Development Plan and AWI Vision for the Southwest Waterfront [EDRA / Places Awards, 2003 -- Planning] (original) (raw)

Social and Environmental Justice in Waterfront Redevelopment: The Anacostia River, Washington, D.C

Urban Affairs Review, 2019

Waterfront redevelopment projects have often been criticized for prioritizing attractive skylines and glittering facades over the needs of local communities. Recently, however, they have increasingly seen goals of social and environmental justice integrated into their vision statements. This article focuses on the redevelopment of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Since the early 2000s, the formerly neglected and contaminated river has been at the center of extensive regeneration efforts through the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI). We examine to what extent the AWI has helped to overcome inequities between the two disparate sides of the river. To answer this question, we build on interviews, analysis of planning documents, and site visits. Examining efforts toward both social and environmental justice, we show the convergence of the two but also the contradictions that arise between them. The findings suggest that employing a joint social and environmental justice approa...

Ian McHarg’s enduring influence on the ecological planning and design of Washington’s waterfront

Socio-Ecological Practice Research

Ian McHarg collaborated on two important planning reports in the mid-1960s: the Potomac Report and Toward a Comprehensive Landscape Plan for Washington, DC. This work was foundational to the formulation of his ecological method as applied to cities and was the basis for several chapters of his influential book, Design with Nature (1969). Less understood is the impact of these reports on the planning and design of Washington itself. While the environmental and cultural consciousness of the nation's capital was awakening when McHarg arrived in the city, his ecological approach enhanced the work of National Capital Planning Commission at the time. Though it has taken over 50 years to realize some of the recommendations derived from McHarg and his colleagues' analysis of the District, Washington's waterfront is in the midst of a riverside renaissance. McHarg's ecological method has been a steady undercurrent in the planning of Washington. A shortcoming of the reports is their failure to consider the issue of social equity in the city. Fortunately, current efforts on the Anacostia, in particular, have begun to remedy this oversight.

North Downtown Waterfront Development: Building Design Proposals

2010

And a special thank you to the studio faculty, professor Nico Larco and instructor Allen Lowe, who took the time to fully engage the students with the city, the site, the project, and the many participants of the North Downtown Waterfront classes, including University of Oregon planning students and faculty.

Social and Environmental Justice in Waterfront Redevelopment: The Anacostia River

Urban Affairs Review , 2019

Waterfront redevelopment projects have often been criticized for prioritizing attractive skylines and glittering facades over the needs of local communities. Recently, however, they have increasingly seen goals of social and environmental justice integrated into their vision statements. This article focuses on the redevelopment of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Since the early 2000s, the formerly neglected and contaminated river has been at the center of extensive regeneration efforts through the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI). We examine to what extent the AWI has helped to overcome inequities between the two disparate sides of the river. To answer this question, we build on interviews, analysis of planning documents, and site visits. Examining efforts toward both social and environmental justice, we show the convergence of the two but also the contradictions that arise between them. The findings suggest that employing a joint social and environmental justice approach to analyze waterfront redevelopments is important to reveal these tensions.

Waterfronts

Waterfronts are dynamic places by nature. As an edge environment, the overlap of different communities of users and dramatically different conditions make for enormous amounts of complexity and energy. In the non-human realm, waterfronts are the interface of the aquatic and the terrestrial, the site of complex intertidal communities, the point of release for wave action, and the vehicle for many dispersal patterns. As related to human history and use, waterfronts have a long history of changing types and levels of uses, and are now coming back into potentially thriving and layered public use. Once the site of fi rst settlements and exploration, they have long served as transportation corridors and ports, hubs of trade, travel centers, recreation venues, and much, much more. Waterfronts have been extensively used by humans for their utility in travel, trade, recreation, and general enjoyment, and have also suffered cycles of abuse and neglect from these very use patterns.