Editor's Letter
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Kansas Citians shift their mindset regarding the status quo of new-home developments.

Blame it on the automobile. It gave us the freedom to live as far away from the city as we’d like, but it coaxed us into an addiction that now has stranded us amid high gas prices at the fringes. Many of us require a car for even the smallest daily tasks, from picking up a loaf of bread to dropping the kids off at school. But developers are realizing the ineffectiveness of the system and addressing some common dysfunctions in subdivisions — reliance on cars, unwelcoming streetscapes, lack of interaction among neighbors, poor design and low-quality materials. They’re retooling neighborhoods to provide residents everything they want in a home and need within a short distance, while fostering a sense of neighborliness.

In this issue, we’ve chosen to cover two newer developments that carefully considered how their residents would like to live. Read about Chapman Farms, a master-planned community in Lee’s Summit, and Northgate Village, a mixed-residential community around the block from downtown North Kansas City. What is so neat about these neighborhoods is that the developers planned for amenities beyond pools and walking trails, completing the meaning of ‘community’ with accessibility to retail, restaurants, services and more.

Builders are starting to show off their smarts, as well, with more niche home options. Not everyone wants to live in the suburbs in a two-story home with 2.5 kids, a dog and a cat. Because people are so different, their housing should also be different. Click here to see nine homes I picked from this year’s HBA Spring Homes Tour that are defining a new direction for homes in the area.   

While community and housing options are changing for the better, design needs to come further. You might not be able to explain why certain neighborhoods or houses are welcoming or forgettable, but humans have an innate sense of proportion and beauty, says Marianne Cusato, an expert in the field of architectural design, who recently gave a lecture on the value of design. Speaking at New Longview, a successful example of the recreated traditional American neighborhood, she pointed out some ideas for improving a house’s appearance — simple forms, four-sided architecture, people-friendly entrances, color and minimized focus on garages. Combined, these elements can create a functional and aesthetic living environment that we’ve somehow forgotten about. If you’re planning to build or remodel, I encourage you to think critically about your options — not just what kind of countertops or how many bedrooms you want but if your home and neighborhood are really working for you. If they’re not, you’ve got more options than ever coming to the table.







Andrea Darr,
Editor-in-Chief
adarr@kc-hg.com

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