Field Experiences
Remember the joy of finding out you were escaping the classroom for a day of learning out in the world? Then the NAR Field Experiences are for you! Venture off-site and explore the real estate community in real-time, with insider access to influential leaders and exclusive spaces you can only get as an attendee – no permission slips necessary!
2024 Field Experience Highlights
One of the Country’s Biggest Successes in SmartGrowth – Winning Amazon HQ
Arlington, Virginia is a community that has been leading the country on SmartGrowth for more than half a century. Arlington has encountered tremendous growth and since 2016, and has consistently been ranked the #1 or #2 place in the country to live.
In 2017, Arlington’s generations of work on SmartGrowth led to one of the biggest economic development successes in the country – attracting Amazon’s second headquarters to the National Landing neighborhood.
This activity will include a walking tour, speakers, and more. You’ll hear from the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS® and National Landing Business Improvement District about how National Landing and Northern Virginia are major destinations and hubs for walkability, multimodal transportation, nightlife, amenities, and more. Stay tuned for details on speakers and tour components in this fast-moving and engaging agenda.
© McDonald P. Mirabile / Moment / Getty Images
2024 Field Experience Highlights
Walking Tour: Historic Alleyways
Throughout DC’s history, alleyways have been a critical feature of neighborhood life. In the early twentieth century, DC’s hidden alleyways housed the majority of the city’s Black and immigrant populations, creating unique patterns of segregation. The grand residential blocks housed two distinct communities: White households lived in the street-facing homes and Black households occupied the same lots in interior alley houses hidden from the street. While city officials condemned life in the alleyways as dangerous, dirty, and diseased, they were in fact a place where communities sustained each other and provided security. This 90-minute walking tour, easily accessible from the Washington Convention Center, takes participants through the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District and reveals their secrets. Included in the price is a hardcover copy of Hidden Alleyways of Washington, DC: A History by Kim Prothro Williams, a local architectural historian and city planner.
