We've Built Cities We Can't Afford

For decades, towns and cities across North America have squandered precious resources by pursuing an approach to growth that doesn’t actually make the community more prosperous. Quite the opposite, since we invest heavily in expensive infrastructure we’re then committed to maintain and replace in perpetuity—making us poorer in both the short- and longterm.

In this sense, Kansas City, Missouri is no different than most communities in the United States and Canada. In the last 70 years, the physical size of Kansas City has quadrupled while the population has remained relatively stable. (Put another way, every resident of Kansas City is on the hook for maintaining four times as much of the city as his or her predecessors.) In Kansas City, there are 6,500 linear miles of lanes just in the city street system—so not including county, state and federal roadways. This is the equivalent of driving from New York to San Francisco and back, with a bonus trip to Portland, Maine. According to the Kansas City public works department, to maintain and replace existing roads it needs ten times more money each year than it can ask for. 

While these stats are specific to Kansas City, Missouri, the story is familiar to anyone who has come to recognize the effects of the suburban development pattern: we’ve built cities we can’t afford.

Yet there are two assets that set Kansas City apart from many other communities. One is that the city has “great bones.” As Dennis Strait, managing principle of Gould Evans Kansas City, describes in the video above, Kansas City grew quickly from a village to a city following many of the best lessons humans have gleaned from 5,000 years of city-building. The positive effects of this ancient wisdom can still be felt today, and Kansas City’s most productive neighborhoods are often its oldest. The negative effects of bad policies—such as racist redlining—can still be felt too, Strait says.

From Urban3’s Kansas City analysis. Image source.

The second thing Kansas City has going for it is an emerging community-wide conversation on how to make the city stronger and more financially resilient going forward. Dennis Strait, Abby Kinney (host of our Upzoned podcast), and the rest of the Gould Evans team have been at the forefront of that conversation. So have the Kansas City Public Library, the Kauffman Foundation, the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation, and many other partners.

In early March, Strait gave a powerful presentation as part of the Kansas City Public Library’s “Making a Great City” speaker series. Drawing from a value-per-acre report conducted by our friends at Urban3, Strait shows that Kansas City has a serious infrastructure problem. But he goes beyond that too and offers recommendations on how to unlock Kansas City’s potential.

The talk is “must-watch” not just for people who care about the future of Kansas City but for Strong Towns advocates everywhere. The unintended consequences of the suburban development pattern in Kansas City are the same ones facing towns and cities of all sizes and in every region. Just as relevant are Strait’s recommendations for how to move forward:

1. Stop making things worse.

2. Target productive development patterns.

3. Change tax policies to incentivize productive development.

After you watch the presentation, jump over to the Strong Towns community site. Let us know what resonated with you and how you’re building shared prosperity where you live.

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