Matt Ryan

Dr. Barkan

Cultural Geography of the US

11/2/2021

This paper focuses on the redevelopment of a small area in southwest Washington, DC

around Nationals Park, a baseball stadium built in 2008 when the MLB franchise moved to DC. I

will explore the positive and negative effects of a swift redevelopment in a part of town that had

previously been poverty stricken. I argue that those in power understate the amount of new

problems these projects create.

As Mitchell tells us, Landscapes are functional. They are made to produce value.

Nationals Park generates about 60 million dollars of revenue yearly. The location was chosen

because development would be relatively cheap, and the lack of a team in the DC metropolitan

area provided an opportunity for a great deal of money to be made. Owner Ted Lerner and his

associates saw the potential in this project because of the greater than 6 million people that live

in the DC area and their passion for other sports teams. I think this landscape is not one that is

designated to show power as much as it is meant to create power.

The history of this landscape, however, is being slowly erased. Those that have lived

there have largely been gentrified. This issue has been prevalent in the city for a long time, as

can be explained through my sources. I will explain the issue first historically throughout the

city, looking at patterns of investment, and then hone in on the region of DC the ballpark sits in

and its impact in the last ten years.

The last part of my argument will focus more on the park itself. The park represents what

those in power (or those who have a great deal of money) wanted to build. They hoped to use
sentiments broadly shared by the people to unite them around the team and build the economic

status of it. Going back to the importance of history, I will explain simply the importance of the

team name “Nationals” and the colors, red, white, and blue that the team wears on their

uniforms. Things as simple as these tap into the city’s rich patriotic history that a lot of

Washingtonians, and baseball fans in specific, who pride themselves on being fans of

“America’s Pastime”, can relate to and be proud of.

In the conclusion I need to make it all flow together using Mitchell’s axioms somewhat

directly. I will explain how powerful figures tap into economic opportunities by using certain

sentiments to unite certain populations. This These sentiments are often ones that have been

around for hundreds of years. In doing so, other populations are almost always alienated and

pushed to the margins of society. This particular issue of gentrification happens to be beneficial

for ownership groups, who created the landscape to expand their power rather than show it off.

Gentrification gives way for many more wealthy people to move in and creates a non-local

landscape, which creates a more wealthy fanbase and increases economic value, about which

Mitchell says anything in a landscape can be traced.