From working with various cities throughout the country, 180º has found that when it comes to form-based code efforts, the goals from city to city can be very different.

It is important to define the areas where you want the form based codes to be applied and what types of applications are coming into the city. You must separate the good ideas from the bad.

Listen to Kevin Klinkenberg discuss how setting priorities and making decisions before crafting a code will help enforce what you envision for your city.

How Green is our Valley?
By Jim Romeo– Midwest Contractor

All across America, there is a clear buzz about the need to go green. The construction industry is hopeful that that this provides opportunity to prosper from new construction revitalized by a dearth of LEED projects, which were helped by government policy from a new administration. The construction industry in the Midwest seems quite conscious and hopeful of a new wave of green.

Part of the green growth, however, will hinge on collective thinking as to what constitutes “green.” “There is no doubt that there is incredible market demand for green technologies and green buildings,” says Brian Hendrickson, principal of 180° Urban Design in Kansas City, MO. “This demand will only increase, but those who demand green buildings will also continue to become more educated and savvy as to what is really green and what isn’t. I think the idea of the lone green building standing alone, dissociated from an urban context and accessible only from the interstate is a dead end. Smart consumers already see the fallacy in that idea.”

He adds, “The construction industry consumes just about every industrial resource that there is. There is an inherent responsibility to consume those resources in a more responsible and efficient manner. The next great step in building green will be to look at integrating green construction with sustainable transportation and planning practices. That’s where the real efficiencies are.”
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When President Barack Obama proposed a network of high-speed passenger trains criss-crossing the U.S. last week, there were high-fives in Kansas City. The Obama Administration’s proposal includes Kansas City in its high-speed rail proposal.

“I’m very excited about it,” said Dr. Charles Wheeler, former Kansas City mayor. “The president deserves a lot of credit for putting it in the loop as they say.

“I’ll do anything to work with the people in St. Louis to get the Department of Transportation to work with the president to see the project moves forward.”

It’s high time for high-speed, Wheeler said.

For too long, rail travel has been allowed to languish, he said.

But there’s more that should be done with passenger rail travel and Kansas City should be in the middle of it, Wheeler said.

Because of its central location in the U.S., Kansas City should be a key national rail hub as it was in the past, when hundreds of passenger trains used Kansas City’s Union Station, he said.

“It’s a logical connection,” Wheeler said.

The Obama proposal mirrors a regional high-speed rail proposal that’s been around several years, said Kevin Klinkenberg, Kansas City architect and passenger rail advocate.

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180° Urban Design is leading a charrette this week in Overland Park, KS, as part of a project to create citywide mixed-use design standards and update the city’s overall design guidelines documents.

Click here for more information.

A plan unveiled by parish and business leaders in Louisiana envisions as a pedestrian friendly, family oriented French-Quarteresque retail area. It will encompass about 100 acres in the heart of Metairie, LA’s Fat City.

Listen to Kevin Klinkenberg talk about 180º’s involvement in redesigning communities along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

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