inner loop

ULI Hines | Competition Entry | Spring 2021

Project in collaboration with Charlotte Ho, Jiazhen Lin, Aaron Sage, Juan Moreno

Inner Loop reimagines life in Kansas City’s downtown, revitalizing and re-densifying a long-overlooked site. The development overlaps with diverse neighborhoods, weaving together disparate communities around a mixed-use development anchored by three integrated program “loops:” Sustainability, Sufficiency, and Recreation. Together, these loops redefine living within an urban highway – a physical and socioeconomic barrier – into a self-sustainable 5-minute micro-city model.

Developing Inner Loop means encouraging mixed-use and dense development; transforming the streetscape to promote non-motorized forms of travel; anchoring future urban transformations with a flexible supply of work and cultural spaces; and increasing sustainability and resiliency by creating circular economies. The project revisits urban density as an asset for integrated communities, based on the simultaneous necessities of providing incentives for development, amenities for residents and business owners, and affordable housing.