Posts about Public Spaces
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DDOT selects Capital Bikeshare locations
DDOT has announced a preliminary set of locations for its 100 Capital Bikeshare stations (via TheWashCycle): Keep reading…
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Weekend reading: “Taking my talents to South Beach”
The inescapable news in the sports world last week was LeBron James’ decision on where to play professional basketball. James spurned his current (and hometown) team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in favor of joining forces with multiple, talented free agent players in Miami. The hoopla, as well as James’ decision to leave his hometown for greener pastures… Keep reading…
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How would you improve the Washington Monument area?
In comparison to the relative clutter of some other areas of the National Mall and adjacent parks, the Washington Monument grounds have the opposite problem: they’re a desolate wasteland of grass without shade, amenities, or interesting programming. That wasn’t the original plan. Early concepts for the Washington Monument included a colonnade surrounding… Keep reading…
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Where should the Latino museum go?
Congress has declared the National Mall a “completed work of civic art” and declared that future museums and memorials should go on sites outside the Mall, but that hasn’t stopped them from making exception after exception. Now, the planned National Museum of the American Latino wants to be on the Mall, too, and looks likely to get it. After all, the National… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Moving earth
Politically in PG; And…; Did you feel it?; The line on Purple; An urban Wal-Mart?; Obama vs. sprawl; Oregon to bag the bags?. Keep reading…
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National Park Service defines “important vistas”
The National Park Service has released its new Master Plan for the National Mall. I have only briefly skimmed it so far, but one interesting page deals with the visual vistas NPS deems important. Check out this map: The map’s blue lines are “vistas [that] are identified as contributing features of the L’Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, D.C.,”… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: One step forward, one step back
Good and bad news for Ward 7 development; Germantown ghost bike, investigation; Judge’s ignorance used against cyclists; Moses’ legacy alive at NY state DOT; More in New York; Our artiest, decoest building; Councilmembers Michael Brown?; Way too hot. Keep reading…
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Urbanism comes in many shapes and colors
Why does a proposal for a sidewalk cafe generally draw widespread praise, but a suggestion to use public space for skateboarding engender scorn? Is there really something better about dining versus skating, or is it simply that younger, poorer, and/or more minority residents skateboard, whereas eating at an outdoor cafe is beloved by wealthier, whiter, and older people? Both… Keep reading…
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Silver Spring plaza instantly becomes de facto skatepark
Fresh off its inaugural weekend, the new Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring appears to be a success, mobbed with people despite the ongoing heat wave. But residents who protested a deal giving much of the adjacent Civic Building to Round House Theatre might be equally surprised to find their new town square’s become a de facto skatepark. Designed by Boston-based… Keep reading…