New E-Book: Kansas City and the American Story of Growing Into Decline

In 2019 and 2020, Strong Towns partnered with data analytics firm Urban3 for an ongoing research endeavor in Kansas City, Missouri, thanks to funding from the Enid & Crosby Kemper Foundation. We undertook a detailed exploration of the history, development patterns, and tax productivity in the city—uncovering a narrative of decline that has not been fully reckoned with until now.

As Strong Towns President and Founder, Charles Marohn, writes in Chapter 7:

“Kansas City [...] has spent nearly three generations destroying its own wealth, depleting its resources and adding unfathomable liabilities in its confusion over the difference between growth and wealth creation.”

Now, we have compiled some of the best essays from this project into a brand new e-book, Kansas City: The American Story of Growing Into Decline, which we are proud to release here. Our Kansas City e-book makes use of Urban3’s groundbreaking analyses and illustrations to explain:

  • Kansas City’s risky all-in approach to the suburban development experiment

  • The costs of misguided investment in urban freeways and parking lots

  • What Kansas City (and other cities) can do today to address the harmful history of redlining

  • What positive lessons Kansas City can and should learn from its own past

These chapters ultimately point to a more financially responsible approach that focuses on local, incremental steps toward change.

You can find more articles and podcasts on Kansas City at www.strongtowns.org/kansascity

We are not telling the story of Kansas City because it is especially unique or unusual. Rather, it is a case study—one that every city can learn from. Nearly every city in America has expanded its infrastructure and service obligations far beyond what it can reasonably afford to maintain. The bills are coming due. It’s time to pay attention and change our model of development into one that is not fragile and risky, but strong and resilient.


Kansas City has everything it needs to be strong again—including a growing number of Strong Towns advocates taking action right now to build a stronger and more financially resilient city. In fact, there are thousands of such champions all over the United States and Canada. They come from all walks of life—citizens to leaders, professionals to neighbors, and everyone in between. They’re asking the hard questions, reckoning with decades of misguided decisions, and advocating for a better way. You can help grow this movement by becoming a Strong Towns member today.