Greener Greenbelt Main Page

Above is our events calendar. You need Macromedia Flash Player installed for it to work, then, you may have to click the area to activate. Then Point to yellow days for holidays and blue dates for our events...click on the date for more information.

Are you a resident of Greenbelt or a stakeholder in Greenbelt's future? If so, please take our new enhanced SURVEY

LATEST: NEW! Here are links to 5 slide shows from the Greener Greenbelt Charrette held on Sept. 28-30, 2007. We suggest you look at the GGICharrette_Intro show first, because it provides a summary of the charrette's purpose and main activities. We will be showing viewer-friendly versions of each of these shows in Greenbelt in the Fall of 2008. The workshops will give you an opportunity to discuss the ideas and designs in each of the shows. Dates, times and locations of the workshops will be announced on this website.
(Note: While these files have been saved in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and reduced in size as much as possible, they still range in size from 4 to 25 MEGABYTES! We suggest you have a broadband connection before attempting to download these files.)
Here are PDF's of the five slide shows:

GGICharrette_Intro.pdf
Dwelling_Units.pdf (Report of the Dwelling Units and Grounds Focus Group)
Town_Center.pdf (Report of the Roosevelt Town Center Focus Group)
Historic_GB.pdf (Report of the Historic Greenbelt Focus Group)
Greater_GB.pdf (Report of the Greater Greenbelt and Region Focus Group)

And here is a PDF report of the University of Maryland's HISP650 Fall 2007 Studio: HISP650_Report.pdf

We have placed PDF's of our three major events (The Artful Afternoon children's activity on August 5, 2007 and both the adult and children's charrettes the weekend of September 28-30, 2007) at the top of our "Latest News" page CLICK HERE to get them!

To see a PDF of the final News Review Ad, which includes the complete public schedule and information, PLEASE CLICK HERE! To link to the full public charrette schedule, CLICK HERE!

About the Greener Greenbelt Initiative . . . .
The initiative is a working partnership between the Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-PV and Greenbelt Homes Inc. (GHI), the housing cooperative that owns and operates Greenbelt's original New Deal-era homes. The initiative's geographic focus is old Greenbelt, referring to the community built in 1937 (homes, businesses and community buildings) and the nearby homes built later. The purpose of the initiative is to help ensure that the housing co-op and the central area of old Greenbelt (including the multi-purpose Roosevelt Center) will continue to serve as a national model for livable communities by the time Greenbelt reaches its 100th anniversary in 2037.

As old Greenbelt celebrates is 70th birthday, it faces a number of challenges, such as:

Maintaining its appeal to families;
Enabling older residents to remain in their homes as they age;
Making GHI homes energy efficient;
Preserving the community's character;
Ensuring the economic and social viability of Roosevelt Center; and
Protecting old Greebelt's lake, forests, and open spaces

A series of events are occurring in 2007 to examine these and other challenges facing old Greenbelt, and to tap into the creative opportunities available to this vibrant community. By fostering dialogue among residents, business owners, civic leaders and design professionals, the initiative is intended to generate the very best solutions. The key event will be a visioning and brainstorming event, called a "charrette", that will be held at the Greenbelt Elementary School on September 28 to 30.

About the September 2007 Charrette . . .
A charrette is a highly interactive event in which residents, business and civic leaders, and design professionals come together to consider viable options for the future of the community and - through data, discussion and drawings - develop a long-range plan that reflects a shared vision.

At the September 28-30 charrette, architects from AIA-PV, faculty and students from the Univ. of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and other experts will be on hand to help Greenbelt residents, business owners, and city officials to visualize and fine-tune their ideas to address old Greenbelt's community needs. From this event, the design professionals will help GHI prepare a long-term strategic plan - including specific recommendations for its capital and operational budget - to enhance the affordability, livability, sustainability, and design quality in this extraordinary place.

Background Information
Greenbelt was one of the first "Planned Communities" in the United States, and, as part of the New Deal of the Franklin Roosevelt administration, was dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1937.

Greenbelt Homes Inc. (GHI), is a community of 1,600 co-op housing units in old Greenbelt with very active and involved community members who are very concerned about the community's ability to remain a sustainable, livable and affordable community for future generations. GHI appointed an 11-person Green Ribbon Task Force to partner with the AIA-PV on the visioning, goal setting and strategic planning effort.

The Potomac Valley Chapter of AIA, championed by a Board member, Carl Elefante, AIA, chose the historic town of Greenbelt, Maryland. GHI and AIA-PV named the initiative the "Greener Greenbelt Initiative;" AIA-PV assembled a grant request, and subsequently received the maximum grant under the program in November of 2006.

In celebration of it's sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary celebration, the American Institute of Architects decided to encourage it's 320+ components around the country to energize their membership to work with local communities to help develop more livable communities, and provided grants for that purpose. They titled this effort the "Blueprint for America Initiatives."

Other partners in this effort include AIA-PV our sister organizations, The American Planning Association, The American Society of Landscape Architects, The University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and others.

Website's Purpose
This site is the "clearing house" for information about the initiative, the charrette, and the subsequent implementation efforts in the future. We have provided all the information gathered to date, as well as links to more information about the town, email links to the leadership, and a volunteer signup form if you'd like to join us in the effort.

Please use the menu to the left for more information.

Like to see a video of some discussion at the Open House held on April 28th? If so, CLICK HERE!