Kansas City’s heralded parks system, initially laid out by landscape architect George Kessler in 1893, has expanded from an original 323 acres to more than 12,000, and projections suggest that the city can no longer maintain it alone.

Susan Rademacher, a leader in the parks conservancy movement, examines that dilemma and strategies for keeping Kansas City’s signature system of parks and boulevards relevant and sustainable. She explores how partnerships withnonprofit organizations and other agencies have helped maintain or transform systems elsewhere.

Rademacher is parks curator for the nonprofit Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, past president of the Louisville Olmstead Parks Conservancy, and former assistant director of Louisville Metro Parks. Her presentation continues the Making a Great City series, and is co-presented by the Penn Valley Park Conservancy and Roanoke Park Conservancy.

[Note: The audio recording of this presentation was edited to reduce extraneous background noise.]