After a half-century of population decline and disinvestment, Washington, D.C., and similar urban centers around the country have been witnessing a “return to the city,” with rapidly growing populations, rising rents and home prices, but also deepening inequality.

A Right to the City explores the history of neighborhood change in the nation’s capital, and its rich history of neighborhood organizing and civic engagement that transformed the city in the face of tremendous odds.

With a focus on a diverse range of neighborhoods across the city, the exhibition tells the story of how ordinary Washingtonians have helped shape and reshape their neighborhoods in extraordinary ways: through the fight for quality public education, for healthy and green communities, for equitable transit and equitable development, and for a genuinely democratic approach to city planning.