Chris Leinberger has notoriously dared to question Washington, D.C.’s century-old height limit. This position is right in theory, but the economists don’t seem to have fully processed one thing the designers know, which is how tremendously dense a city can become at moderate heights. Boston’s North End, in Jane Jacobs’s day, achieved 275 dwelling units per acre with hardly an elevator in sight.8 A ten-story city like Washington simply does not need towers to achieve great walking density. Indeed, outside of Midtown and the Financial District, most of Manhattan’s lively avenues are lined by
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