Each winter, I find myself thinking about the above article from Bloomberg’s City Lab newsletter. Written during fall of 2020, the article argues for embracing a more ‘outdoor-forward’ approach to winter. The motivating reason for this piece was trying to figure out how to allow socializing and outside time in the lead-up to the first COVID winter, but it works by highlighting what many northern cities, particularly Edmonton, Alberta have already done with their “WinterCity” initiative.
In my mind, Iowa is already a snowy tundra, Minnesota seems like Antarctica, and that anyone even lives in Canada seems inhuman to me; if Minnesota is Antarctica, then Canada must be Pluto. Growing up in Missouri, our winters have never been anything close to consistent. While, we do frequently get days of sub-zero temperatures and heavy snows, there are often days through January and February where the temperature may veer into the high 60’s - I am writing this on a day in February where the temperature peaked in the mid-70’s. I am not someone who readily embraces winter, but it is the snow, rather than the cold I dislike. Many people will say “If it’s going to be this cold, it might as well snow” - my mindset is the opposite; “please get as cold as you want it (God?), but please no snow”. Snow in my mind is covered over sidewalks, barely plowed roads, tires sliding, cold and wet hands and feet.
Kansas City also treats winter as something to be rejected. Seasonal activities and the Christmas village aside, Kansas City does not have a vision for how to help Kansas Citians thrive, rather than just survive, in winter. Kansas City’s winter weather plan just details how roads will be plowed and what residents should do to keep themselves safe - important information, but hardly inspiring. Likewise, Kansas City’s playbook, the KC Spirit Playbook has nothing about adapting for winter - climate-focused plans are focused on climate change, rather than suggestions about what the city might do.
Does not take a genius to imagine why Edmonton, Alberta might have a winter plan, but Kansas City does not, but I do not think that should be a sufficient reason. Remembering back to the harsh winter of early 2021 (Wikipedia tells me it was apparently named “Uri”), there were several days of hunkering down and just trying to survive. My hope for this city - and any city - is that the onset of winter does not have to mean the sunset of time spent outdoors. Climate change suggests that we are likely to experience more of these unusual weather events - I do not want to suffer through each extreme winter with the same sort of experience as a driver hunkering down under a bridge during torrential rain.
My winter dream for Kansas City plays to its strengths - food. I love the idea of ice fishing or outdoor community-wide snowball fights, but the snow and the temperatures in Missouri are to in flux to make those at best sporadic options. Like the carts selling roasted peanuts in Victorian London from the Bloomberg article, both restaurants and pop-ups could lean into the weather. Restaurants in winter, piled with jackets as shelter, but on the outside you could repurpose what were outdoor areas in summer to focus on selling hot beverages and warm (or warming snacks) and encourage people to gather outdoors. That means fewer chairs (so people do not get cold sitting down) and hopefully fewer dishes as people gather in standing groups, rather than sit down. After all, if they can sell food outside in Yakutsk, where it regularly is several tens of degrees below zero, then selling some hot cocoa in the teens and twenties seems very doable.
Would love to hear what anyone else thinks may be a good idea to make Kansas City a winter city.