Crafting a New Agenda for Preservation in the 21st Century
The Preservation Rightsizing Network has caught on to a deep strain of interest to see reform from within the preservation movement. Their timing for this could not be better given it is the 50th anniversary year since the National Historic Preservation Act was passed by Congress and signed in to law by President Lyndon Johnson. Among the many innovations this Act brought was the establishment of a National Register of Historic Places and creating a system of cooperation between the federal government and other units of government as well as the private sector to achieve results.
While a victory for many, anyone who has worked in preservation for any length of time recognizes that preservation practice is not easy or applicable to all places and settings. Larger metropolitan areas have benefited most, given the concentration of people with necessary expertise and abundant financial resources. Too often shrinking cities, small towns, and rural areas are left out.
What the Rightsizing Network calls for is no less notable than what the National Historic Preservation Act did 50 years ago. One excerpt from the report illustrates their bold vision:
Preservationists need to pursue strategic efforts in foreclosure prevention, down payment assistance, homesteading, code enforcement, and strategic property acquisition and disposal… Intangible heritage and culture — the stories that make a community what it is — should be recognized and preserved through oral histories, community storytelling events, and in other ways.
The three primary items in the action agenda are: a new approach, a new toolkit, and greater partnerships.
In order to achieve this broader role for preservationists, institutions need to adapt to changing times and conditions. The federal and state government entities responsible for administering our national preservation program need to adapt to make preservation a force on a broad scale. Relatively nascent survey programs in every state need to be strengthened, and as any State Historic Preservation Officer will tell you, to achieve that will require more people and money.
Even more fundamental is a need to change the way we think about historic buildings, what makes them significant, and how to go about preserving building, neighborhoods, and whole cities in a more thoughtful and comprehensive way. Patrick Geddes, often referred to as the “father of regional planning,” achieved this through his work in Scotland and India over a century ago. His concepts of “conservative surgery,” a “civic survey,” and “regional planning” are just as relevant today as then. Returning preservation to its origins of being tied to visionary planning is of the utmost importance if we are to seize the potential of this moment.
Another area to improve is representing the stories of people and neighborhoods that are traditionally left out of formal historic designation processes. Diverse stories of the groups that have built America too often get lost in a system that tends to place the highest value on the narrative of elites. This also is probably an unfortunate consequence of the lack of diversity within the preservation profession — a pressing need.
Among the most frequent refrains among preservationists is how preservation is more economically viable than any other option. Unfortunately the raze and redevelop narrative has dominated in too many places for the past half century or more. For places without the luxury or money to take this approach, it is a war of attrition with buildings being lost for the lack of tools, processes, and will to maintain and protect them. One has to wonder if the billions that has gone in to new development in recent decades was redirected to strengthening existing places that at one time worked, what economic, social, civic, and environmental benefits might have flowed?
A Chinese proverb goes: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” The Preservation Rightsizing Network has given an opportunity to preservationists and their allies nationally to give new life to our 50 year movement. Now it’s a question whether enough people are listening and willing to heed the call.
