Ruskin is a Kansas City neighborhood, an “Inner-Ring Suburb”, that was developed as part of the suburban expansion that characterized the post World-War II environment of intense economic and cultural change. Ruskin is a neighborhood that experienced decline over the last twenty-five years, due to the effects of unregulated sprawl in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The lack of economic investment in Ruskin produced a chain reaction of physical and social changes in the neighborhood that have further eroded its economic viability. This erosion in Ruskin is a “red-flag” to it’s residents, institutions, and business owners who are concerned with the long-term health of the neighborhood. The Ruskin Redevelopment Plan is the result of the work of the Ruskin Redevelopment Task Force, under the facilitation of Cyr Architecture & Construction, who critically looked at the existing conditions in their neighborhood in the context of what is know about the natural evolution of middle-aged suburbs in a global context of economy, society, and the built environment. The Plan is the result of six-weeks of community engagement, facilitated by Cyr Architecture & Construction, which included neighborhood stakeholders.
