UDC Exhibit Imagines Cities Without Oil

An exhibit and series of workshops and discussion panels at UDC asks the question: How would our cities function without fossil fuels? “Post-Oil City” has been organized by UDC CAUSES (The College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and the Environment Sciences) in partnership with the Goethe-Institute. The exhibit area is in building 32 at UDC’s Van Ness Campus until March first, and the final discussion panel, on meeting the food and water needs of cities, will be held on Friday, February 21st. For more information:

Heads of DC Water, DDOE, to close series of “Post-Oil City” Workshops and Dialogue Panels
Workshops addressed how cities in the future can function without oil.

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This new reality raises fundamental questions about water management, water and food security and urban food production. Given the history of urban spaces, soil and water pollution, problems are prevalent. They also pose threats to meeting the water and food needs of urban populations, as transporting food and water over long distances are inconsistent with the energy and mobility goals of the Post-Oil City and its high efficiency economy. The Post-Oil City must, therefore, adopt models for achieving water and food security that include reductions in long-distance transportation, increased urban food production, improved water capture and reuse and new solutions for an aging and outdated urban infrastructure.

Post-Oil City: The History of the City’s Future is an international planning and landscape architecture exhibition that presents paradigms of traditional climate-sensitive construction from the past on display in the field of sustainable urban planning. The exhibit, which is hosted by the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences of the University of the District of Columbia, and the Goethe-Institut Washington, presents innovative solutions for the Post-Oil City as envisioned by architects, planners, designers and engineers from 10 different countries.

Embedded within the exhibition were workshops and panels on topics shaping the Post-Oil City of the future including mobility, energy, and food and water security. The final in this series of dialogue workshops, The City of the Future: Water & Food Security, will bring together a broad range of stakeholders to discuss how food and water needs can be met in the post oil era. Expert panelists include: George S. Hawkins, General Manager, DC Water and Sewer Authority; Keith Anderson, Director, District Department of the Environment; Dr. Jill Auburn, National Program Leader, Division of Agricultural Systems, Institute of Food Production & Sustainability, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and Dr. Thomas Schmidt, Minister Counselor, Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. The dialogue panel will be held Friday, Feb. 21, 9:30 a.m. – Noon in Building 32 of UDC’s Van Ness Campus. Registration is available here.

The other workshops and dialogue conference hosted throughout the exhibit brought together speakers fromthe District Department of Planning, the District Department of Transportation, the District Department of Housing and Community Development, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Volkswagen of America, TransSolar GMBH, the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Alta Planning + Design and REHAU. The exhibition Post-Oil City: The History of the City’s Future will be available for viewing on the second floor of Building 32 of UDC’s Van Ness Campus until March 1. For more information, contact causes@udc.edu.