Currently, there are over 658,000 people living in Washington, DC with more tha 5.4 million in the greater DC Metro area.
This was a smaller city, and then a larger city, those changes being within living memory of some of our citizens still. In 1915, DC was home to 361,000 people. At the height of WWII, the city was home to 900,000 people.Suburban growth came at the expense of the city, such that there were only 572,000 people in DC proper in 2000. Fifteen year later, today we are just under 659,000 people in the city itself.
The city is getting ready to grow even more. Projections are showing 807,000 people in DC by 2030. The DC metro area is expected to be 7.4 million by 2030.
Generations have debated racial complexion of DC, there is no wisdom I can add to that. The city itself was majority African American, though this is no longer fully true as the city continues to reflect national trends. The demographics are interesting in that the city continues to skew younger, a trend which is expected to continue to 2030. This aggressive growth is more symptomatic of Southern & Western cities, but is built on the infrastructure of a much older East Coast city.
As a resident, I am concerned that we are not keeping pace. We've not build subways or other transportation modes in the past 20+ years. Biking has become more common, though we are still very reliant on cars, and they need roads, parking, or an enticement to get people out of them. There is also the slight issue of no skyscrapers in DC itself (though that legal restriction doesn't apply to the suburbs in Maryland & Virginia, which will help ease pressure for the DC Metro growth).
This growth will need to be planned & coordinated by DC government as well as Mayland and Virginia. Oftentimes, the Federal government also gets involved, due to their share of land ownership & labor needs.
There have been good developments in DC in the past 15 years which have allowed for higher density projects. Some of those people will be at the event below. There have also been good development projects in some of the close-in suburbs, which does allow hope.
This coming Tuesday, the DC Office of Planning is hosting an event:
Preserving and Planning for Progress
How we plan for 800,000 people while preserving our history
Tuesday Jan 26, 2016 5pm-8pm
Carnegie Library at Mt Vernon Square
801 K St NW
Washington DC 20001
Due to the storm, it would be prudent to ensure this isn't rescheduled. You can register here.
---
data & images from Washingtonian Magazine(2015-01-22) and from DC Office of Planning press release; chart from Google capture of US Census Bureau
Comments(19)