Ingrams June 2023

BETWEEN THE LINES

Pointed Perspectives & Penetrating Punditry | by Jack Cashill

There Is No Place Like Home

True visionaries gifted us a rare and beautiful city. It’d be nice if those who think they can improve upon it don’t mess it up. Some years back, I accepted a Fulbright to teach urban studies at the Université de Lorraine in Nancy, France. The textbook for one course featured four cities considered to be the world’s best planned. Paris, Nancy, Bath in England—no surprises there. But the fourth, Kansas City, as in Missouri! OMG! Last month found me in three of those cities and reminded me anew of why Kansas City made the cut. The year my wife and I lived in Nancy (NON-SEE) just happened to be our 10th anniversary year. Every 10 years, we make a point of going back. I still have not figured out why

Although few Americans know about Nancy, the city is renowned for its urban design. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Nancy attracts tourists from all over the world. At the center of the city is the spectacular Place Stanislas, a vast pedestrian square ringed by outdoor cafes and museums. It is a truly wonderful place to visit. Nancy almost perfectly fits the model “15-minute city” as imagined by American urban planners. They would be happy to know we walked every place we needed to go—breakfast on the square, the museums, church, dinner. In fact, I walked about five miles a day. But there’s a

companies would rent a car to a clueless foreigner who just stepped off an over night flight, but happily, they do. As a caraholic, I could not be without one. With about an hour’s sleep, I set off for Nancy, a four-hour drive due east of Paris. Complicating matters was that, unknown to Joan and me, the GPS was set to “avoid toll roads.” We spent an hour slogging dopily through Parisian suburbs before correcting the setting, but our four-hour drive had turned into five. When the Fulbright people sent us to Nancy those many years ago, I was re lieved. I did not want to be assigned to Paris. In Paris, you are just another Amer ican. In Nancy, a city of about 100,000, we were rock stars. Thanks to our tow

catch: The city was designed in the 18th century. Locals have had nearly 300 years to adapt their life style to the design. This means not only lots of walking, but it also means lots of con-forming to the mandates of the various gov erning bodies. As a case in point, I had origi

Cities in Europe have had hundreds of years to acclimate residents to their designs. Kansas City is a different beast; the locals won’t easily give up personal transportation.

headed two-year-old, we made many good friends. All these years later—French style—they remain in place, and they remain good friends. Of the four sets of people we met with over six days, all of them—happy to say—shared our worldview. What pissed us off, pissed them off. Given my tenuous grasp of French, it is much easier to affirm what someone says in their lan guage than to contradict them. We could not have been there without a car. Our closest friends, for instance, live at the summit of a quaint hilltop village outside Nancy in a home that has been in the family for generations. The view from the garden is so spectacular in so many directions that the Nazis commandeered it for their reconnaissance staff. Indeed, this 800-year-old village of 300 people has seen more history than the state of Arkansas. It is not easy to reach in any case, but impossible without a car.

nally booked a hotel on the Place Stanislas before learning that I would have to ask permission from the local authorities to even drop my luggage off. Instead, I booked a hotel about a half-mile from the square that promised on-street parking and near- by garages. I imagine the person who wrote the line “on-street parking” had a good laugh with his friends. The underground parking garage cost close to $40 a day. Like all such garages in France, the ramps are frighten ingly narrow, and the parking spaces impossibly small. To spare her the drama, I always dropped Joan off

Jack Cashill Ingram’s Senior Editor P | 816.842.9994 E | Editorial @ Ingrams.com

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Kansas City’s Business Media

June 2023