Monumentality in Microcosm

In the present day District of Columbia, comprised of 43,700 acres, over 13,000 make up the open space of streets, plazas, and parks (Abad Ocubillo, after DC GIS, 2012).  The latter two kinds of land use comprise over 13% of the District.  This creates one of the highest per-capita rates of open space of any city in the United States (Trust for Public Land 2011).  Thus the plan for Washington D.C. – and its physical manifestation – can be understood as a garden – in terms of organization, form, and manipulation of the human experience.

The "Open Space" of streets and parks in Washington D.C. accounts for approximately one-third of land area (Abad Ocubillo, 2012; after datasets provided by the Office of the Chief Techology Officer of Washington, D.C.)

About thirteen percent of land area is attributed exclusively to parks of 'reservations'  (Abad Ocubillo, 2012; after datasets provided by the Office of the Chief Techology Officer of Washington, D.C.)

There are over eight hundred public open-space reservations throughout the District of Columbia.  Triangle parks comprise up to a quarter of those reservations; and this research study targeted ninety-two triangles for close inspection  (Abad Ocubillo, 2012; after datasets provided by the Office of the Chief Techology Officer of Washington, D.C.)