate, natural ecology, and topography of the regional landscape. Kansas City’s parks and boulevards are renowned because design was used to foster a new appreciation for the natural beauty of a rugged landscape that had long been considered an obstacle to rapid urban development.
   
   
9. Invest strategically in public spaces.
   Buildings that successfully engage with the public realm enable vitality, beauty and economic success. The space between buildings, in turn, is given life by the planning, organization and design of the buildings along its edges. Investments in the public realm build the value of the city’s tax base and promote long-term economic sustainability and public control of the city’s destiny. This is good for the property owner and the public — both enjoy long-term economic stability because the public realm is more beautiful, better maintained, encourages private investment, and fulfills its role in the daily life of the people of Kansas City.
   
   
10. Practice stewardship for the public realm.
    A shared physical environment that encourages frequent and informal interactions between strangers enhances public safety, helps build community identity, and promotes civic duty and citizenship. Local government therefore has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure long-term security and stability of the public realm. Local decision making processes should be made more accountable and transparent by supporting public collaboration in the design of the built environment.

About the Principles

These principles were developed by a working group consisting of representatives of AIA Kansas City, the Kansas City Design Center, and the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

Inspired in part by the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, which were adopted by the General Services Administration to foster design excellence in public architecture, the Guiding Principles seek to provide a values-based framework for public deliberations about design policy issues.