Download the pending Downtown Wichita Action Plan.

Goals for Downtown Wichita’s Next Decade

The Action Plan is organized around four goals that define the future of downtown Wichita.

• Connected Downtown - Downtown Wichita will be a connected, welcoming place where people can easily navigate to shopping, dining and cultural attractions on foot or by bike, car or transit.
• Riverfront Downtown - Downtown Wichita will embrace the Arkansas River as the city’s central gathering place for recreation, entertainment and the enjoyment of nature.
• Well-Designed Downtown - Downtown Wichita will feature well-designed buildings, streets and public spaces that create a safe, attractive and welcoming environment.
• Full-Service Downtown - Downtown Wichita will evolve as a dense, mixed-use urban center to unlock new opportunities for living, working, shopping and entertainment.

From Vision to Action

The Action Plan outlines 17 key strategies and more than 100 actions to help bring the community’s vision for downtown to life. Among the plan’s recommendations are:

• More housing: Work with the development community to establish more than 5,000 new apartments and townhomes, including a range of affordability and homeownership options.
• Better transit connections: Establish a downtown circulator bus that runs every 10 minutes and connects downtown to the new transit hub in Delano.
• A signature Douglas Avenue: Transform Douglas Avenue with more shade and more space for all users, including opportunities for outdoor cafés.
• A more active riverfront: Create enhanced opportunities for dining, outdoor recreation and commerce along the Arkansas River.

While many recommendations will be advanced over the next decade, several priorities identified in the Action Plan are already taking shape, including the Downtown Wichita Clean Team and plans for a downtown grocery store.

Shaped by Wichitans

More than 1,000 Wichitans participated in more than 50 stakeholder events to help shape the plan. Their input helped create a vision for a connected, mixed-use downtown that embraces the Arkansas River, celebrates Wichita’s culture and heritage, and prioritizes high-quality urban design.

The final drafted plan was presented to the Historic Preservation Board, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, Transit Advisory Board, Advance Plans Committee and all six Wichita District Advisory Boards. On July 23, 2026, the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the city and county adopt the Action Plan into the shared city-county Comprehensive Plan.

Building on Project Downtown

The Action Plan builds on the significant investment and transformation that have taken place downtown since Project Downtown was adopted in 2010.

From 2010 to 2025, Project Downtown resulted in more than $2 billion in downtown investment, with a pipeline of more than $800 million in additional projects underway.

Project Downtown by the Numbers

• 119 completed projects
• 6.3 million square feet transformed
• 1,935 new housing units added
• 1,350 new hotel rooms opened
• 5,600 new parking spaces added
• 20 additional projects under construction or in the pipeline

Download the pending Downtown Wichita Action Plan.

Download the Appendix.

Process and Resources | Project Downtown