arlington, virginia

Biophilic Cities Partner City Since 2020

Arlington County’s commitment to environmental sustainability and community health and wellness stretches back to the 1940s, when the County undertook significant efforts to secure land for parks, natural areas and recreation purposes. These efforts included the conveyance of 95 acres of land that formed the first public spaces and protected natural land along the Four Mile Run, Long Branch and Lubber Run streams. Arlington continued its work through its commitment to visionary and implementation-based planning beginning in the 1960’s, which lead to the landmark decision to locate the Metro Orange line along the commercial spine in central Arlington. This decision was incorporated as part of the County’s General Land Use Plan (GLUP) in 1975 and, together with early transit-based planning for the Route 1 corridor and Pentagon City, marked one of the earliest commitments by a suburban community to what today is considered smart-growth.  The County expanded on the GLUP’s core planning principles in the form of sector plans for each Metro station area to provide further guidance on the County’s expectations for transit-oriented growth. In addition, the County developed incentive-based zoning to enable greater density, as envisioned in the GLUP, and to realize specific community benefits and urban design features, including many that support biophilic principles, envisioned by the sector plans.

As a result of this strategic planning, in 2019 Arlington’s public space system was again ranked fourth of the 100 largest cities in the United States by the Trust for Public Lands’ ParkScore. In 2018, Arlington was named the 17th best biking city in American by Bicycling Magazine and the Fittest City in the United Stated by the American College of Sports Medicine. In 2017, the County received the Gold National Planning Achievement Award by the American Planning Association, the profession’s highest honor, for its commitment to smart-growth. In that same year, Arlington County was named the first Platinum level community under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Communities Program for its long-time commitment to environmental stewardship and community sustainability. 

Arlington is proud of its commitment to sustainability and health and wellness, which can be seen and experienced by its residents, workers, and visitors daily.  The County owns 924 acres of parkland, dispersed among 148 parks and supplemented with approximately 600 acres of federally, regionally or privately-owned parkland resulting in 98% of residents living within a 10-minute walk of a park. This interconnected system of stream corridors, natural areas, trees, rooftops, community gardens, trails and recreational amenities provides the common ground where people can interact with each other and connect with nature.

City Contacts:

Irena Lazic, Department of Parks and Recreation, Long Range Park Planning Section Supervisor
Kris Krider, Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, Planning Supervisor for Urban Design and Research

local spotlights

Biophilic Arlington: background and discussion of the principles of biophilia and the importance of applying them to Arlington’s planning and design efforts in developing private and public projects.

Arlington’s Biophilic Goals: framing Arlington’s intention to apply Biophilic principles to its current and future policies and practices.

Forestry and Natural Resources Plan: addresses the conservation, planting, and management of trees and unique ecosystems in Arlington County.

Langston Boulevard Area Plan: multi-year effort to help transform the predominantly car-oriented, strip commercial and residential, 4.5-mile-long corridor into a green, mixed-use main street that provides safe and multimodal access and is rooted in environmental resiliency, economic sustainability, and equity.

Public Spaces Master Plan: sets the vision and outlines the policies and tools for the development and management of the diverse public spaces system, including parks, natural resources and recreational assets.

Green Building Density Program: incentivizes implementation of green roofs, habitat restoration, bird friendly design, and heat island impact mitigation for site plan projects.

Tree Replacement Guidelines: regulate the selection and planting of trees on publicly accessible land which have helped Arlington’s tree canopy maintain a constant 41%.

StormwaterWise Landscapes Program: provides funding for voluntary projects that use a natural approach to stormwater management on private property.