Recent economic successes in Los Angeles, Denver, and Minneapolis, among other cities, have been fueled by the resurgence of small-scale urban neighborhoods. That same potential, urban designer Jim Kumon says, exists in the lots and blocks of Kansas City and every other medium and large municipality in the Midwest.

Kumon, who heads the Minnesota-based Incremental Development Alliance, offers a roadmap for pulling off such small-scale development projects – from managing the cost of infrastructure to creating affordable housing, gaining access to financial capital, and training new entrepreneurs – in the third installment of the Making a Great City series.

The series is co-presented by the Hall Family Foundation, the planning and design studio of Gould Evans, Greater Kansas City LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), the local council of the Urban Land Institute, the Mid-America Regional Council, Newmark Grubb Zimmer, and the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors.