Union Station decorated by 985photography licensed under Creative Commons.

Seeking a gift for that special person who loves dense, walkable, transit-oriented urban places? Let GGWash help you stay on the “nice” list with practical gifts, make-it-yourself gifts, and aspirational gifts for the urban-dwellers in your life. If they don’t exist, maybe they should.

Neighborhood preserves

If you’ve attended a public hearing on new housing, you’ve heard it: we can’t have new development because we need to “preserve neighborhood character.” When people who already own homes use their power to exclude new neighbors, it can really put a damper on the holiday spirit! So here’s a gift idea for new and old neighbors alike, and the great news is you can make it at home: neighborhood preserves. Try welcoming watermelon rind for those hoping to find a home they can afford, or bitter marmalade for folks who don’t want to share the place they love with new neighbors. (A “traffic jam” actually exists; if it’s thick enough to get people to switch from driving, it’s a hit with us). Remember, it was the Christmas spirit that opened Scrooge’s heart!

Old Fashioned Traffic Jam by Adam Fagen licensed under Creative Commons.

Gingerbread housing

We love a good gingerbread house construction session. But what’s missing (besides the middle)? They always seem to be single-family homes! Time to upzone the North Pole: give the gift of a gingerbread duplex or even a quadplex. The construction materials probably aren’t quite up to a towering skyscraper, but let’s start somewhere. Like many seniors, Santa needs a rightsized dwelling, and we think the elves might appreciate more workforce housing, too.

A gingerbread house by Erin licensed under Creative Commons.

Pop-up “Somewhere Else” bike lane kit

Inspired by GGWash friend @SharrowsDC. For the frustrated cyclist who just needs a safe route, yet can’t get support from their neighbors who say they support bike lanes but think they should be “somewhere else”: try a portable “Somewhere Else” flag that they can stick on the back of their bike. They won’t be any safer, but neighbors will be able to park their cars wherever they please and still say they support bike lanes. (“Somewhere Else” mixed-income housing sold separately.)

Movie night

Snuggle up with the urbanist in your life to watch the Hallmark Channel’s latest offering, ‘‘By-Right the Menorah”. An organizing couple get the 8th Advisory Neighborhood Commission vote they need on the last night of Hanukkah to support a new housing development that should have been approved anyway.

Abstract density

Can’t get enough housing in your neighborhood to support the walkable, vibrant city life you crave? Neighbors saying they support density, “just not here”? Console yourself with an abstract version of density in the form of a tungsten cube that won’t offend anyone, till you reach the promised land.

Cube collection by Anders Sandberg licensed under Creative Commons.

Staff picks

GGWash staff have their own ideas about what would make a great holiday gift.

“All I want for Christmas is a car-free street,” says Kate Jentoft-Herr.

For the lovable yet cranky relative, Dan Reed has a suggestion. “Why settle with a single gift when you can preserve your entire community exactly the way it looks now for somebody you love, just like the village commissioner in Euclid, Ohio who introduced one of the nation’s first single-family zoning laws?”

Kai Hall says Christmas doesn’t have to be big to be joyous. Think of all the humor shared by neighbors of Columbia Heights when their tree turned out kind of, um, underwhelming. Tiny Timber, striking a blow for the thought that counts!

If you actually wanted a gift idea

Did you come here looking for a gift that exists? Fair. There are plenty of “urbanist gift guides” out there, but our favorite suggestion is tickets to a performance in your loved one’s city. A gift that gets folks out and about and enjoying their city will both make them happy and support their city’s vibrance. And while this isn’t a fundraising post per se, a contribution in someone’s name to GGWash is truly a gift that keeps on giving as an investment in our vision of a growing, dense, connected region, where housing is abundant and affordable, it’s easy to get around without a car, and land use decisions prioritize racial, social, and environmental justice.

As we wrap up 2022 and enjoy the holiday season with friends, family and neighbors, we at GGWash appreciate you, our readers and supporters, for all that you do to make this region great.

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Tagged: bicycling, bike lanes, dc, retail, transit, union station

Caitlin Rogger is deputy executive director at Greater Greater Washington. Broadly interested in structural determinants of social, economic, and political outcomes in urban settings, she worked in public health prior to joining GGWash. She lives in Capitol Hill.