In the 1960s, Crystal City began to develop into a high-density, mixed-use neighborhood. One developer’s grand vision for this area included a collection of superblocks, east of Jefferson Davis Highway.

As the name implies, a superblock is generally a type of city block that is much larger than a traditional city block. The area where Crystal City would continue to rise included few streets to provide a framework for the placement and organization of new buildings. As such, this was an ideal spot for the builder to realize his grand superblock vision of the area.

Many city plans conceived over the past century are well known for their application of superblocks, with mixed results of the successful or unsuccessful kind. Superblocks have been used in a wide variety of project types in urban locations, such as college campuses, major transit nodes, convention centers, and other institutional uses, to name a few.

While a typical objective of creating superblocks is to make a place more pedestrian-friendly, often the superblock’s focus on separating vehicles and pedestrians actually can create a place that on the whole lacks cohesion and is not very pedestrian friendly. Current thinking in many planning circles generally supports the idea of now bringing vehicles and pedestrians together as shared users of complete streets, rather than having them exist in isolation.

A leisurely stroll through Crystal City today would introduce one to distinct examples of both.

The “Underground”

The first wave of development in Crystal City included both a legible superblock pattern of development and an interior pedestrian concourse (locally referred to as the Underground) connecting many of the superblocks together.

With the construction of each superblock, multi-lane arterial streets were incrementally built to provide local access to Crystal City’s buildings. These streets were often one-way and not exactly pedestrian-friendly, largely due to the limited and meager sidewalk facilities and expansive blank walls at ground level that accompanied the first generation of redevelopment in many places.

The Underground is Crystal City’s answer to a less-than-cohesive external pedestrian network. An interior, pedestrian-only network that is climate controlled, traffic free, and sometimes lined by retail, the Underground provides a safe, convenient travel option for pedestrians in Crystal City.

In fact, most buildings in the core of Crystal City provide their tenants with direct access to the Underground via their main building elevators. In some locations, the Underground is complemented by a series of pedestrian skywalks that link together superblocks above grade (although most of these have gradually been taken down in recent years).

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Underground has more than its fair share of users and can be a very active corridor during peak commuting hours. But does this necessarily make for a great urban place? And in an area studied for potential revitalization and redevelopment in the face of pending impacts from BRAC, what challenges or opportunities will Crystal City’s superblock form and Underground provide in the quest to make Crystal City a better urban place?

Reshaping Crystal City’s neighborhood form

Among other things, the recently-adopted Crystal City Sector Plan generally proposes to guide future redevelopment in Crystal City to break down the superblocks into a more traditional neighborhood development pattern. But how can this be achieved?

One-way streets can be converted to two-way traffic, as is already being done in some Crystal City locations, and new streets can be created wherever possible with redevelopment to provide a more refined urban street grid complete with safe and attractive sidewalks, streetscapes, and pedestrian facilities. Given the community’s value placed on the Underground, it is an element embraced by the plan to be maintained, though modifications to its alignment are possible.

Plan view comparison of existing and proposed conditions.

In addition to street improvements, key land use and urban design changes in vertical building form can also play a role. For instance, instead of the “towers in the park” typology that characterizes much of Crystal City today, more mid- and high-rise buildings can be placed at the back of the sidewalk and oriented to have their building facades (on at least two sides) help to frame and create the urban spaces that comprise the neighborhood’s streets, parks, and plazas.

Even in instances where new streets aren’t being created to technically break down the superblock pattern, the introduction of new infill buildings at strategic locations should help to at least create the perception of breaking down the superblock.

In many instances, multi-family residential buildings comprise slender and flexible building forms and are well-suited to smaller or challenged sites. As such, they often can be designed to help define block edges in a more urban manner. Nevertheless, if situated correctly, hotel and office buildings can offer similar opportunities to help break down the perception of superblocks in Crystal City as well.

This type of infill and redevelopment envisioned in the Crystal City Sector Plan has the potential to break down the apparent pattern of superblocks, and provide a more consistent, cohesive, and amenable outdoor pedestrian network at the same time.

Existing and proposed plan comparison of Crystal City’s block pattern.

Cross-posted at Under One Roof, Arlington County’s housing blog.