Cities of Tomorrow Symposium

Keynote Speaker

Quinton Lucas
Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri

Mayor Quinton Lucas, known as "Mayor Q" by many, serves as the 55th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. Mayor Lucas is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and obtained a law degree from Cornell University. He clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, practiced law and represented the City’s Third District At-Large on the City Council. He became a professor at the University of Kansas School of Law in 2012. He remains a member of the law faculty, where he teaches and publishes on Local Government Law. His most recent publication, Post-Emption and the Mayoral Toolbox: Levers and Limits of City Resistance to State Preemption, was published in December 2024 by the University of Chicago Law Review. Since his election as Mayor in 2019, Mayor Lucas has led Kansas City’s adoption of the nationally acclaimed zero-fare transit initiative, which maintains a fare free public transit system on bus and rail transit citywide; championed the resurfacing of hundreds of miles of Kansas City’s streets and sidewalks; created the City’s first Housing Trust Fund; and promoted Kansas City’s global brand by, for example, securing the City’s position as one of only 11 American cities to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mayor Lucas uses his legal academic background to bridge the gap between scholars and practitioners by engaging with a wide range of legal actors including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law School American Constitution Society, Everytown for Gun Safety, the Public Rights Project and other thought leaders and strategic actors.

Speakers

• Chris Allen | Director of Events and Partnerships | Strong Towns
• Rebecca Bratspies | Professor; Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform |  CUNY School of Law
• Audrey McFarlane | Dean Julius Isaacson Professor of Law; Associate Dean of Faculty Research & Development | University of Baltimore School of Law
• Joel Mendez | Assistant Professor | University of Kansas Urban Planning Program
• John Nolon | Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus; Co-Counsel, Land Use Law Center | Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

Schedule

8:30-9:00 a.m. | Check-in and Breakfast

9:00-9:15 a.m. | Welcome and opening remarks
Stephen Mazza, Dean and Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
Emma Mays, Editor-in-Chief, Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy
Leah Stein, Symposium Editor, Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy

9:15-10:00 a.m. | Rebecca Bratspies, Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, CUNY School of Law
Cities as Laboratories for Climate Innovation — Lessons from NYC

10:00-10:45 a.m. | Audrey McFarlane, Dean Julius Isaacson Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Faculty Research & Development, University of Baltimore School of Law
The Challenges of Wealth Inequality for Equitable Urban Development

10:45-11:00 a.m. | Morning break

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Keynote address by Quinton Lucas, Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri
From ‘Under Siege’ to ‘Under Construction’: How Cities Can Thrive in Hostile Times

12:00-1:00 p.m. | Lunch provided at Burge Union

1:00-1:45 p.m. | Chris Allen,Director of Events and Partnerships, Strong Towns
Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity

1:45-2:30 p.m. | Joel Mendez, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas Urban Planning Program
Building Healthy and Sustainable Cities: The Role of Equitable and Accessible Transit in Kansas

2:30-2:45 p.m. | Afternoon break

2:45-3:45 p.m. | John Nolon, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Co-Counsel of Land Use Law Center, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
The Mysterious Power of Land Use Law: Constructing a Framework Law for Climate Resilient Development 

3:45-3:50 p.m. | Closing remarks

Cost

The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration will be required.

Program Accessibility

If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this event, please contact Debbie Schmidt by February 14 at drschmidt@ku.edu or 785-864-5078, 771 TTY.

Symposium Issue

Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a summer 2025 issue of the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Questions?

Contact Symposium Editor Leah Stein at leah.stein@ku.edu.