Outstanding Plan
Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan
The Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan aims to transform the metropolitan area into a more resilient, equitable, and healthy region. The plan proposes a flexible framework to help local communities mitigate climate change by achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And, it proposes a mix of strategies to help the region adapt to and bounce forward from the many risks climate change poses.
The Climate Action Plan takes an integrated, systems-based approach to address climate change. The plan identifies climate solutions to build a stronger, healthier, more vibrant region. It creates new patterns of regional collaboration that guide and connect actions and facilitate equity and transparency. It examines system linkages.
The plan outlines several overarching goals among nine different sections – each with a set of strategies and specific actions. It builds from common sense then asks how to scale up and connect with a bias toward action.
Award jurors noted this project also stood out because of the tremendous collaboration of over 100 local and state elected officials, as well as over 1,000 participants in the planning and drafting of the plan that took place over two years.
Honorable Mention: North Central Plan
The North Central Plan is a vision action plan and is built around the guiding principles of Equity at the Center, Asset-based Revitalization, and Holistic Sustainability. The Plan also works to both further City-wide values for equitable and sustainable economic development and revitalization, and to advance the achievement of these values with the North Central community. The planning process implemented an asset-based approach and built upon the results of the SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) Analysis, Community Well-Being Survey, alignment with adopted City of St. Louis Plans, policies and initiatives, as well as feedback gathered from the community to develop the specific strategies, action items, and urban design recommendations that comprise the North Central Vision Action Plan.
Planners served to help the community unpack the history of North Central, acknowledging the implicit and explicit injustices that have played out in the community overtime, such as redlining and the impacts of various past planning movements including the City Beautiful Movement and Urban Renewal efforts that have had a lasting impact on this community. As a result of this planning process there are a series of regulatory changes that have been recommended to address some of the barriers to implementation of the community’s vision and goals. One being the ability to construct or provide affordable housing through accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Through the process the planners provided insights and information on the benefits and the barriers that exist in the code for allowing ADUs.
The plan creates a clear roadmap for the community to implement goals through partnerships and organizing for success.