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MARC Home > Community Development > Creating Quality Places
Creating Quality Places
Creating
Quality Places
is a program aimed at fostering the creation of quality places and a
better quality of life in neighborhoods and communities throughout the
Kansas City region. Funded through grants from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Creating
Quality Places is a program of the Mid-America Regional Council
(MARC) representing city and county governments in the bi-state Kansas
City metropolitan area.
During the first phase of the program draft principles were developed through the work of four committees representing a broad range of stakeholders, including elected and appointed officials, planning professionals, citizen representatives, special interest groups, developers, builders, architects, and engineers. An overview of the process and the principles is available in PDF format in Creating Quality Places: Successful Communities by Design.
The principles are an affirmative set of statements that address the design of successful neighborhoods, of vibrant mixed-use commercial areas, of an efficient and well-designed transportation system - all balanced in the context of a healthy environment. Individually, these principles embody ideas that have already been discussed and, in some cases, implemented in the region and throughout the country. Together, they represent a powerful consensus on what is needed to create successful neighborhoods and communities in our metropolitan area.
In the second phase, a Creating Quality Places Web site was created to offer case studies and identify tools that can facilitate implementation of the principles. Tools range from model codes and ordinances to funding and financing mechanisms. These resources highlight best practices locally and nationally.
Since the Creating Quality Places principles are not intended to be prescriptive, the tools are an important component of the Creating Quality Places program. They will provide elected officials, planning agencies and private developers and builders with a catalogue of tested and effective strategies with which to implement the principles.
