Downtown Wichita > Development > Action Plan > Our Process
The Downtown Action Plan includes three key phases in advance of its anticipated completion in late summer 2025.
- Phase 1: Immerse (January - April 2025) - The project team will analyze Downtown Wichita's current landscape and collectively imagine its future potential, working closely with key Downtown stakeholders and the greater Wichita community to arrive at a shared vision to form the basis for the plan.
- Phase 2: Ideate & Iterate (April - July 2025) - The project team will develop an urban design framework, outlining the “big ideas” that will guide downtown development for the next 10 years.
- Phase 3: Align & Act (July - August 2025) - The project team will help Downtown Wichita identify ways to implement the action plan and accelerate meaningful change, including public and private financing tools and policy recommendations.
The Action Plan aims to build upon Project Downtown's successes by focusing on implementation, development opportunities, design excellence, and economic vitality in downtown Wichita over the next decade. The Plan emphasizes collaborative engagement, improved connectivity, and educational tools to inspire and inform the community, while aligning with various city initiatives to create a more vibrant and interconnected urban core.
- Leverage Past Successes: The action plan will build upon Project Downtown’s foundational principles and strategies with a focus on greater levels of implementation in the next 10 years.
- Continued Cultivation: The action plan will identify and realize current development opportunities and cultivate new, targeted opportunities for future development while coordinating with various city plans and initiatives.
- Elevate Design and Construction: The action plan will serve as a guiding instrument to ensure that downtown development consists of excellent architectural design and is built with high-quality materials and methods.
- Provide Educational Tools: The action plan will provide examples to inspire and educate the Wichita community about downtown opportunities and services.
- Enhance Economic Vitality: The action plan will identify the economic benefits of increased public and private sector investment that supports the collective vision.
- Collaborative Engagement: The action plan will represent a collaborative effort combining the insights and knowledge of the design firm with ideas generated through extensive community engagement.
- Improved Connectivity: The action plan will introduce strategies to enhance connectivity between downtown districts and surrounding neighborhoods to promote a vibrant economic environment.
