Karie Kneller
Project Manager, Urban Designer
AICP/ENV-SP/CPTED
Karie Kneller is an urban planner and urban design professional with more than a decade of experience across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. Throughout her career, she has remained committed to improving environmental, economic, and social outcomes for communities through thoughtful planning, collaborative design, and public service. Her passion for creating vibrant, resilient, and people-centered places shapes both her professional work and her personal life.
From an early age, Karie found inspiration through art, design, and exploring the places that bring people together. Whether rearranging spaces in her childhood home, painting, sketching, or reading about cities and cultures around the world, she developed a fascination with the elements that make places distinctive, welcoming, and enduring. Today, that curiosity drives her work to help create communities where people feel connected, inspired, and invested in a better future.
A lifelong Kansas Citian, Karie earned her degree in Urban Planning and Design from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Her professional experience spans current and long-range planning, urban design, public engagement, policy analysis, and project management at the local, state, and federal levels through both private consulting and local government. She understands that policy is where conceptual design is ultimately implemented. Therefore, Karie also serves as Chair of the Kansas Chapter of the American Planning Association’s (APA KS) Legislative Committee, where she leads advocacy efforts on housing, economic development, infrastructure, and land use policy. She is an executive board member of the Kansas City Section of the American Planning Association (KC APA), a certified member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and she is a certified Envision sustainability Professional (ENV SP) by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure.
Beyond her professional work, Karie is an explorer at heart. Her travels—within the United States, and from Haiti, Honduras, and Zambia to Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands—have deepened her appreciation for the diverse ways people shape and experience place. Whether discovering a vibrant neighborhood, hiking through a national park, enjoying live music, or gathering around a campfire with family and friends, she draws inspiration from both the natural and built environments. Home remains in the Kansas City region, where she enjoys spending time with family, friends, and neighbors while continuing to champion places that foster connection, resilience, and a strong sense of community.
.
