Chair Goodmann's Message

A deliberately planned capital that is forever evolving, Washington, DC is one of the most admired cities in the world. Its memorials, museums, and public buildings annually attract tens of millions of visitors from across the nation and globe.

This year, the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal government’s central planning agency for Washington and the surrounding region, celebrated its Centennial anniversary. It has been a year of reflection on the agency’s past, present, and future.

Looking back, we explored the transformative planning ideas of NCPC’s past 100 years, reflecting on the agency’s successes and failures, and their lasting impacts on the city today. This year, NCPC achieved significant progress on agency projects and initiatives:

• We advanced efforts to transform Pennsylvania Avenue into an inspiring public space destination for the country, offering an unforgettable visitor experience for spectacular events and a vibrant amenity for city living.
• We worked with partners to understand the evolving impacts of federal telework, the cost of under-utilized federal buildings, and how to use office space more efficiently.
• We coordinated with federal and local stakeholders on hundreds of planning projects and master plans throughout the region and on projects to enhance the iconic monumental core.

While we have made significant progress, there is even more exciting work on the horizon, especially as it relates to the changing federal footprint, the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, and flood preparedness. As we look towards the next one hundred years, the National Capital Planning Commission remains committed as ever to its mission to preserve and enhance the extraordinary federal, historical, cultural, and natural resources of the National Capital Region for all Americans.

- Teri Hawks Goodmann

100 Years of Federal Planning

NCPC’s 2024 Centennial offered a unique opportunity to reflect on much more than the agency’s history. Throughout the year, the agency examined the evolution of planning in Washington, DC and the region, acknowledged impacts created by past planning practices, and considered lessons learned to inform planning into the future.

NCPC’s signature exhibit, Planning Washington: Capital and Community, explored how ambitions to create an inspiring and beautiful city wrestled with the reality of responding to the needs of all residents. After the exhibit’s launch and three-month display at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, it spent another three months at the West End Neighborhood Library, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Arena Stage. During this time, the exhibit provided context for probing public discussions and tours that engaged diverse audiences on the role of planning in shaping why the region looks the way it does.

The conversation about the agency’s impact continues beyond 2024 through a variety of engaging online destinations. A companion digital exhibit offers more in-depth resources. In partnership with the District of Columbia Office of Planning, NCPC created an extensive library of plans, legislation, and maps that influenced the region’s development. NCPC also captured the reflections of former Commissioners and staff who shaped the evolution of the region’s planning in an oral history archive.

“The character of our country is symbolized in the monuments, memorials, statues, buildings, and public spaces that make our Nation's Capital a beacon of hope for the entire world. That's in no small part because of the hard work of the generations of women and men who have made up the NCPC.” – President Joseph R. Biden

NCPC Centennial

Lessons Learned from Beyond Granite

The Beyond Granite team released a Key Findings report in May that explored lessons learned from the exhibition that can inform future iterations of the Beyond Granite initiative. The summer 2023 exhibition Pulling Together presented a dynamic series of art installations on the National Mall designed to create more opportunities for national storytelling through a new temporary model that can be used to address the limited space for future memorials on or near the National Mall. Through in-person surveys, the public responded positively and thoughtfully to the use of temporary artworks to tell more of America’s stories in the nation’s capital. The report by Dr. Elizabeth Morton, the project’s evaluation consultant, can be read and downloaded from the Beyond Granite website.

The successful exhibition was recognized by two local organizations this year: a Committee of 100 for the Federal City Vision Award and an American Planning Association – National Capital Area Chapter Award for Outstanding Project.

The Trust for the National Mall, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the National Park Service are partners on the Beyond Granite initiative, supported by the Mellon Foundation.

Beyond Granite

Reimagining the Capital's Monumental Core
NCPC Initiatives Changing Federal Footprint Monumental Core Streetscape Memorials and Museums Master Plan Pennsylvania Avenue Independence Ave/SW Ecodistrict Kennedy Center/Foggy Bottom Area Study

Enhancing the Capital’s Monumental Core

The growing concentration of underutilized federal real estate in Washington, DC creates an opportunity to re-envision and beautify the federal city and advance the goals of NCPC’s Monumental Core Framework Plan: Connecting New Destinations with the National Mall, which was accepted in 2009. The plan looked at the transformation of four predominately federal precincts surrounding the National Mall, helping to guide decision-making and investment over the next 30 years. It has been instrumental in shaping several of NCPC’s current initiatives. The agency continues to work with federal and local stakeholders to foster a more beautiful, lively, and economically and environmentally resilient monumental core and downtown Washington through efforts including the Changing Federal Footprint Project, Monumental Core Streetscape Project, Memorials and Museums Master Plan, Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, Independence Avenue Urban Design Study/SW Ecodistrict Project, and the Kennedy Center-Foggy Bottom Area Study.