A trip down the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., shows an urban riverfront like many others, dense with apartment complexes, manicured athletic fields, and surprisingly wooded stretches of freshwater wetlands and meadows that attract migratory birds. But on shore, life is very different for the communities on its western and eastern banks.
Residents east of the river in Wards 7 and 8, including the historically Black neighborhoods of Fairlawn and Anacostia, have long experienced disinvestment and neglect. Communities west of the river, including the Navy Yard and parts of Capitol Hill, are primarily White, with single-digit unemployment. In addition, the median owner-occupied housing unit east of the river is worth less than half that of its counterpart to the west, while child poverty and associated markers—like the number of high…
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Landscape Architecture (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2024