Whether we make the mental connections or not, everything about our city is interrelated:
• The health of the Anacostia and Potomac watersheds is directly affected by runoff from roads;
• Our roads are designed and routed to ease our daily commute to get to and from jobs created by regional economic growth policy;
• Growth is dependent on a reliable and expanding base of skilled workers;
• Workers attracted by lively mixes of shops, housing and other uses, which need a critical mass of users clustered into centers of activity;
• To be viable, centers of activity must have access to public amenities such as schools, open spaces, and parks;
• Public amenities are directly impacted by – you guessed it – the health of the Anacostia and Potomac.
Identifying and understanding these interwoven systems is essential to any sort of sustained regional planning effort for a growing metropolitan region like Washington’s, which already tops five million residents. Topics this diverse each require their own specialized study and can rarely be discussed together in one setting. This week, however, the public has an opportunity to see all these interrelated parts in a single room.
And what a room.
On Wednesday, the National Building Museum will assemble experts in planning, architecture, city administration, ecology, history, and politics for a symposium called Framing a Capital City, which is free and open to the public for those who register. Beginning with the 200-year history of Pierre L’Enfant’s plan to the modern day “National Capital Framework Plan,” the speakers — from Harvard’s Alex Krieger and UVA’s Maurice Cox to D.C.’s own Dan Tangherlini — will discuss the “unique challenges that face a city with national and local resources and responsibilities.”
The Building Museum will kick off the event with a keynote talk given tonight by architect David Childs. Widely known for his current role shepherding the beleaguered Freedom Tower at the WTC site in New York, Childs is no stranger to Washington, having designed the National Geographic headquarters and other buildings, worked as design director of the Pennsylvania Avenue commission, led the National Capital Planning Commission, and chaired the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. (6:30 p.m., $12, prepaid registration required)
Graphic from National Building Museum website.
