Kirkwood

Working with city officials and residents through public meetings, resident and business owner surveys, and a series of public design charrettes, Franke:Franke prepared the Downtown Urban Design Plan and Guidelines for the City of Kirkwood, Missouri. The plan provides a strong framework for future development that is focused on quality-of-life issues in the historic city.  With a clear vision and guiding principles, the plan is focused on: land use and zoning, transportation and mobility, economic development, parks, public and open space, community facilities, and civic space. Plan implementation is supported by robust urban design and planning guidelines that articulate the characteristics and qualities most desired by residents and leaders of the city.

The project provides the City with a master plan through which all qualitative conditions of proposed private development plans will be considered including land use, architecture, landscape architecture and site plans. The plan establishes a strategy for the downtown area that will lead to a high-quality pedestrian oriented commercial core created by the development of a pedestrian/ bikeway system that interconnects individual commercial parcels throughout the entire city. A strong physical identity for the district will be established through future development that will be implemented incrementally by the City and private developers and guided by comprehensive landscape and architecture design standards adopted by the City.