Creative Placemaking in Washington, D.C.

Two pilot projects in Washington, D.C.

Crossing the Street: Building DC’s Inclusive Future through Creative Placemaking Initiative was designed to promote community-building through short-term art installations in over one dozen neighborhoods that are experiencing rapid demographic and social change. Gehl was selected through a competitive process and paired with two Crossing the Street project sites - in Wards 7 and 8. As curator, producer, and evaluator of this project, Gehl worked with local stakeholder groups and commissioned artists in collaboration with the DC Office of Planning (DCOP).

We started the project by walking through each neighborhood with local stakeholders and talking with them about what might improve the public realm.

Ward 7 SuperStop

In Downtown Ward 7, we observed that the streets are wide with crowded bus stops and nowhere to sit. We asked: What might a bus stop look like if kids and arts organizations created a Super(bus)stop?

The resulting pilot project was designed and built by community members and Public Workshop. The SuperStop included a Boombench (that broadcast local radio station, WeAct Radio) and a Playstop that offered seating and opportunities for play while waiting for the bus. The Double Nickels Theatre added to the street life by locating their mobile porch at the SuperStop on two occasions, inviting long time residents to bring neighborhood stories to life through storytelling on the porch and engaging with youth walking home from school. East River Jazz also provided two days of live jazz music from the mobile porch.

Ward 7: Neighborhood seniors share theirstories on the Mobile Porch

Ward 7: Community members help build the SuperStop with the guidance of Public Workshop

Ward 8 Beacon & Cabaret

Bellevue is a neighborhood with pride and history. Its main intersection is full of activity and it is the point of arrival for people coming into DC from Maryland. However, this key node does not celebrate the neighborhood’s identity or arrival into Ward 8. We asked artists to make a beacon that transformed this underutilized corner and signaled entry into Ward 8. Local artists designed the Beacon and built the structure with help from community members who usually work on their cars in the adjacent parking lot.

To celebrate the unveiling of the Beacon, a neighborhood cabaret was held at the Bellevue Library. Hissing Black Cat Theatre’s “Playback” performance invited a conversation about the tremendous change the neighborhood is experiencing.

Ward 8: Hissing Black Cat Theatre’s performance facilitates a dialogue about neighborhood change

Ward 8: The Beacon shows a photo montage ofchildren from a local elementary school

Evaluation

At the outset of the project, we established Public Life Goals for the interventions with community members of each ward. We assessed the success of each project in meeting these goals through observation, interviews, and documentation both before and during the installation.

In Ward 7, there was a resoundingly positive response to the SuperStop. We found the SuperStop changed how people saw the neighborhood: before the intervention, 36% of people felt positively about this neighborhood, compared to 59% during the intervention. The SuperStop crystallized desires for art, culture, and comfort on the street rapidly in physical form, making it easy to point to and say “I want that.”

In Ward 8, the Beacon enlivened the discussion of the street, sparking conversation about what it was, and what should be there in the future. However, it was only moderately successful at bringing more public life to the street. Nonetheless, 75% of respondents at Ward 8 reported they wanted to see either a permanent version of the installation or something similar to it in the future.

Lessons from these projects will inform both DCOP’s update to the comprehensive plan and the firstever cultural plan for the City.