No Boundaries: Connectivity and Regional Partnerships

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Identify opportunity areas for achieving mutual benefits through regional planning and local partnerships that span jurisdictional boundaries.
• Apply strategies to transform an auto-oriented public realm through incentivizing private-sector redevelopment and public capital improvement projects.
• Understand the roles of public and private stakeholders across political boundaries in realizing a regional vision.

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Outside Washington, D.C., US Route 1 connects the Northern Virginia communities of Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. To guide the future of this three-mile corridor, Arlington and Alexandria worked closely to coordinate their respective community-based long-range planning efforts and partnered to establish new transitway service to unite transit-oriented development, public spaces, and neighborhoods along the corridor. The Crystal City/Potomac Yards Corridor is situated on the former site of one of the largest rail switching yards on the East Coast and surrounding industrial lands. While Arlington’s portion of the corridor began to see development in the 1960s, rail operations in Alexandria’s share continued until 1989. Both communities have more recently developed plans to address challenges and manage change for individual segments, collectively forming an overall corridor vision. Regional cooperation and partnerships continue to play an important role in achieving a cohesive series of neighborhoods along the corridor. Learn how two local municipalities are leveraging greater development and placemaking potential by strategically coordinating efforts on land-use planning, transit planning, park and stream-restoration planning, and other initiatives. This session will identify effective strategies and benefits gained through such coordination as an alternative to competition.