Dotte Agency is collaborating with a large set of partners under the Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas Neighborhood Revitalization program. The Historic Northeast Midtown Association (HNMA) is leading the community engagement coordination with the support of the Communities Creating Opportunity program. Guided by HNMA, we have initiated our neighborhood walkability audits in the Parkwood Colony, Organization for Community Preservation, Turtle Hill, Strugglers Hill, and Douglass-Sumner Neighborhood Associations, along with representatives from the UG Public Works and Planning offices. Rachel Jefferson, HNMA, is leading the engagement process, navigating the policies and local implementation. This political commitment across a wide range of civic leaders, neighborhood association leadership, and local advocacy groups is critical to identifying a shared vision supported by everyone in the process to support ongoing intersectional communication and collaboration.

In collaboration with the KU Center for Community Health and Development, the Community Health Council, and HNMA, Matt Kleinmann developed a video-story collection session with HNMA leaders. In this video series, the participants were introduced to each other—for many—meeting other neighborhood association residents and leaders for the first time. Through these key themes it was determined by the larger group that an immediate need to be addressed: better understand the nature of the sidewalks, streets/curbs and street lighting so that they could then collectively prioritize needs and address them with UG Public Works and the BPU.

From Fall 2017 to Fall 2018, we worked with Northwest Middle School students in assisting the neighborhood association residents and leaders. We also worked with the KU Public Health Department students and professor, Dr. Nikki Nollen, to apply the audit tool. The data has been collected and currently being assembled into comprehensive maps that share the data assessments. We are now holding participatory prioritization processes that assist students and neighborhood residents to highlight the highest priority sidewalks, streets, curbs and broken streetlights.

CREDITS
KU ArcD student interns:  Maddie Hughes, Sekou Hayes, Erik Stockler

• Neighborhood Associations:  Organization of Community Preservation, Parkwood Colony, Douglass-Sumner, Turtle Hill, Strugglers Hill

• CHC, MOCSA, CPTED volunteers, Healthy Communities Wyandotte,  New Bethel Church Community Development Corporation, Latino Health for All Coalition, 202020 Movement, KU ArcD students, KU Center for Community Health and Development.

• NW Middle School Students and Teachers

Funders:  HNMA, CHC, Health Forward Foundation, Communities Creating Opportunity and Dotte Agency

ABOUT  

An opportunity exists to create an all terrain electric assist utility bike for The New Roots for Refugees organization. An electric farm utility bike would help the members of the program increase their efficiency and allow them to be more productive.

Considerations
-The bike should be relatively affordable and replicable
-The bike should take to additions and modifications easily
-The bike will live most of its life outdoors and off road
-Cargo will consist mostly of crops and equipment

OUR PARTNERS

BikeWalk KC
Cultivate KC
New Roots for Refugees

FUNDERS 
Health Forward Foundation of Greater Kansas City
University of Kansas General Research Fund

KU Arc/D Professors

Lance Rake
John Bielenberg
Gregory Crichlow
Nils Gore

KU Arc/D Students: 

CycloLab Class (Spring 2020)
Charley DeVries
Hank Feldman
Kelsie Hancock
Webster Johnson
Mackenzie Laxton
Oscar Motsinger
Benjamin Sems
 

Dotte Agency collaborated with Downtown Shareholders and Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) to develop an arts-based retail incubator space as an accessory building to the Epic Arts Studio in Strawberry Hill. The space allows artists and craftspeople to test the waters for retail sales of their products in a low-stakes 3-month trial period.

Starting with a used cargo shipping container, the team developed an exterior skin/insulation system for optimal energy performance, and an interior optimized for flexible display of arts and crafts products. The project was constructed at KU’s East Hills Construction Lab, then transported to Strawberry Hill in 2019.

CREDITS
KU ArcD students:  (Fall 2018) Rami Dalaq, Hank Feldmann, Rachel Fosselman, Gabby Foster, Brighid Hegarty, Sarah Hogan, Maddy Irwin, Harley Knapp, Katharine League, Erin Mahoney, Samia Mansour, Parker Matthews, Tyler Paulson, Breta Phillips, Juno So, Sam Tankel, Tyson Washington, Brady Whitehill, Calem Witt

(Spring 2018) Ben Brewer, Ryan Evenson, Rebecca Falk, Ashley Farrow, Colin Flanagan, Abbie Ford, Bailey Hiatt, Aleeya Hubbard-Kinard, Oluwagbohunmi Kolawole, Daniela Langer, Claire Namovich, Mattea Nedele, Simeon Perkins, Anastasia Popova, Payton Prosser, Rachel Roberts, Georgiana Singleton, Jack Swezy

Funders:  Downtown Shareholders Inc., KC Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), CHWC, Studio 804 Inc.

A growing body of national research supports the premise that geography is a central indicator to the health of a community and the individuals who live there. Neighborhoods with high proportions of low-income individuals and families suffer disproportionately higher rates of health disparities, housing insecurity, lower educational attainment and increased likelihood of being victimized by violent crime.

In the summer of 2017, the Greater Kansas City Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) contracted with Dotte Agency to provide research and technical assistance on how community development can have an impact upon public health outcomes in five neighborhoods across the Greater Kansas City Area as part of their NeighborhoodsNOW initiative: Blue Hills, Ivanhoe, and Scarritt Renaissance (all in Kansas City, MO); and Douglass-Sumner, and Downtown (both in Kansas City, KS). As part of their grant to the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF), LISC tasked Dotte Agency with developing a protocol for how the community could prioritize public health goals locally.  

Dotte Agency began by meeting with representatives from the partnering neighborhood organizations
to identify where recently completed community development projects, potential community development projects, and perceived barriers to health access existed in the built environment. This was done by mapping neighborhood assets and opportunities, where residents were invited to identify areas of pride or concern on
a map, and leave their comments in an open-ended format. Comments received were recorded and helped to indicate where community health priorities existed within the built environment. This process provided a geographic awareness that supplemented the pre- existing data collected by the QLP and NPE Surveys.

A parallel analysis of the collected NPE Survey data was developed by the KCMO Health Department. The goal of their reports was to share what, if any, statistical significance existed between questions regarding ‘overall satisfaction’, ‘feelings of safety’, and ‘social capital’ among the residents that answered the surveys.

A second round of community engagement workshops made the process of validating key public health issues a participatory exercise. To achieve this, Dotte Agency adapted a public health methodology known as card-sorting — a user-centered design technique that helps to prioritize issues that emerge out of what has been heard.

Critical to the card sorting process was that all issues presented were sourced from previous community engagement efforts that had sought to represent the voice of each community at large; the participating neighborhood representatives were asked to build their categories based only upon what was on the table in front of them. An initial card sort typically resulted in six to eight community development categories that had a common theme, such as ‘Infrastructure’, or ‘Youth Engagement’.

After a group discussion, the remaining categories were narrowed down to three ‘priority issues’, with each issue related to public health outcomes affected by the built environment.

CREDITS
We would like to acknowledge the great number of residents and neighborhood leaders that have invested (and continue to invest) their time and shared with us their insights for improving their neighborhoods.

Douglass-Sumner Neighborhood Association
Downtown Shareholders Association
Blue Hills Community Services
Blue Hills Neighborhood Association
Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council
Ivanhoe Neighborhood Association
Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association

LISC
Stephen Samuels, Executive Director
Ina Anderson, Deputy Director Amanda Wilson, Program Officer

University of Kansas, School of Architecture and Design
Shannon Criss, Associate Professor (Dotte Agency)
Matt Kleinmann, Doctoral Student (Dotte Agency)

with assistance from

Dr. Hui Cai, Assistant Professor
Maddie Hughes, Architecture Studies student
Jessie Jacobe, Masters of Architecture student
Lingling Li, Doctoral student

Kansas City, Missouri Health Department
Dr. Sarah Martin, Deputy Director

ABOUT  Recognizing the need for fresh, affordable food in Wyandotte County, a group of community partners joined forces to launch the Dotte Mobile Grocer, rolling out in 2019.

Through our research, we discovered that nearly 22,000 Wyandotte County residents have limited access to a grocery store. One in four children are food insecure. And 31 percent of households with three or more people have one or no vehicle.

The mobile grocer aims to improve life for those residents by bringing affordable, healthy foods to their neighborhoods during set hours and at specific locations based on community needs and demand.

MISSION  Our mission is to provide accessible, affordable and healthy food to residents with limited access to grocery stores in Kansas City, Kansas.

Accessible  The mobile grocer is designed to make buying groceries easy. With weekly visits to neighborhood locations and meal kits with ready-to-cook recipes, our goal is for grocery shopping to be convenient.

Affordable  The mobile grocer will be stocked by grocery wholesale distributor, TX Valley/El Torito. SNAP, EBT and WIC vouchers will be accepted.

Healthy The mobile grocer will carry fresh produce, meats and dairy as well as meal-kits, and other food staple and household items.

OUR TEAM
Mobile Market Community Council
TX Valley/El Torito
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
Dotte Agency / KU School of Architecture & Design
Humana
Wyandotte County WIC Department
Carpenter Collective

FUNDERS 
Health Forward Foundation
Menorah Heritage Foundation
Shawnee Mission Medical Center

PARTNERS IN HEALTH
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Healthy Communities Wyandotte
Food Systems Action Team
K-State Extension
KC Healthy Kids
Grocery Access Task Force
Latino Health for All Coalition

COMMUNITY SUPPORT
New Bethel Church Community Development Corporation
Kansas City, Kansas Housing Authority
Livable Neighborhoods
Historic Northeast Midtown Association
Central Avenue Betterment Association
Downtown Shareholders
Rosedale Development Association
Econ Avenue
Parkwood Colony Neighborhood Association
Kensington Community Neighborhood Association
Wyandotte Countians Against Crime Neighborhood Association
Organization for Community Preservation Neighborhood Association

ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE
University of Kansas School of Architecture and Design
University of Kansas School of Business
University of Kansas School of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
Kansas State University - Wyandotte County Extension Office

KU Arch509 Students:  
Trevor Beirise, Heather Briggs, Emma Brinson, Abigail Clem, Haley Dougherty, Stormy Ford, Calista Gorrell, Ethan Harper, Daniel Holton, Maddie Hughes, Alejandro Medrano, Benjamin Naudet, Alexis Nino, Daniel Ritchie, Jesus Rubio, Sydnee Sachtleben, Sarina Shanks, Reece Simpson

Dotte Agency is working with Urban Works LLC over the course of several academic semesters to revitalize an unused Conoco gas station, and turn it into Urban Station, community-based hub for learning and action.

The basic bones of the original station are sound, and much of the work consists of modifications to the existing fabric so it serves a more public and social purpose, while still retaining some of the historic and industrial vibe of the original. An example is the large meeting table that uses the re-purposed car lift as its support. The table is fabricated out of reclaimed lumber and serves as the visual center of a newly revitalized space.

Other projects include: a new public facade, built in the space that was once occupied by the overhead garage door; a seton sliding glass doors to separate 2 interior spaces and make heating/cooling more efficient; a sidebar to serve coffee and snacks at Urban Works’ Friday coffees; new furniture constructed out of plywood and reclaimed hardwood lumber; concrete planters; mini greenhouse, and a bee hotel.

CREDITS
KU ArcD students:  (Fall 2018) Ryan Bayerle, Julia Blank, Logan Brammeier, Sam Dodd, Ethan Dorning, Sam Dykes, Jessica Gjerde, Nicole Henry, Zach Hernandez, Emily Hummel, Hope Lemos, Alex Morgan, Halina Pinkston, Eric Schultz, Alex Smith, Megan Stonestreet, John Sunn, Taylor Watson, Tong Yu.

(Spring 2019) Binh Bui, Isabel Das, Maddy Gillette, Brennen Hall, Kelsie Hancock, Trevor Heersink, Kate Kemper, Zac Kornis, Sebastian Lares, Lea Moguet, Christina Nieters, Autumn Olsen, Melissa Smith, Rachel Stagner, Ashley Tubach, Rebecca Twombly, Xiaoyue Wang, Andrew Wintz

(Fall 2019) Ally Glosemeyer, Benjamin Sems, Brandon Mitchell, Brooke Pogue, Garret Heibeck, Haley Mills, Jack Young, Jackson Morris, McKendree Mummey, Nathan Patterson, Olivia O'Quinn, Riley Hausman, Sattam Alajmi, Shauna Erickson, Steven Wahlberg

(Fall 2020) Ben Downey, Aubrey Clark, Colin Dwyer, Anthony Hedges, Ryan Kuehn, Bea McGuire, Julia Peterson, Liz Putnam, Storm Rynard, Maggie Schutte, Dariely Avila, Madeline Bradley, Lily Cook, Bridgett Espino Delgado, Will Frederick, Brooke Ritter, Karina Sande.

• Special thanks to Steve & Pam Curtis, and Diosselyn Tot.

Funders:  Urban Works, Health Forward Foundation, Studio 804 Inc.

Community Needs
In 2019 Cultivate KC, a a locally-grown nonprofit working to grow food, farms, and community in support of a sustainable and healthy local food system for all, contacted Dotte Agency to see if we could partner in imagining a new incubator farm location for the New Roots for Refugees program. The land is located near 90th Street and Parallel Parkway in western Wyandotte County.

Design Process
In a summer 2019 course, Professor Shannon Criss offered lessons about innovative models of Urban Agriculture theory and practice. Learning objectives:

1. Gain an introductory understanding of Urban Agriculture history, concepts and vocabulary;

2. Review and gain insight of recognized incubator farm precedent studies and explore how aspects of these may apply to this project;

3. Gain an introductory understanding of the concepts, terms and tools used in incubator farming;

4. Gain an introductory understanding of Community Engagement practices and utilize those in a design process with community and professional partners;

5. Identify the role of social and community factors in both the onset and solution of food access challenges across diverse and underserved populations;

6. Recognize both the need and the complexity of ethical reasoning and to consider how to expand design thinking reasoning through empathy through the Design Charrette process with community and professional partners;

7. Provide intellectual tools for more profound self-reflection, provide a close examination of the just city and the capacity to present findings of alternative, equitable solutions as generated in the Design Charrette.

Students taking the course engaged run the following activities:

PART I: Pre-Workshop ONLINE readings, online discussions and assignments to build a shared knowledge base.

PART II: A design charrette to imagine different approaches to development of an initial plan for a non-profit incubator farm located on approximately 50 acres in Wyandotte County. This incubator farm is a joint project between Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas and Cultivate Kansas City. The two organizations co-manage a smaller scale incubator farm called Juniper Gardens Training Farm and an associated 4-year training program under the brand “New Roots for Refugees.” This program will relocate to the 90th Street Farm and the “old” farm will also become a permanent rental opportunity for farmers.

PART III: Post-Workshop ONLINE compilation of collected findings from the workshop where together we brought research, workshop design and discussions together into shared documents. This document is made available (below) to our community partners and others to promote insight gained through this experience.

Outcomes
The farm project is moving forward. A Request for Proposals was issued for design firms to respond and implement some of the lessons learned and ideas promoted in the course.

Student Participants
Kendall Belcher
JaRen Dailey
Gavin Goga
Leah Kite
Jon Lelek
Spencer Riley

Professional Charrette Participants

Funders and Key Partners
Cultivate KC
New Roots for Refugees
Catholic Charities
BNIM Architects

This project was done in KCK in the Summer of 2019 in conjunction with Project Pipeline, a program organized by the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA):

Project Pipeline’s “mission is to empower young people to affect change in their community through design. Using the city as the classroom, and connecting young people to real-world architects and planners, we foster the next generation of design professionals, civic leaders, and changemakers. we advocate for fellowship, equity, and excellence in design. Through workshops and camps we guide students through all stages of of the design build process. Students investigate through drawing and model building, analyze through diagramming and research, and engage through interviews and site visits. By the program’s conclusion, students present a fully realized project that addresses an issue in their client, community and or city. We serve a diverse population of students, all of whom are underrepresented in the design field. Our program better prepares students for college and life beyond. Through project pipeline, young people grasp the significance of architecture in their daily lives, as well as the broader cultural, social, and historical implications. They develop the skills and tools to contribute to their community critically and constructively.”

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Explore the human relationship to space at an immediate personal scale into a neighborhood scale.
• Understanding spaces within a neighborhood and the elements of a community.
• Develop an understanding of the Design Justice movement model, theories of social change, and how to work alongside community-led efforts for systemic change.
• Learn collaborative build techniques

PRINCIPLES
In this work we will respect the people, spaces, and places:
• We acknowledge the voice of those who have historically been excluded from the process of city-building.
• We will build capacity in the communities we serve.
• We recognize that all projects are public or have a direct obligation to the public.

SCHEDULE
Thursday, Aug 15th: Attend a presentation Kansas City Museum on Creative Placemaking Friday, Aug 16th: 10-3 Intro session Purpose of Place. Connect with community partners as an introduction to the needs

Saturday, Aug 17th: 10-3 Design Day
•Work with community partners to identify the implications of the design in public space. Work through mockup designs with partners to test and clarify the intention of the projects
• Design rough design drawings to prepare for the subsequent build days
• Simple tools training for those who are not familiar

Sunday, Aug 18th: 10-3pm Build day 1
Build a day with volunteers to execute the designs of the students Monday, Aug 19th: 9-1pm Build Day 2. Finalize build projects and presentations with community partners

KEY PARTNERS
NOMA
KU National Organization of Minority Architecture Students
2020 Leadership
NBC Community Development Corporation
YouthBuild KCK
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
KU School of Architecture and Design
Groundwork NRG
General Motors

SPECIAL THANKS:
Bryan Lee, Colloqate.
Spark Bookhart, YouthBuildKCK
Broderick Crawford, NBCCDC
Rachel Jefferson, Groundwork NRG
Phil Dougherty, NOMA KC

KU STUDENT PARTICIPANTS
JaRen Dailey
Sam Eichhorn
Dylan Kennedy
McKenzie Laxton
Darius Mathis

The Kansas City, Kansas/Wyandotte County administration requested that Dotte Agency assist them with the development of two projects in 2017/2018. First, the city received a Local Initiatives Support Corporation Kansas City grant to develop an arts-focused retail incubator. Dotte Agency was awarded funding to purchase, design, build and install a revised shipping container with KU architecture students in arch509 taught by Nils Gore. The second arts-related project was to jointly develop a proposal for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge for the 2018 competition. The Public Art Challenge pushes cities to see art as a tool for change and making cities healthier. A student named Jessie Jacobe assisted Dotte Agency with the design development and drawings; Matt Kleinmann assisted with brainstorming with the community partners at the initial meetings. This Orenda Market project focus has brought a wide variety of non-traditional partners together demonstrating the value of the design process to work together towards a shared goal.

For the Epic Arts-based retail incubator, the site at Sixth and Tauromee had early / mid-century industrial buildings which housed local businesses. The city is planning a ‘Sixth Street Arts Corridor’ which is envisioned to support local neighborhood activities and various art programs. The process has been developed to strengthen a set of stakeholder interests alongside the Unified Government, the small business development group, the community institution development, event programming (the DASH KCK 5K event held in conjunction with the Kansas Public Library/Library In the Park event; the Latino Arts Festival and general business development.

True to its name, the Orenda Market will host the full spectrum of the arts, from visual to performing, that feature the spirit of this place. This Creative Place Making project is conceived to utilize public art and will encompass many local partners and bring many community activities to this one-block area consisting of approximately three acres. As designed, the new farmers’ market pavilions and an improved streetscape will reflect the area’s natural heritage to further the connection to place.  A new co-op grocery, the MERC store development planned (announced in Summer 2018) on the same block supports the farmers’ market, providing much needed access to healthy foods, and community event spaces.  The Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge was not awarded to our team, but it generated an opportunity to consider food access on this particular site—with the promise of the MERC there within the next year.

Epic Arts-Based Retail Incubator Partners
Downtown Shareholders
Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Association
Better Dotte
Community Housing of Wyandotte County
Dotte Agency/KU School of Architecture & Design

Students
(Fall 2017)
Rami Dalaq
Hank Feldmann
Rachel Fosselman
Gabby Foster
Brighid Hegarty
Sarah Hogan
Maddy Irwin
Harley Knapp
Katharine League
Erin Mahoney
Samia Mansour
Parker Matthews
Tyler Paulson
Breta Phillips
Juno So
Sam Tankel
Tyson Washington
Brady Whitehill
Calem Witt

(Spring 2018)
Ben Brewer
Ryan Evenson
Rebecca Falk
Ashley Farrow
Colin Flanagan
Abbie Ford
Bailey Hiatt
Aleeya Hubbard-Kinard
Oluwagbohunmi Kolawole
Daniela Langer
Claire Namovich
Mattea Nedele
Simeon Perkins
Anastasia Popova
Payton Prosser
Rachel Roberts
Georgiana Singleton
Jack Swezy

Funders
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Dotte Agency/KU School of Architecture & Design—in-kind contributions

Orenda Market Credits

Partners
Unified Government of Wyandotte County: Mayor’s Office, Economic Development Department, Parks and Recreation, City Administrator’s Office, Public Works
Dotte Agency/KU School of Architecture & Design
Downtown Shareholders
Members of the Design Advisory Committee
Arts KC
Farmer’s Market
Kansas City Kansas Convention and Visitors Bureau
Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA)
Community Housing of Wyandotte County
El Centro
Wyandot Nation

Students
Matt Kleinmann
Jessie Jacobe

Funders
Health Forward Foundation
Dotte Agency/KU School of Architecture & Design—in-kind contributions

https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article214603670.html

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kck-expected-to-approve-agreement-to-build-new-grocery-store-downtown

http://www.communityvoiceks.com/the-merc-a-healthy-tasty-grocery-option/article_e579fb82-c1c1-11e8-9fdb-8b53b3fc673b.html

https://www.themerc.coop/news/expansion1218

This project was a proposal submitted to the Aetna Foundation’s Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge and was awarded $10,000 to the Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas. Dotte Agency provided the support in developing the proposal and providing supporting evidences of a collection of project that we had competed through coursework and other foundation supported projects since 2014. The intent of our proposal was to improve the quality of life through the development of community relationships and the resolve to continually work together in developing effective strategies that meet the public health needs of the community. Click here to see how the Aetna Foundation highlights the work.

In defining our focus area, through another foundation grant, “Connecting the Dottes,” we developed a network system diagram with community partners to identify the predominant walking and biking routes in the city. By folding together our efforts to increase proximity to parks, we aligned bike corridors with major neighborhood corridors, and created a boundary area that includes a half-mile buffer to the proposed focus area.

There has been a groundswell of community-based organizations mobilizing to improve the health and welfare of the constituent neighborhoods. As a city department within a larger county government structure, Parks and Recreation is sometimes faced with challenges in how to best respond to the increased pace of activity and desire to improve the built environment within facilities and parks that they manage. Through the Healthiest Cities Challenge, new conversations and other funding sources have been sought and secured to improve ‘small bet’ projects. This project has been an innovative and beneficial experience for the department and for community partners to rally around. In Fall 2018, this project was awarded one out of five national awards and $25,000.

CREDITS

Organizations serving as an advisory board:
Community Health Council’s Health Equity Action Transformation Community Advisory Board (H.E.A.T. CAB)
Latino Health for All Coalition
Infrastructure Action Team for Healthy Communities Wyandotte
Community Volunteers
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
YouthBuild KCK Trainees
Active Living Trail Intervention Audits performed by residents and community mobilizers
Unified Government Parks and Recreation

Integrated Activity Groups
BikeWalkKC
8th Street YMCA
Kansas City Kansas Public Schools
KCK Levee Trail
Jersey Creek Trail
Rozark Nature Trails
Wyandotte County Parks Foundation Boards
Wyandotte County Parks Advisory Board

Funders
Health Forward Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Sunflower Foundation
Kansas Governor’s Council on Fitness
Gehl Instittute

The Active Living Trails project was developed by the Historic Northeast Midtown Association, NBC Community Development Corporation, Parkwood Colony Neighborhood Association, YouthBuild KCK, Communities Creating Opportunities, the Gehl Institute, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, and Dotte Agency. 

It is a part of the larger Healthy Community Corridor, a community collaboration between: the Unified Government of Wyandotte County Parks and Recreation Department, the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County, NBC Community Development Corporation, the 202020 Movement, Healthy Communities Wyandotte, the Historic Northeast Midtown Association, the Rosedale Development Association, the Latino Health For All Coalition, FreeWheels for Kids, MOCSA, the 8th Street YMCA, the KU Work Group, the KU School of Architecture & Design, Dotte Agency, and all of our affiliated action teams and networks. 

The “Mobilizing the Dottes” Project addresses social determinants of health by improving access to healthy food and promoting physical activity through a coalition of active partners. This project focuses on a historic minority neighborhood (largely made up of Hispanic, African American and Refugee citizens) with over 85,000 residents, ½ of the county’s population that ranks 101 out of 101 Kansas counties in health outcomes. This is a community with limited healthcare resources, underemployment, a large number of under-utilized parks, open spaces, neglected public ways and many abandoned buildings and lots. The goal of this project is to continue to connect these programs and align future initiatives around the intersection between healthy food, walkable neighborhoods and increased safety and activities in parks. By connecting this population to parks and improving food access in proximity to neighborhoods we address health inequity at its core.

Through this collaborative effort we have engaged residents directly to understand the local idiosyncrasies of the built environment, the policies that shape them, and the impact on access to healthy food, safe, walk-able routes and safe spaces for active lifestyles. These efforts have expanded the capacity of the residents to take initiative and articulate their needs, connecting across multi-sectoral partners and some capacity to be more self-directed, lifting their voices and honoring the assets that exist there, in further identifying specific needs for expanded access to healthy food, articulating specific needs and ‘hotspots’ in neighborhood walk-ability and how to extend programming and expressed needs in parks.

The design studio setting fosters an integrated and creative process focused on developing problem-solving skills through design thinking, visualization, physical prototyping and graphic design to maximize effective implementation. When applicable, undergraduate and graduate students in the Architecture courses will focus their course work from Fall 2017-Spring 2019 semesters on the mapping, modeling, policy, engagement events, design schemes, visualizations, prototyping and supporting community mobilization. Following, the actions and materials created through these courses will support hourly students to further develop, process, edit and make “toolkits” to disseminate through community partners and to support sustainable community mobilization.

Partners
Dotte Agency/KU School of Architecture & Design
202020 Movement
Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas Public Works, Parks & Recreation, the Planning Department
UG Neighborhood Revitalization Programs: HNMA, CABA
El Torito
Wyandotte County WIC Program
Humana
Advent Health
NBC CDC

Funders
Health Forward Foundation
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
Menorah Heritage Foundation
Communities Creating Opportunity

Students
Sekou Hayes
Maddie Hughes
Jessie Jacobe

This project has been significant for many reasons: it helped us formalize and name ‘Dotte Agency’ that has served to bring many community partners together around improving health equity in the built environment. By seeking grant funding with a major regional foundation, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, we were awarded funding that helped us initiate a two-year series of projects and studies. All of the “Connecting the Dotte” projects advocate support and participation in activities that foster healthy behaviors and promote more effective systems of care for this target population of Wyandotte County. Our success in fostering collaboration with leading organizations that serve the Wyandotte community neighborhoods has allowed us to effectively work in diverse neighborhoods with diverse populations (a rich tapestry of cultural diversity: refugee populations, African American and Latino cultures.) Our project supported a set of community mobilizers with bilingual capacity and from the neighborhood residents we engaged. Fundamental to this project we have adopted the belief that diverse viewpoints deepen an understanding of differences in health outcomes and success requires an expanded cultural competence and awareness integrated into the Community-Based Participatory Research Method.

The broad project goal was to develop the means to communicate at three urban scales to recognize significant relationships affecting healthy food choices and walkability, with the ultimate goal to mobilize the community to self-regulate and motivate action. The community-based participatory model (best practices) has ensured that residents and their guiding organizations collaborate to best represent public will and enact change: in access to healthy food and creating safe, walkable communities. In our work, community priorities, values and needs have shaped the process and have been determined through active, participatory engagement in all phases. Our role has been to interpret and enact community priorities throughout the process, then re-present back to the community before final interventions are enacted—working towards an innovative practice. To achieve these goals, we addressed the problem at three scales: 1) Broad Scale, 2) Mid-Scale, and 3) Small Scale. At each scale, different tasks were accomplished to support the work.

Partners
Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas Public Works
UG Parks & Recreation
UG Planning Department
UG Neighborhood Revitalization Programs: CABA and HNMA
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County (CHCWC)
KU Work Group for Community Health & Development
Latino Health for All Coalition (LHFA)
Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC)
Healthy Communities Wyandotte (HCW)
UG Wyandotte County Public Health Department
NBC CDC

Faculty & Consultants
Dr. Hui Cai, KU School of Architecture and Design
Dr. Nikki Nollen, KU Med Public Health
Rachel Krause, graphic designer, Banjo Creative
Tyler Galloway, graphic designer

Students
Austin Griffis
Doug Dawson
Kailey Smith
Fatima Moufarrige Pacheco

Funders
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1422 Grant through the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
Greater Kansas City Local Initiative Support Corporation grant to develop a Grandview Boulevard Engagement and Mapping project
REACH Foundation grant through the KU Center for Community Health and Development

Community Needs 
Epic Park is a community-based initiative of Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) on private land situated next to Epic Accessible Arts at 611 N. 6th Street. It was born out of recognition that there was a need for exterior space to support activities at Epic Arts and for community events. Supported by a grant from the Francis Family Foundation, CHWC approached professor Nils Gore at KU’s School of Architecture Design and Planning for student assistance in designing and building a community stage for public events as a first step in developing programming for the park.

Timeline
Five months (January 2015-May 2015)

Design Approach 
Starting with a public charrette in February and working with Steve Curtis of CHWC throughout the semester, the stage’s final configuration consists of a 12x16 flat deck, a wheelchair accessible ramp, and a set of “sonic steps” with steel chimes that make sound as one ascends. The stage was framed in rectangular steel tubing to facilitate pre-fabrication in Lawrence and is decked with pressure treated wood decking. It was installed in the spring of 2015. 

Impact
4 community events were held in the park during the summer of 2015, and programming is taking place for future events.

Project Participants 
Steve Curtis, Community Housing of Wyandotte County
Francis Family Foundation
KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning 

KU Arch409 Students:  Jonathan Crookham, Melanie D’Souza, Emily Davidson, Hayden Donaldson, Luke Feng, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Katie Goddard, Gianne Gonzales, Connor Janzen, Angie Knoshaug, Michelle Newcome, Charlie Rotter, Erik Stockler, Nick Walls, Patrick Witthaus.

Community Needs
Jersey Creek Park is an underutilized and under appreciated park asset in Kansas City, Kansas. A linear park centered on a drainage waterway, the park is in need of attention. Census data indicate that about 11,000 people live within 1/2 mile of the park, making it the single most impactful park in Wyandotte County, in terms of simple proximity. This project will prototype a set of fitness stations to promote physical activity in the park.  

Timeline
January 2015–Present  

Design Approach
Professor Nils Gore’s Arch409 studio was asked to develop the project and a series of 4 meetings was held at The New Bethel Church over the winter of 2015 to solicit ideas and opinions from interested neighbors about park assets and liabilities. It was determined that a set of 5 prototypes would be installed throughout the park for assessment. A design concept of a hybrid bike rack/park bench/fitness element was developed out of bent pipe and HDPE seating material. 

Impact
The prototypes are being constructed at the KU East Hills Construction Innovation Lab and will be installed in early spring 2016. If successful similar park elements will be rolled out to other Wyandotte County parks in the future. 

Project Participants
Funding: Centers for Disease Control REACH Grant, through KU Work Group for Community Health
Broderick Crawford, NBC Community Development Corporation and The New Bethel Church
Monica Mendez, KU Work Group and LHFA
Shaya Patrick, Wyandotte County Parks Department
Jerry Schultz, KU Work Group for Community Health
Wesley McKain, Healthy Communities Wyandotte
KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning 

KU Arch409 Students: Jonathan Crookham, Melanie D’Souza, Emily Davidson, Hayden Donaldson, Luke Feng, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Katie Goddard, Gianne Gonzales, Connor Janzen, Angie Knoshaug, Michelle Newcome, Charlie Rotter, Erik Stockler, Nick Walls, Patrick Witthaus. 

ABOUT  

Bicycling is an important part of the Dotte Agency agenda. Through our newly established CycloLab project we seek to promote bicycling via several new and existing initiatives:  Our Utility Cycling Initiative focus on issues surrounding utility cycling, and promotes innovations in the service of everyday bicycling; our Smart Routes for Cyclists Initiative will investigate tools, techniques and equipment for passive data collection about cycling behavior using wearable, bike-mounted, and environmentally-embedded electronic sensors; our Bamboo Bikes workshop investigates a hybrid composite structure of bamboo and carbon fiber developed by KU researchers looking to expand the economic potential of  bamboo as an agricultural product and value-added product through artisanal manufacturing.

OUR PARTNERS
BikeWalk KC
Free Wheels for Kids
8th Street YMCA
HERO (Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization)

FUNDERS 
Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Healthy Communities Wyandotte
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
Wyandotte Health Foundation

KU Arc/D Professors

Lance Rake
John Bielenberg
Andrea Herstowski
Nils Gore

KU Arc/D Students: 

Utility Cycling (Spring 2018)
Travis Andregg
Trevor Cadiz
Kyle Cook
Simon Davies
William Elliott
Alex Lor
Taylor McQueary
Wyatt Ohse
Zach Ruschill
Benn Stover
Beau Weber
Darrin Wenger
 

To counter pervasive polarization, and ensure equity and inclusion, spaces for dialogue and empathy are necessary. Finding ways to open up the roles that many play and exercising the ability to work against judgment and bias is critical to finding common ground and moving towards shared, healthy community life. 

 In our work, we consider multiple interests in the pursuit of successful outcomes. We have developed strategies that harness the positive interests and energies of participants to persuade (less-positive) others by evolving and leveraging all of the interests at the table for the ultimate betterment of the project. 

Who’s at the Table? is a role-playing game we developed so players can see the process play out in real time by adopting randomly-assigned personas, in the context of a place-based project proposal (also random). The project is pitched by one of the players at the table, the interests of the different personas are discussed and the project is evolved in the course of the game in a manner responsive to the desires and fears of those at the table. In one example, a project pitched as a simple community garden might evolve into a community garden with a special focus on positive youth participation because Officer Green, a youth resource officer at the table, was willing to put himself forward as a champion of the project, persuading Mr. Brown, a concerned neighbor, that additional activity and eyes on the street would make the neighborhood safer. 

In this game, players practice empathy and evolve the project into a more achievable incarnation. It demonstrates that the definition of the project through the skills of those at the table may be the most important step in its eventual success.

BACKGROUND
Through the planning of a cross-disciplinary, collaborative course between two University of Kansas departments — public health and architecture — we have developed tools that bring together a shared understanding of how design and health impact one another in two neighborhood communities — one resource rich, the other resource poor. 

We have adapted and hybridized national protocols that assess food access and physical activity, as well as community based participatory research exercises through Photovoice, to investigate the relationship between urban design and health disparities. 

Through lessons learned, this adaptive process has generated unique, integrated disciplinary perspectives and innovative forms of collaboration through technology and boots-on-the-ground engagement. New cross-disciplinary, analytical communication tools have been applied this semester in real-world neighborhood spaces with participating community residents. 

This approach has great potential as both a resource to communities as well framing future perspectives amongst the students.

This method of public health in urban spaces brings together two disciplines in an approach that we believe will produce a more well-rounded and community-engaged student. These future practitioners will be better equipped to engage in real world adaptive, innovative and integrated approaches for understanding how the built environment impacts public health.

Process
1. DISCOVER:  Students met remotely via interactive classroom environments to share research on common themes.

2. ENGAGE:  In groups, the students met with community residents that volunteered to share their experiences, and participate in a Photovoice process.

3. ASSESS:  While residents documented health and disparities of health in their neighborhoods, the student groups carried out assessments in grocery stores and parks, and analyzed the surrounding neighborhoods as part of their UNDO protocols.

4.  REPORT:  The students presented their information to each other and to our community partners.

5.  REFLECT:  The architecture students used the analysis to envision new designs for neighborhood spaces that empowers greater community health outcomes.

SPONSOR
Population Health across Public Health and Architecture Profession Projects (Supported through the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) / CDC Cooperative Agreement)

TEAM
Nikki Nollen, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Megha Ramaswamy, Ph.D., MPH, Associate Professor
University of Kansas Medical Center
Preventive Medicine and Public Health
GTA: Christi Nance

Shannon Criss, RA
Associate Professor
University of Kansas School of Architecture Design, and Planning
GRA: Matt Kleinmann

Students: Samir Alui, Olivia Arizmendi, Taylor Brumbelow, Nacoya Copeland, Kendra Cruz, Connor Crist, Katie Fry, Kellen Gil, John Goehl, Sydney Grimm, Emma Grover, Jordyn Gunville, Adrienne Hearrell, Taylor Liles, Stella Quinto-Limo, Charlotte Liu,  ynton Macharia, Eryen Nelson, Jack Pearson, Joey Platt, Shannon Roberts, Meredith Shapland, Kevin Sloan, Neil Tally, Nandi Taylor, Riley Uecker, Shelby Webb, Louie Weishaar, Crisandra Wilkie, Allison Zaldivar, Zach Zielke.

Community Members:  Broderick Crawford, Monica Mendez, Carl Newton, Carole Newton, Chester Owens, Chuck Schlittler, Mellissa Sims, Erin Stryka, Diosselyn Tot

Community Needs
Neighborhood demographics in the Bethany neighborhood indicate significant need for public education about healthy food and active living. Steve Curtis, neighborhood organizer at CHWC has chosen to approach this through working with children, on educational projects that promote positive learning in these areas. 

Timeline
5 months (January 2015–May 2015)

Design Approach
The Splitlog Greenhouse is a project that was executed by KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning architecture students for Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) in order to enhance the Splitlog Farm community garden. For this project, Steve purchased a ready-made greenhouse kit, and asked us to help him install it. We used our design skills to modify the greenhouse design to collect rainwater, and increase the thermal mass in the greenhouse for better performance. This makes evident to the children how a greenhouse works, and demonstrates how rainwater can be collected and distributed. 

Impact
The greenhouse was put into use for the 2015 growing season, with ME Pearson Elementary School children planting seeds and transplanting them into the Splitlog Farm garden. Students also took seedlings home for transplanting into home gardens. 

Project Participants
Steve Curtis, CHWC
Kansas City Sausage Company (Rain barrels) 
ME Pearson Elementary School
KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning
KU Students: Jonathan Crookham, Melanie D’Souza, Emily Davidson, Hayden Donaldson, Luke Feng, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Katie Goddard, Gianne Gonzales, Connor Janzen, Angie Knoshaug, Michelle Newcome, Charlie Rotter, Erik Stockler, Nick Walls, Patrick Witthaus. 

Community Needs
Numerous community partners and city agencies have spaces in the city in which to work and meet; space is not that hard to come by. But dedicated space, with a high degree of sharedness and access to visualization resources is harder to come by. 611 N. 6th has become such a space.

Timeline
January 2015–present

Design Approach
Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) has generously offered up an underutilized storefront space for Dotte Agency to operate out of and for like-minded partners to use on an regular or occasional basis. With Epic Arts Clay Studio and Epic Park next door, 611 N. 6th adds life to the block, strengthening CHWC’s investments in the area.

Impact
With a location just east of City Hall, it has ready accessibility for our partners from the Health Department and downtown. With a modicum of investment for materials and donated labor, the space has become a community design hub with ready access to maps, models and worktables. When KU students come to KCK for a workday, it can serve as an impromptu classroom, meeting space, or reception room. When community partners need it, they have access to the room and materials inside.

Project Participants
Steve Curtis and Brennan Crawford, CHWC
Spaces of Hope, Triangle Fraternity (donated labor)

Click here to read on ISSUU

Community Need
The Fall 2015 KU Gould Evans Design Research Studio has embraced one of the most critical challenges facing hundreds of blighted communities that contribute to our country’s metropolis network – urban land vacancy. The vacant lot is a contagious place:  one lot drags down neighborhood property values, leading to disinvestment in neighborhood property, deterring banks from lending money for improvements, unnerving buyers who might move in. And so the vacancy multiplies... To date, Land Banks attempt to “dump” these vacancies to whomever will care for them. We see these vacancies, however, as a potential asset to the community, providing a unique opportunity to create what we are calling a new ‘social infrastructure’, enhancing the social value of the city. Testing ideas within our neighboring KCK community has garnered the attention of elected officials, small business owners, not-for profits, activists, and general community members. Asking ‘What If’ has created a new platform allowing the community to reflect upon what a city could be, vs re-creating what a city has been.

Methodology
The KU Gould Evans Design Research Studio is a multidisciplinary think tank, comprised of architects, designers, engineers, anthropologists, sociologists and accountants, and many other collaborators close to our topic of research. Our aim is to leverage dissimilar viewpoints in the interest of discovery and innovation in the fields of design and architecture. 

Our research began with a boots on the ground approach in order to fully understand what makes up the KCK community from the individuals that know it the best, the residents. We then used the information that we learned from the community to further dive into what we were hearing from the community with

the use of GIS mapping. We then met with community leaders to ask questions about any interesting topics that stood out to us. Lastly during this entire process we searching for precedence that could help us understand what is being done elsewhere and how we could leverage their successes and failures with our own ideas.

KU Gould Evans Research Studio Particpants
Parker Conlin
Patrick Henke
Jeff Swiontkowski
Drew Truskey
Kelly Dreyer, Professor

Acknowledgements
KU Collaborators:
Mahesh Daas - Dean, KU School of Architecture, Design & Planning
Neeli Bendapudi – Dean, KU School of Business
Paola Sanguinetti – Chair, KU School of Architecture, Design & Planning
Shannon Criss – Dotte Agency
Richard Branham – Professor, Industrial Design
Michael Eckersley - Human Centered Design
Kent Spreckelmeyer – Professor, Architecture

KCK community collaborators:
Marty Thoennes – Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA)
Edgar Galicia – Central Avenue business revitalization efforts / CABA
Steve Curtis – Director of Community Building and Engagement at Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC)
Donny Smith – Executive Director, Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC)
Chris Slaughter - Manager, KCK Land Bank
Brian McKiernan - Commissioner, District 2, Unified Government – Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas
Cup on the Hill

Sponsors of the Fall 2015 Gould Evans Research Fellowship:
Bob and Karen Gould
Gould Evans

Community Needs 
Currently there is not an organized Bethany Neighborhood Association and through interviews and conversations within the neighborhood many felt this area is neglected.  Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) has developed the Splitlog Farm on three abandoned lots between 10th and 11th Streets along Splitlog Avenue.  The vision of the community garden is to: 1) transform the empty lots and mentor new productive uses of it, 2) through active use of the farm and in partnership with the M.E. Pearson Elementary School, this place is welcoming and promotes neighborly connections, 3) create a safe space for children to connect with, 4) and provide healthy food to families that participate in gardening, 5) with the “Art Squad” program (now “Farm Squad”) new murals are being painted on nearby out-buildings that have graffiti.   This initial step has been successful in initiating a safe and accessible neighborhood space.

Process
Building on the above first steps and through the support of CHWC’s Steve Curtis, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the Wyandotte Health Foundation, we were able to hire Diosselyn Tot, a life-long neighborhood resident as a community mobilizer.  In mid-September, we organized a neighborhood barbeque event where the KU students and neighbors shared food and conversation. Through the use of an exhibit in the Mobile Collaboratory we were able to solicit insight from neighborhood residents and civic leaders.

Following that we generated information packets for the residents. Diosselyn and Shannon walked from house to house to distribute this information and to gather more specific information from each neighbor that would agree to participate. We identified the following issues:

• The language barrier makes it difficult for the neighbors to communicate with one another and the city;

• Many feel disconnected from their neighbors and community in general;

• Many wish for stricter enforcement of laws, safety and building code violations (ie, overgrown lots, stray dogs, streetlights, safe sidewalks, crime).

Building on this insight and connecting with particular neighbors, we organized a neighborhood clean-up event where over thirty KU students joined Art Squad students, Steve Curtis, Commissioner Brian McKiernan and five neighborhood households.  We were able to clear three empty lots of overgrowth, cut limbs away from power lines and remove litter; clear an alleyway; and give away over fifty plants for planting in neighbors’ yards. We shared a lunch afterwards and gave out prizes to children. 

Next Steps 
Continue to build neighborhood events that allow neighbors to talk with one another, set goals and develop achievable small projects.  Plans include:

• meet with ME Pearson administration to help them understand what we have achieved and request their assistance; 

• promote more high school student participation in the Art Squad and Farm Squad programs; 

• build connections between civic leaderships to organize a Bethany Neighborhood Association with neighborhood block leaders.

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Community Need
Bethany Park, a public park at the “heart” of the Central Avenue District, is one of the core parks of the county and is of medium size at 8.4 acres. This park has one of the largest populations surrounding it with 8400 residents that live within a half-mile radius—it is the second most impactful park in Wyandotte County.  Its best assets are its recreation center with a gymnasium and community rooms, the newly installed futsal courts and the number of people it attracts to“La Placita” events (started in 2014).  The park suffers with limited pathways and a playground that many consider unsafe for children. 

In 2013,  graduate students from the KU School of Architecture Design and Planning conducted a survey of residents to determine what the community liked and did not like about the Central Avenue area.  Many shared that Bethany Park was regarded as the “least liked” place in the neighborhood. Two years later, when surveyed again, many still regard Bethany Park as an “unsafe place for children and families and in need of more improvements” and “because of the way the land slopes away from Central Avenue, it is difficult to see activities from the road and it feels unsafe.”

Process
Recent developments:  “La Placita” started by the Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA), is an initiative designed to regularly attract people for pop-up food markets.  It is intended that this will benefit neighborhood residents, local businesses, potential businesses and attract those from outside of the community—in effect, change the current negative perception of the park to one as a place where regular fun events happen.  The newly added futsal courts with night-lighting are wildly popular and active well into the night. 

Interviews with nearby residents and local businesses revealed these needs:

• improve the visibility of the park by transforming the land to improve visibility from the road;

• provide more benches and park elements to make the park inviting;

• improve the children’s playground;

• add a dog park;

• incorporate art, music and dramatic performances in the park;

• develop other programming and events that to be held in the park (i.e., walking, running and bicycle clubs, Zumba fitness programs, 5K walking events, etc.)

• improve the appearance of the Bethany Community Center so that it is more inviting;

• add more night lighting so that it feels safer at night;

• create signage and landscaping that is more inviting, informative and welcoming . 

Next Steps
Exhibit the proposed plan in public spaces to seek feedback from a variety of stakeholder residents and community leadership through CABA, UG Parks & Recreation, Free Wheels for Kids, YMCA, Healthy Communities Wyandotte Infrastructure Action Team, the local elementary school, local church members and others.  What should be supported?  Who will support programs?  What public and private funding support is possible?  This park plan drawing is intended to generate dialogue and build consensus and capacity to make positive changes.

Download a PDF of this project

Download a PDF of the Bethany Park Plan Proposal (18x30 poster size)

Community Need
Much of the property that surrounds Bethany Park is in need of improvement.  There are abandoned, and dilapidated houses that are south and west of the park. The older, medium-rise Bethany Residential Towers lacks “curb appeal,” and lacks landscaping and safe passage in the parking lot.  Local residents say that Central Avenue is “difficult to cross with wide car lanes”, “no safe crossing for pedestrians”, “no bicycle lanes to encourage bicycling,” a lack of functioning street-lighting, and a general “sense of confusion about where to best cross the street safely.”  As a pedestrian coming from the north along 11th Street (let’s say from Pearson Elementary) it is challenging to make it to Central Avenue as there is no sidewalk.  In effect, the park is like an island in the city with an unfriendly perimeter.

Over the past few months, having visited the park repeatedly and having spoken to numerous nearby residents, on a regular day the park is empty and there’s a general sense that it is an unsafe place to be.  (One Sunday afternoon in September, when KU architecture students were there to observe the park, they were told by a local city employee that they shouldn’t be there—that is was “unsafe.”) 

Process
The park would be better connected with the surrounding residential and small business neighbors by improving the physical condition of the park perimeter and by improving its identity.  Based upon observations and conversations with those at the Central Avenue Parade and La Placita events, the following perimeter-park needs are:

•  improve the sidewalks along Central Avenue so that they provide safe pedestrian ways on either side of the street

• provide safe, mid-block and intersection crossings with attractive landscaping

• provide safe routes for bicycles along Central Avenue

• provide bicycle racks that are visible from the street

• Central Avenue needs better street-lighting to make it feel safer

• providing a pavilion-like structure to support La Placita events, farmers’ markets and food trucks

• work with nearby property owners to renovate and improve buildings and the streetscape with low-maintenance plantings and trees

• insert new mixed-use, retail/housing projects along the perimeter of park to increase urban activities and numbers of people that would use the park 

Next Steps
Seek feedback from a variety of stakeholder residents and community leaders through UG Parks & Recreation, Latino Health for All Coalition, Free Wheels for Kids and Healthy Communities Wyandotte to review the proposed programming and design ideas; confirm that we have reached out to all of the appropriate stakeholders and to determine who is missing; and in general, seek more input and feedback.  Meet with CABA and those that participate in La Placita to get more detailed input on infrastructural needs for a pavilion, parking and the streetscape along Central Avenue.  Meet with nearby property owners to discuss proposed ideas about how to improve the private properties adjacent to the park and seek further insight from them on how this might be achieved.

Download a PDF of this project

COMMUNITY NEEDS 
Neighborhood demographics in the Bethany neighborhood indicate significant need for public education about healthy food and active living. Steve Curtis, neighborhood organizer at CHWC has chosen to approach this through working with children, on educational projects that promote positive learning in these areas. 

DESIGN APPROACH
The Splitlog Farm Garden Shed and Community Classroom is a project that was executed by KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning architecture students for Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) in order to enhance the Splitlog Farm community garden. The shed is a 8’x12’ space with steel framing and a western red cedar rain screen. It has 2 purposes:  1) tool and equipment storage for the garden, and 2) public classroom space for school children and community events. It opens into the garden with a quick-access walk-through door, and opens to Splitlog Avenue with a vertically operating bi-fold door for more public events. A rain barrel collects roof water for use in the garden as well. 

IMPACT
The shed was completed in May 2106 and has been put into use for tool storage. Community events will take place in summer and events for school children when school commences in the fall.

PROJECT TIMELINE
Jan 2016-May 2016 

Project Participants
STUDENTS
Muswaddique Ahammed, Yasmin Badawi, Frankie Baker, Nicholas Bontrager, Julie Duval, Sarah Elstein, Violette Franchi, Benjamin LaRue, Danielle Latza, Zachary Lundgren, Zachary Overschmidt, Eric Pincus, Kevin Purdom, Nic Rakowski, Constance Rambaud, Meva Razafindrakoto, Mark Romanoff, Hannah Ruprecht, Joseph Schaefer-Glick, Xingzhe Tao
Nils Gore, Assoc. Professor
Matt Kleinmann, GTA

COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC)
Wyandotte Health Foundation
ME Pearson Elementary School

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Steven Curtis, CHWC
Heather Yates, ME Pearson Elementary School

Community Needs
In 2014, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County (UG) secured an agreement with the Kaw Valley Drainage District to open a portion of the Kansas River Levee, in the Armourdale Neighborhood, for public access as a hike and bike trail. The first year was treated as a pilot to determine if public access would prove to be detrimental to the Drainage District’s interests. Going into the second year, it was decided that some amenities to support the trail would be desirable. Nils Gore and Matt Kleinmann’s arch509 studio at KU was engaged to develop ideas for enhancing the trial through development of identity, signage and other supporting elements.
 
Design Process
Community engagement, through public events and a communications campaign via social media and monthly newsletters of the Armourdale Renewal Association, was begun in Fall 2015. The purpose was twofold:
1) to promote the trail as a community asset, for members of the Armourdale Neighborhood, and
2) to solicit feedback regarding potential users’ attitudes about the trail in general:  hopes, fears, wants, wishes and needs.
A community engagement event with the KU Mobile Collaboratory was held in September at the site of the trailhead under the Kansas Avenue bridge. In that meeting we learned that people would use the trail for numerous reasons: recreation, daily commuting, exposure to nature, exercise, education. Obstacles to use included:  safety concerns, lack of knowledge about its existence, extent and connectedness to other, similar trails. 

The studio generated many ideas for elements along the trail:  nature outlooks for the eagle habitat on the island in the river; recreational exercise stations along the trail; entry signage; mile markers; bike racks; benches; informational messaging regarding history and facts about the watershed. 

Outcomes
The studio ended up developing physical prototypes for 4 elements to be installed when the necessary permission and approvals are received from the governing authorities:  
1) Entry signage to identify the location of the trail, located at the intersection of Kansas Avenue and 18th St. The trailhead is tucked under the bridge and is not seen from that close primary intersection. The sign is made of individual metal letters and designed to be installed on the fence of a supportive neighboring landowner;
2) A bike rack prototype consisting of steel tubes fabricated into pure geometric shapes—circles and triangles. Seemingly arranged at random on the ground plane, their perspectival relationship is revealed when one adopts the right viewpoint and sees that they form a bike when viewed together;
3) An informational message board to illustrate the extent of the trail and educate users about its extent and relationship to the rest of the city.
4) Concrete bench prototypes that are arranged concentrically within the “spiral,” the sidewalk accessing the site from up on the Kansas Avenue bridge. 

The prototypes will be installed in Spring 2016 following receipt of necessary approvals from the city and neighboring landowner. 

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Community Need
In walking around the neighborhoods that surround Central Avenue, and surveying local residents, it is observed that safe, enjoyable connections by foot and bicycle are often missing.

To the north of Central Avenue, several community assets would benefit from better connections to one another and linking to downtown along Minnesota Avenue to Central Avenue:

• Waterway Park has been redeveloped with support from CHWC to provide a variety of amenities (playground, walking loop with exercise stations, landscaping and soon-to-be-installed soccer field) that attract families and their kids. 

• Pearson Elementary School is a well-established public school that supports the local families and draws many international families.

• Splitlog Farm has recently been developed by CHWC on three empty lots in the heart of the Bethany Neighborhood.  Its intended purpose is to demonstrate gardening to nearby Pearson Elementary students and to provide healthy food to the neighbors that surround it.

• Northrup Park has received support from KC Community Gardens to develop garden plots available to local residents. 

• 10th Street is currently being developed by the city to provide designated bike routes along the roadway.  It is anticipated that this roadway development will bring new interest in retail and other commercial activities to this area;

• a senior housing development will soon be developed by CHWC between 11th and 12th Streets and just north of the Bethany Medical Center.

Process
Based on surveying local residents at a couple of fall events, speaking to administrators at the Pearson Elementary School and speaking with Steve Curtis at Splitlog Farm, it is felt that the greatest improvements would be to connect all of the amenities together along the major north/south roads, 10th, 11th and 12th Streets and between these streets from Central Avenue to Minnesota.  Such improvements include:

• provide continuous, safe pedestrian sidewalks;

• develop a ‘Safe Routes to Schools’ program around Pearson elementary that would promote traffic calming elements and safe cross walks;

• beyond what the City is currently doing to improve 10th Street, provide designated bicycle routes on 11th from Minnesota to Central Avenue and on 12th Street between Pearson elementary and Central Avenue;

• improve the area that is currently overgrown south of Pearson Elementary.
 
Next Steps
Seek feedback on the various student proposals through Pearson Elementary School, the UG City Planners, local residents and CHWC as they develop housing projects. With a concentrated plan to improve the major north/south connecting streets, the neighborhoods will benefit from better access to the major entities and it will encourage walking and bicycling to parks and nearby retail.

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Community Need
The City has hired BHC Rhodes Civil Engineering to design streetscape modifications along Central Avenue between 5th to 17th Streets.  Public representatives have spoken about these proposals as the first step in improving the road condition of the Avenue by repairing the road surfaces, and in the future, as money becomes available more amenities will be added.  What is needed?  We have taken the opportunity to relay some of the characteristics and elements that we have heard from local residents, business owners and leadership identified:

• improve the condition of Avenue sidewalks so that they are continuous, accessible and safe;

• slow down the traffic so that pedestrians can cross more safely (‘road diet’ strategies with pedestrian-crossing signals and marked crosswalks at block and mid-block locations);

• provide safe lanes for bicyclists;

• provide more plantings and trees to beautify the street;

• provide streetlights to make the street safer for pedestrians;

• make the Avenue more attractive to increase a street café atmosphere.

It is felt by many that if the streetscape could be made to make the area more attractive, safer and supportive to local restaurants and retail life, it will not only support local residents but will draw others outside the community to come shop and dine.

Process
Based on input from those that attended various fall events and suggestions by business owners, there is a strong suggestion to focus on improving the area between 10th to 19th Streets.  The width of the Avenue has a curb-to-curb dimension ranging from 53’ to 57’. Based on these dimensions, two alternative streetscape plans are developed and exhibited to illustrate what may be possible.

Central Avenue Alternative #1 Scheme:  19th to 14th Streets. This scheme provides an alternative vision of incorporating a protected two-way bike lane with landscaping provided in a median to slow traffic and promote safety. 

Central Avenue Alternative #2 Scheme:  13th to 10th Streets. This scheme provides a vision of incorporating two bicycle lanes on either side of the road, with parallel parking and a third-turning lane for vehicular traffic.    

In mid-November 2015, the engineers publicly presented their proposed roadway improvement schemes.  Specific dimensions were not provided on the drawings, Alternative #2 scheme could be adapted with designated bike lanes.

Next Steps
Seek feedback from a variety of stakeholder business owners, nearby residents, civic leadership and engineers to see if the alternative schemes are appealing and possible to incorporate with the proposed roadway improvements.  To incorporate these amenities in the future will require that the proposed roadwork (with traffic, bike and parking lanes) be established to receive future additions.  With some coordination between community-interested parties and the engineers, we anticipate that the ultimate vision for this street can be realized—making safer, more attractive and sustainable, alternative transportation possible.  

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Context
Central Avenue is historically one of the original, east/west connecting streets of Wyandotte County.  It is has a unique character with its unique placement in the landscape.  As a result, it contains residual small, triangular parcels of land that have become pocket parks.  Central Avenue also is noted in the community for its small, 19th century storefront, brick buildings that have been adapted and reused by many business owners for over one hundred years.  In the past decade, the area between 10th and 18th along Central Avenue has seen a resurgence of activityheaded by the Latino Community and with support from the Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA).  Locally owned-businesses such as Carniceria El Torito 2 (there are other Torito stores in KCMO) and El Rio Bravo Supermarket (recently under new management) have provided strong, public amenities to the local community with healthy food options.

Although many buildings are now occupied through efforts to re-build this area, a strong Central Avenue District identity is not fully formed and some buildings remain empty—this creates an opportunity to consciously form a needed identity, or ‘brand,’ that is supported by CABA.

“La Placita” is the Central Avenue Betterment Association (CABA) Initiative designed to invigorate new activities and revitalize this area of the Central Avenue Corridor.  This effort has been successful in bringing people and revenue from outside of the community. Because of the successful impact this has had, CABA will increase the frequency of events so that it will occur weekly in 2016. 

Community Needs
La Placita has allowed this District to advertise and reach out to those that live outside of this community.  La Placita has been able to provide a ‘pop-up’ market to small businesses that previously were not able to sell food and goods.  As some of these vendors become more established, it is hoped that they will choose to stay in the ‘Central Avenue District,’ occupy empty buildings and choose to build new infill buildings on empty lots.  In order to support such a transition, it is suggested that  “business incubators” and several infill, higher density projects be built.

Throughout the metropolitan Kansas City area, many “incubator” maker spaces have been developed in recent years.  A business incubator can “nurture collaboration using shared resources, knowledge and ideas to cultivate opportunities…(where they) engage a diverse group of creative, socially conscious entrepreneurs giving opportunity for production, community outreach and education.”  These sorts of models demonstrate how it may be possible to transition a ‘pop up’ market to a ‘bricks and mortar’ location. 

Next Steps
Exhibit the work in various venues and seek community feedback.  What information needs to be developed to further support collaborative efforts and fulfill the vision for the “District”?  What empty lots can be built out with new infill retail at the ground level?  How can the “District” become more stable and dense with development?

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