An official U.S. government website 
- By Benjamin Turpin
- June 23, 2025
NCPC Releases Monumental Core Streetscape Guide
Beautiful and functional streetscapes contribute to the experience of public life in the nation's capital. Within Washington’s monumental core, streetscapes reinforce a special civic quality that inspires people and cultivates a sense of pride, permanence, and dignity.
Coordinating streetscape improvements is critical because of the multiple federal and local jurisdictions that have oversight of them within the monumental core and its vicinity. The Monumental Core Streetscape Guide and Construction Manual (Streetscape Guide) is a resource for federal and local agencies to coordinate these improvements. The Monumental Core Interagency Working Group, which includes federal and District of Columbia stakeholder agencies, collaborated to produce the guide.
The Streetscape Guide’s goal is to achieve cohesive streetscapes that reinforce the iconic form and identity of the capital city and link the monumental core with Washington’s neighborhoods, creating a beautiful and welcoming environment for visitors, workers, and residents. The Streetscape Guide includes policies, principles, and guidelines to accomplish this along nationally and locally significant corridors, many of which frame views to prominent structures and open spaces.
The Streetscape Guide consists of an urban design framework, design guidelines, and construction details and specifications to guide streetscape design character and physical quality. It promotes the use of a cohesive palette of durable materials and well-placed furnishings, trees, and plants to establish functional, clear, and coherent public spaces that contribute to the character of the nation’s capital.
The guide’s urban design framework and design guidelines are complete. The construction manual, comprised of the construction details and specifications, is being updated. Until its completion, the 2013 construction manual remains in effect. Once it is updated, it will be added to the guide.
Lighting policy for the monumental core was completed in 2019. This policy document supplements the Streetscape Guide and informs the LED streetlight performance criteria contained within the construction manual.
