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Come one, come all to a history tour of the Jones Falls River with labor historian Bill Harvey!
The Ecological Design Collective (EDC) invites you to a tour of the Jones Falls River. Explore the industrial history of Baltimore's most famous waterway with local labor historian Bill Harvey and EDC curator Nicole Labruto. The tour will take place along the Jones Falls on Saturday, April 26th, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
This event is part of our ongoing series on "REIMAGINING LAND," where we explore the culture, history, and ecology of Baltimore, through a series of experiential events.
RSVP below! Space is limited to 20 people.
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Catch up on our recent programing! Watch Tim Burger's presentation on the Azores and read from our roundtable on reactionary politics.
Last month, the Ecological Design Collective hosted two events exploring land, community, and future-making.
As part of our Reimagining Land series, we featured Tim Burger, a researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Residents in the Azores have responded to depopulation and environmental change by cultivating overgrown, abandoned fields known as terra perdida. These landscapes, once productive, now reflect broader concerns about abandonment and history. Yet, by working the land, islanders reclaim a sense of place and purpose.
Our second event, a roundtable on Ecological Activism in a Time of Reactionary Politics, brought together a panel of voices from Baltimore to ask: how can ecological design respond to rising authoritarianism and environmental decline? As political and institutional spaces narrow, participants discussed the role of grassroots and academic communities in shaping new paths forward.
If you missed these conversations, recordings and transcripts are available on our website. Join us as we continue to explore how design, research, and collective action can shape more just ecological futures.
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Open call for summer 2025 featured artist on the EDC platform.
The EDC invites submissions for our Featured Artist series. This quarterly opportunity highlights artists working at the intersection of ecology, place, and design. Selected work will be featured in a digital exhibition on the EDC website, connecting artists with an international network of peers, researchers, and curators. We are looking for work that explores ecological themes, challenges disciplinary boundaries, and reflects on multispecies life, justice, and environmental transformation. Artists working in any medium are welcome to apply.
The selected artist will be featured on the EDC website for three months, presenting eight curated images of their work with captions or short texts. The work will be reviewed by the EcoArts lead and a panel of curators, and archived in our growing collection of ecological art.
To apply, please submit a short artist statement (maximum 300 words), a brief bio (150 words), and eight high-resolution images (JPEG or PNG) with titles and descriptions. You may also include links to your website or social media. All submissions will be reviewed through a peer process, and the selected artist will be notified by May 25. The deadline to submit is May 15, and the exhibition will launch on June 1, 2025. |
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The EDC was just awarded a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Get a sneak peak of how we will be putting our award to good use with new project, Jones Falls 2076.
The lower Jones Falls has been buried below I-83 for over 50 years, overlooked and mistreated. What if we reimagined this river as the center of a sustainable, connected, and ecologically vibrant Baltimore? This project aims to spark new conversations and focus public attention on the possibility of a truly sustainable and equitable future for the Jones Falls, especially its lower reaches in Baltimore. Jones Falls 2076 will commission a group of artists, designers, activists, writers, and community members to envision what the future of the river could look like in 2076, half a century from now, generating public enthusiasm and support for reimagining the future of the lower Jones Falls as an ecologically and socially vibrant space. These visions will be shared publicly through a gallery exhibit, book publication, events, website, and a publicity campaign that engages audiences around the region. Join our Jones Falls community space to keep up and participate in this collaborative project!
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Find new events and opportunities on the EDC platform:
- Become a City Certified Weed Warrior: Are you interested in connecting to nature by becoming a city certified Weed Warrior? Join the Stony Run Weed Warriors in our quest to rebuild ecosystem function in and around Stony Run. We hold monthly events every 3rd Saturday from 10am-noon.
- Externship with The Sludge Hub & Company and GROW Externships: What can be designed in the abandoned mines left behind by the coal industry? How can we use the features of these damaged and forgotten spaces to push the limits on how these spaces can be occupied, utilized, and ecologically restored? This externship is an opportunity step into the lost hollers of the coalfields for a gritty hands-on externship where externs work side-by-side with local grassroots organizations to measure and build back the ecology of a site in Mineral County WV lovingly called called The Dirty Nine.
- Herbal Compass CSA-Navigating Healing Throughout the Calendar Wheel: A unique program running one Saturday a month, March–October, in Baltimore. Led by artist and clinical herbalist Alyssa Dennis, this immersive experience blends plant medicine, land stewardship, and hands-on learning. Unlike a traditional CSA, participants grow, harvest, and make their own herbal preparations while exploring seasonal cycles and holistic wellness. Set in an urban garden, the program offers a deep reconnection to nature, sensory healing, and community.
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Ecological Design Collective
Nurturing radical ecological futures
A fiscally sponsored project of Inquiring Systems Inc., 501(c)3
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