Open Space

The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative will unite the city economically, physically, and socially as the center of 21st century Washington and a cornerstone of the National Capital Region. The destiny of the city as the nation’s capital and a premiere world city is inextricably linked to re-centering its growth on the Anacostia waterfront and making its long-neglected parks, environment, and infrastructure a national priority.

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the federal government’s planning agency in the District of Columbia and surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia, prepared Extending the Legacy. The plan redefines the District of Columbia’s Monumental Core, which extends from the steps of the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, and from the White House to the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. The plan solves the problems of the Monumental Core with bold proposals for transportation, community revitalization, public building and open space, including miles of connected public waterfront on both sides of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers.

The Improvement of the Park System of the District of Columbia aka McMillan Commission Plan for Washington D.C. The McMillan plan is a scheme of broad radiating avenues connecting significant focal points, its open spaces, and its grid pattern of streets oriented north, south, east, and west is still the plan against which all modern land use proposals for the Nation's Capital are considered.