Ivy City Renaissance created a project that tackles three key areas: mobility, community, and sustainability. 

The team proposes implementing a DC shuttle, protected bike routes, and aesthetically pleasing stormwater BMPs to create a walkable environment. 

To promote safe spaces in the community, the team suggested converting the historic Crummell School building into a community center. The space provides an urban garden, retail space for small businesses, and various gathering spaces while also constructing an upgraded women’s shelter to help alleviate homelessness. 

To ensure sustainability, the team recommended retrofitting Lewis Crowe Park and the numerous parking lots throughout the neighbourhood with green initiatives.

Key components

• Promoting innovative mobility through the creation of both a shuttle & bus rapid transit system, coupled with streets design that enhances active transportation options. 

• Fostering inlcusivity by repurposing the Crummell School lot into a community center, providing services and shelter for Ivy City’s homeless population, and converting parking lots into affordable housing.

• Enhancing sustainability by revitalizing Lewis Crowe Park, greening parking lots, and transforming shipping containers into LEED-certified structures.

Presentation of the site

DC’s Mayor has set ambitious goals for more affordable housing, and development along the corridor could support them.  The goal is to deliver as many as 33,000 new housing units, with at least 1/3 of these being affordable. Regeneration should yield a vibrant residential and jobs-rich, low-carbon, mixed-use corridor. It should be inclusive of new affordable and market-rate housing units, supported by  sustainable infrastructure and community facilities.

Regeneration will need to preserve some of the character and activity of the existing light industrial (or PDR – Production, Distribution & Repair) uses. This presents an opportunity for innovative and unique design responses, and to maintain some of the heritage and integrity of the area.

Approx. site area
105 hectares (250 acres), along the 3-mile corridor.

Demographics
Area is home to a variety of industrial and service jobs and a pocket of residents in the Ivy City subarea.  The site sits within the larger Upper Northeast Planning Area, with a more complete view of demographics here

Special mention

Team The Sustainable Order

Maya Rodgers, Aissa Dearing, Tanisha Grey, Brenna Hairston, Erik Boganey, Dean Bailey, Chukwudiebube Chukwuka, Daphne Arko-Dadzie, Bianca Briscoe, Ja’Nya Julmiste, Paris Colbert - Howard University

TEDxCountdown talk of the winning team!