Exhibit: West Bottoms in Three Parts

In the 2022-23 Academic year, Kansas City Design Center Urban Design Studio produced a catalytic vision study for the West Bottoms in partnership with SomeraRoad development firm and Unified Government of Wyandotte County/KCK Department of Planning and Urban Design. The purpose of the project was to build on the ongoing redevelopment project and infrastructure planning initiatives conducted by these two partner agencies and contextualize them into an overarching urban design concept for the area, capitalizing on their momentum and leveraging their potential for a broader impact and change. In doing so the studio concentrated on three specific project areas: West Bottoms Warehouse District, the I-70 viaduct connecting the two downtowns, and the West Bank of Kansas River from Kaw Point to the I-670 viaduct. Simultaneously, while focusing on urban design of the specific areas, the project aimed to explore the possibilities of their use as an armature for the generation of an interconnected transformative plan for the regeneration of the entire area and its constructive reconnection to its natural, cultural, and economic assets and its unique urban identity.

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