• By Melissa Lindsjo
• June 14, 2021

Open to the Public: What’s the Big Deal with a Little Security?

Providing safety for buildings and people often takes priority over public access and design. But at what cost to access to our most significant public spaces? How can we keep people and places safe without making public spaces feel unwelcoming? How can we uphold democratic values while also ensuring safety and security?

On May 25, NCPC and the District Office of Planning co-hosted What’s the Big Deal with a Little Security?, a panel discussion on the impacts of security on public life and public access. Moderated by Jess Zimbabwe, Executive Director of the Environmental Works Community Design Center, the panel included Commander Robert Glover from the Metropolitan Police Department, Juliette Kayyem from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and Susan Piedmont-Palladino from Virginia Tech University's Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. This blog provides event highlights and a link to the full video recording.

Washington was founded as a city with many open and accessible places. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of open spaces and their benefits to public health. However, these spaces, as well as federal facilities, are becoming increasingly cut off from their surroundings as security-hardening counter measures, checkpoints, and barriers have made it more difficult for people to access them.

NCPC has sought to address this balance since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing instigated a wave of security implementation at federal buildings and a subsequent creep of these elements into public space. Threats to people and buildings have evolved, and Washington faces new challenges in balancing security needs with civil disturbances such as January 6 events at the U.S. Capitol. Reactive, yet well-intended, security measures often result in public space erosion and new restrictions on access. Finding the right balance is critical to maintaining a safe and accessible national capital.

The panelists noted the importance of advocating for and maintaining safety and equity that result in well-designed public spaces, regardless of potential threats.

• Public Engagement: The process should start with involving the public at the community level, as well as ensuring wide-ranging government commitment to meet varied constituent and policy needs.
• Scope of Planning: There should be a balance between long-term policies and those that are adaptable or which have security measures with defined end dates in order to be flexible based upon changing circumstances and lessons learned.
• Design: Design can support, or hinder, the flow of people and other security priorities. For example, the heights of built elements such as planters can direct people’s movement through spaces.

Through planning, policymaking, and project review, NCPC will continue to advance new approaches to achieve security and public space goals in the National Capital Region. In Fall 2021, NCPC will host a workshop to examine the prototype of an “open” street (closed to cars but open to other modes) and its security implications. Insights from these events and other efforts will inform updates to the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital’s Federal Urban Design Element, which NCPC uses to evaluate plans for public spaces.

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