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Originally Posted by aquablue
I disagree about the architecture. It's pretty conservative. Go to downtown DC and the rows and rows of boring office blocks of identical height (on streets like I, K, L, M, H, etc) and with little imagination is pretty depressing to be honest. Yeah, buttoned down looking indeed. Boston isn't much better. Despite Boston's more impressive rowhouse architecture and taller houses, it's modern buildings aren't very creative at all but the height variation helps a tad. I would say the height limit really dulls down the ability to be creative in DC architecture downtown. Unless every building was very ornate in either an old-style way (think Paris) or with interesting modern facades everywhere, it's always going to look dull. The new buildings around the SW waterfront, etc are also the same old loft-style brick architecture too. It seems pretty conservative to me.
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I agree with you here. Maybe it's just from living in a number of these places and spending less time downtown and more time in the neighborhoods, I don't think the architecture of the last 15 years in DC has been significantly behind most other US cities, with the exception of the height issue, which I agree you can't simply ignore. Maybe it's just me, but I think maybe half a dozen large US cities stand out with regards to architecture at most.
I look at 14th St, U St, Columbia Heights, and yes, some places in the greater downtown area and I don't think things are super conservative architecturally relatively speaking, at least what's relatively new. You're right about the bland modernist and brutalist architecture and some of the stuff going up around southwest, though. The height limit augments the bland architecture that unfortunately a lot of US cities have. It's not world-class, but I think it's a grass being greener kind of situation. I think there are some, but not enough, examples of new and along being fused together with some projects.
The most architecturally conservative areas might be the low rise neighborhoods with strong historic designations like Capitol Hill and Georgetown. There's some interesting stuff happening in the places that had been very stagnant and less desirable. The sidewalk-level experience has improved tremendously in many areas.
Transportation policy is enough area where I don't really think DC's been really conservative.