Green Community is the first major exhibition in the UnitedStates to explore the complex process of creating and sustaininghealthy communities, extending beyond technology and materials tothe actual impact of both large and small communities.The yearlongexhibit is another step in an education process that in this caseserves the general public and the developers, designers and otherprofessionals who create these developments. "It's about the firstperson plural, about the 'we,' " said Susan Piedmont-Palladino, thecurator of the exhibit.

The museum has hosted two previous green exhibits, in 2003 and2006-07, but this is the first that extends beyond individualcontributions, encompassing urban planning and design for auniquely eclectic audience. "People in design, construction anddevelopment consider this their museum," Palladino says. "We alsoattract people who are predisposed to an interest in building. Andthen there are the people who wander in when it's raining."

The 4,000-sf exhibition is divided into two sections, the firstdefining a green community, the second showing how communities canbe made sustainable. Sustainable planning strategies displayedinclude mitigating and redevelopment brownfields and grayfields,transit-oriented planning and land conservation. The museum alsohighlights the efforts of specific communities, includingGreensburg, 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 thatgreen communities can vary in size. Stella, MO--the smallestcommunity in the exhibit--has a population of 187. The exhibit'sopening, "Close to Home," profiles green projects and initiativesin metropolitan Washington, DC.