MARC > Creating Sustainable Places > About: The CSP Initiative

Creating Sustainable Places: A Strategy for Regional Sustainability

Greater Kansas City is growing. Over the next 30 years, we will expand to a population of nearly 2.7 million — adding some 750,000 people — the equivalent of Overland Park, Lee's Summit and Kansas City, Missouri combined.

But how will we grow? Can we find ways to retain the character of our communities and still create a thriving, sustainable region? Over the last few years, citizens and leaders throughout our region have been working hard to answer this question. And the answer is clear — when we collectively imagine the future of Greater Kansas City, we share a vision of a vibrant, green, connected region.

When we listen to citizens and planners, we find a keen interest in finding new ways to grow. Yes, Kansas City is a low-density region and will remain so. And yes, we want to protect the places we value, including stable neighborhoods, accessible employment centers and vibrant commercial and cultural districts throughout the region.

Yet we also want more — more walkable, compact places, more choices in how we travel, more choices in the type of housing we live in, more reinvestment in established areas, and more conservation of our natural assets. In short, we want to create more sustainable places — in both suburban and urban communities — that support a high quality of life for all of us, now and in years to come.

Our region's desire to broaden how we think about future growth reflects several new realities. The costs of infrastructure, energy and public services demand that we find more efficient ways to grow. Environmental expectations require us to more fully respect our natural systems. Moreover, our historic patterns of growth do not sufficiently serve a market that will be older, more diverse and live in smaller households, most without children.

Through the Mid-America Regional Council, local governments developed the Creating Sustainable Places initiative to address these realities. We've listened to the community through Imagine KC, an extensive community engagement project. And we've studied the plans of individual cities to find common goals and to align regional and local priorities.

The Creating Sustainable Places initiative emphasizes three key land-use goals for the future — vibrant activity centers throughout the region and along strategic transportation corridors offering multiple travel options, reinvestment in existing communities, and conservation of natural systems.

But change occurs in places, not plans. Regional and local leaders are ready to move from planning to action. We are actively working to implement our regional vision by developing new tools, practices and policies to help decision makers visualize and analyze future development and to promote and invest in projects that demonstrate how sustainable development can enhance places throughout our region.

Yes, Greater Kansas City is growing. More than ever, we are working together — one vibrant, connected and green place at a time—to grow into a sustainable region.