The Washington, D.C., area is becoming a greener urban environment. Bill Keene, a lecturer in urban studies, architecture, and history, spotlights innovative approaches to the environment and sustainability that have taken root—sometimes literally—in many types of buildings around town.
Begin the day in the Navy Yard neighborhood at the rooftop garden of the office building at 55 M St., SE. Staff from Up Top Acres, which installed and maintains the garden, discuss upkeep, what is grown, and the garden’s community impact. The garden includes an area for annual vegetables, another for flowers, and one for native plants and perennials—plus resident pollinators at the onsite beehive. Last year, 243 pounds of produce were grown there.
At the Oxon Run community solar farm—the largest community solar project in the District—explore how the facility is helping to provide free electricity to hundreds of households in the surrounding community. Development of the site also included the restoration of native pollinator plantings, meadows, and native plant and shrub landscaping.
In the afternoon, visit the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), where a team presents an overview of the green roof movement and its environmental benefits, then offers a look at UDC’s urban agriculture farm, part of the university’s Urban Food Hubs initiative.
The day concludes at the Sidwell Friends School, which has been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council for its efforts. Get a look at the campus’s middle school building, which features not only a green roof but a constructed wetland and other environmentally friendly features.
Know Before You Go
- The tour departs by motorcoach from downtown Washington, DC. Content delivered by the study leader on the way to the destination is an integral part of the study tour experience. Meeting the group once the tour is en route is discouraged.
- Tour participants meet at and leave by bus from the Mayflower Hotel, Connecticut Ave. & DeSales St. (DeSales Street side) with no additional pickup stop.
- A boxed lunch is included.
General Information
- Registration for this tour will end by 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
- Smithsonian Associates is a mask-friendly environment. Please feel free to bring and wear a mask at any time during a tour, both for your safety or the safety of others.
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