Politics, Protest + Place: The role of inclusive Urbanism in Civic Activism
L’Enfant designed the nation’s capital in baroque style, transposing French colonial architectural elements within the American Landscape. The plan features ceremonial spaces and grand radial avenues creating a system of intersecting diagonal avenues superimposed over a grid system. The open spaces were laid during a systematic fashion reserved to feature statues and memorials. This resulted into powerful axial lines topographically connecting and highlighting symbols of power. These symbols of power are seen as places where people can voice their opinion in mass.
The District of Columbia’s complex and storied history is intrinsically tied to protesting. As a way of voicing frustrations or agreement, people from everywhere the country visit DC for marches, protests, and demonstrations. Most notably, approximately 850,000 Black men gathered on the National Mall for the Million Man March in 1995 as an indication to direct the eye of politicians towards issues that directly affect people of color. More recently, the 2016 Women’s March gathered approximately 470,000 women on the National Mall. Although the National Mall holds many thousands of individuals , is it inclusive, safe for all people? Smaller demonstrations regularly occur near the White House at the recently created Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Plaza has become a haunt for people to collect to protest & commune. Congressman John Lewis’s motorcade made bound to undergo Black Lives Matter Plaza where many had gathered to pay tribute and celebrate the lifetime of the civil rights activist, Congressman, and community leader. The White House fence and therefore the refore the threshold between the general public and the private realm has become a healing landscape form.
The Challenge
As architects and urban designers, we are stewards of public space, and it is our professional and civic responsibility to influence change (and our elected officials) toward a more equitable built environment for all. We call on all designers to use the public realm of the District of Columbia as a canvas for provocative conceptualization to facilitate social activism in our public realm in new and novel ways.
Timeline
10/26/20 Open Registration
11/02/20 Start Competition
11/30/20 Competition Ends. Submissions are final.
End 2020 Finalists are announced, and the winner selected
Awards
The winner will receive monetary award and free registration to the next AIA|DC Urban Design Competition, in addition to the opportunity to author an article in this journal and receive a printed copy. The finalists will be featured in UDDC’s annual publication about their submission and will receive a printed copy of the journal. See previous years’ journals here:
Avenues, Issue 1 – Livability + The City
Avenues, Issue 2 – Spatial Equity
Avenues, Issue 3 – Transparency
Entry Fees: Students $20 | All other participants $50
Title
Politics, Protest + Place: The role of inclusive Urbanism in Civic ActivismType
Competition Announcement (Ideas)Website
Organizers
Submission Deadline
November 30, 2020 11:59 PMVenue
Washington DCPrice
$25 for Students & $50 for All other participants
