The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, Nationals Park, and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.

Identified as an “urban development triumph,” Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. is the highest-profile and most expensive project within the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI). By attracting more than $8 billion in public and private investment, the AWI was intended to address long-term inequalities and environmental degradation that made the Anacostia River symbolic of the city's economic, social, political, and racial divides. However, despite being recognized as one of the most successful urban redevelopment projects of the 21st century as it has achieved many of its goals, the AWI has produced new inequalities to which Nationals Park both contributes and symbolizes.