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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Urban Planet Weird Wednesday: Kansas City’s Community Bookshelf

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Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world.

Parking garages usually don’t make it very high on a city’s list of urban beautification projects — most end up looking pretty similar to each other.

Kansas City, MO is one of the cities who have broken the mould. The parking garage of city’s downtown public library branch has a 25-foot tall “bookshelf” facade made from signboard mylar that features the spines of a number of local stories as well as many famous works.

The 22 titles were suggested by Kansas City residents and chosen by the library’s board of directors.

The full list of books included are: Kansas City Stories vol 1&2, Catch 22, a collection of childrens stories, Silent Spring, O Pioneers!, 100 Years of Sulitude, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Fahrenheit 451, The Republic, The Adventures of Hickleberry Finn, Tao Te Ching, The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Black Elk Speaks, Invisible Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, the journals of Lewis and Clark’s expedition across America, Undaunted Courage, Lord of the Rings, A Tale of Two Cities, Charlotte’s Web, Romeo and Juliet, and a biography of Harry S. Truman.

Photo by timsamoff

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One comment

  1. I lived in KC (Missouri, not Kansas) for a few months, underrated little city with great people.