Capital City Study Tour to Washington D.C., September 13, 2011

Washington D.C. is often linked as the political center of the USA and as center for the world politics too. But this is only one aspect of this very dynamic city. During our field trip we had the possibility to learn how the District as a city is developing, what kind of problems the planning and economic development actors have in handling urban development and which instruments they use to solve these problems.

The National Capital Planning Commission and the DC Office of Planning

The governance system in DC is quite different from other cities, because the federal government plays a very important role. First, the federal government has a big impact in the economic development trajectories of the city. Second, there are two planning commissions that ensure the coordination of local and federal interests: The National Capital Planning Commission (responsible to plan the federal buildings and land) and the DC Office of Planning (responsible to plan the city). Federal and local government bodies are working together, but in some cases they don`t have the same goals. For example, a controversial topic is the regulation of the maximum height of all buildings in DC. On one hand the height limitation helps to protect the status of the monuments, but on the other hand it`s can limit the development of the city.

City model (Foto: Janina Keller)

The Reurbanization in DC

DC`s development over the last ten years has been dominated by the reurbanization. This trend is a big opportunity and DC has deliberate strategies to leverage the trend to develop the city in sustainable ways (e.g. denser neighborhoods, transportation linkages, etc.). DC has more jobs than residents, which results in a lot of in-commuters. The city supports urban real-estate development to revitalize neighborhoods into safe places with higher densities, with more retails offerings and with access to high capacity public transportation. This strategy helps to reduce the traffic. The statistics shows that this strategy is working. Only 63% (US average= 95%) of the households in DC have a car.

An old building is being renovated (Foto: Georg Tobler)

But DC has also problems to solve. The dynamic redevelopment displaces the poor community members to other neighborhoods or even to other states nearby. The restriction in height supports the effect of gentrification because of the more horizontal development. DC wants to be a community for everybody and uses therefore some instruments to ameliorate the negative implications of gentrification. If an investor wants to build more than ten houses, he is allowed to use a higher density if he is building ~10% affordable apartments. Another difficult problem in DC remains: Racial and economic segregation and the question how to develop disadvantaged neighborhoods. One current example is the project to relocate the Department of Homeland Securities into Ward 8 and the resulting opportunities for this area. DC aims to create a greater diversity of job opportunities inside the Ward and to connect residents to the opportunities that may arise from the relocation of the Department.

Ben`s Chili Bowl (Foto: Heike Mayer)

Ethiopian Food in the U-Street

In the evening we had the possibility to discuss all the exciting impressions. We visited the new waterfront around the Yards, where we haven`t been allowed to do anything ;) Afterwards we went eating at the very lively U-Street. We decided to try some Ethiopian food and forgo one of DC`s very famous takeaways, Ben`s Chili Bowl.

Park guidelines (Foto: Heike Mayer)

Fabian Bauer