Hosted by Blacks in Green, the Sustainable Square Mile Walking Tour is an immersive host-site experience highlighting the visionary environmental, cultural, and economic development work of Attorney Naomi Davis and the emerging Sustainable Square Mile on Chicago's South Side. Explore the implementation of BIG's 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building that helps to create a "walkable-village” anchored by neighbor-owned businesses and land, and makes possible the conservation lifestyle. Beginning at BIG’s headquarters, The Green Living Room, guests journey through a network of gardens, ecological landscapes, significant architecture, renewable energy initiatives, and historic and evolving sites including the Richard Hunt Sculpture Garden; Tree of Life Garden; the Bird Meadow Affordable House as Garden lot; the Mamie Till Mobley Forgiveness Garden and Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum; the Innovation Geothermal Alley; and the Shrine of the Great Migration. The tour concludes back to the Demonstration Garden at BIG’s Headquarters with finger foods, beverages, and an intimate 15-minute lecture from Naomi Davis, offering visitors a firsthand look at how sustainability, heritage preservation, horticulture, clean energy, and community wealth-building are being woven together to shape a vibrant future for West Woodlawn.
Tour times: 9-12pm and 2-5pm.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays starting Saturday, June 19, 2026.
Hosted by Blacks in Green, the Sustainable Square Mile Walking Tour is an immersive host-site experience highlighting the visionary environmental, cultural, and economic development work of Attorney Naomi Davis and the emerging Sustainable Square Mile on Chicago's South Side. Explore the implementation of BIG's 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building that helps to create a "walkable-village” anchored by neighbor-owned businesses and land, and makes possible the conservation lifestyle. Beginning at BIG’s headquarters, The Green Living Room, guests journey through a network of gardens, ecological landscapes, significant architecture, renewable energy initiatives, and historic and evolving sites including the Richard Hunt Sculpture Garden; Tree of Life Garden; the Bird Meadow Affordable House as Garden lot; the Mamie Till Mobley Forgiveness Garden and Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum; the Innovation Geothermal Alley; and the Shrine of the Great Migration. The tour concludes back to the Demonstration Garden at BIG’s Headquarters with finger foods, beverages, and an intimate 15-minute lecture from Naomi Davis, offering visitors a firsthand look at how sustainability, heritage preservation, horticulture, clean energy, and community wealth-building are being woven together to shape a vibrant future for West Woodlawn.
Tour times: 9-12pm and 2-5pm.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays starting Saturday, June 19, 2026.
