Green Community is the first major exhibition in the United States to explore the complex process of creating and sustaining healthy communities, extending beyond technology and materials to the actual impact of both large and small communities.The yearlong exhibit is another step in an education process that in this case serves the general public and the developers, designers and other professionals who create these developments. "It's about the first person plural, about the 'we,' " said Susan Piedmont-Palladino, the curator of the exhibit.

The museum has hosted two previous green exhibits, in 2003 and 2006-07, but this is the first that extends beyond individual contributions, encompassing urban planning and design for a uniquely eclectic audience. "People in design, construction and development consider this their museum," Palladino says. "We also attract people who are predisposed to an interest in building. And then there are the people who wander in when it's raining."

The 4,000-sf exhibition is divided into two sections, the first defining a green community, the second showing how communities can be made sustainable. Sustainable planning strategies displayed include mitigating and redevelopment brownfields and grayfields, transit-oriented planning and land conservation. The museum also highlights the efforts of specific communities, including Greensburg, KS; Highlands' Garden Village, Denver; Mendoza, Argentina; Hali'imaile Maui, Hawaii; and Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE and the Atlantic Station development in Atlanta--to show that green communities can vary in size. Stella, MO--the smallest community in the exhibit--has a population of 187. The exhibit's opening, "Close to Home," profiles green projects and initiatives in metropolitan Washington, DC.