Anacostia Park Master Plan

AECOM created a new conceptual masterplan for an important National Park in the District of Columbia for a project that seeks to reinvigorate an active riverfront. The masterplan’s primary purpose is the balancing of a program with the conflicting missions of increasing the utility of the park for intensive active recreational use, passive recreational use, and providing habitat and protection of the river.

While the physical area of the park is decreasing due to the adjacent development of Poplar Point, the masterplan maintains the functional uses through the efficient reconfiguration of spaces and aggregation of uses. Interwoven through the use areas is the conceptual framework for a green infrastructure for the park.

The plan also seeks to make a fundamental shift in the visual and identity of the park. This is accomplished by simply inverting the relationship of the roads versus people spaces to the river— placing the park users in contact with the river again. This important shift results in an increase in river-oriented activities throughout the park, and helps reconnect the community to this important resource.

The plan explores a phased development of the park masterplan to take advantage of a variety of funding sources that may be time-dependent in their capital expenditures. Through this and the provision of natural and recreational uses, the plan achieves sustainability in economic, social, and environmental fields.