Tag: Architecture
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The Cities We Need
Book Review The concept of “place work” might not be familiar to most urban planners, but it’s a critical element of city life that deserves our attention. In a fascinating conversation on the Booked On Planning podcast, author Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani discusses her book “The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places,” offering insights into…
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Meet Me by the Fountain
Book Review Despite growing up with the mall a very key part of my childhood memories, the adult version of me avoids going to one at all costs. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been to one in the last ten years. As an urban planner I enjoy being…
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Modular Housing: a solution to the housing crisis
At the University of Nebraska Lincoln, architecture students over the course of several semesters have been both learning and attempting to solve a major housing problem–how to built smaller homes to accommodate the growing aging population in our cities that are looking to downsize while maintaining affordability. This project was initiated by Partners for a…
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Second Order Preservation
Book Review Historic preservation has long followed a binary approach: Is a building historically significant enough to be listed, or isn’t it? This seemingly simple question forms the foundation of preservation policy across the United States and has shaped our built environment for decades. But what if this framework is fundamentally limiting our ability to…
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The Impact of Early Preservation Groups in America
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, a group formed for the sole purpose of saving George Washington’s stately home on the Potomac River from ruin in the 1850s, is the oldest national historic preservation organization. They formed during when America was still a young nation, less than 100 years old. Homes like Washington’s represented a lasting…
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The Origins of Historic Preservation
The most commonly cited start to the historic preservation movement is the Ladies of Mount Vernon’s valiant effort to raise funds to preserve George Washington’s home. As the first president of the United States, Ann Pamela Cunningham and her fellow advocates were dismayed at the dismal state of his home overlooking the Potomac River. In…
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Historic Preservation: Balancing Restoration and Demolition
In my many years working in the field of historic preservation I have seen some communities commit to preserving as much of their built history as possible, others demolish nearly all of it, and a majority that falls somewhere in between. What I could never understand is how different cities decide when preservation is worth…
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Designing with Local Context
A few weeks ago I attended my first Association of Preservation Technology conference, held in Seattle. One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Yasmeen Lari, winner of the RIBA 2023 Royal Gold Medal. Yasmeen is Pakistan’s first female architect and has done amazing work to bring affordable home building to her home country.…
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Why Old Places Matter
Book Review Old places matter because they provide continuity; memory; individual, civic, state, national, and universal identity; beauty; history; architecture; sacred ties, creativity, learning opportunities, sustainability, a tie to our ancestors, community, and economic value. With so many reasons to keep old buildings standing, its hard to understand why we keep tearing them down and…
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Inherent Sustainability of Old Buildings
In recent years preservation has been recognized as a “recycling program of historic proportions.” And when you stop to consider, it is actually a good description. Saving old buildings helps retain history, identity, beauty, and connections to our past, but in terms of sustainability saving old buildings excels at recycling and reusing embodied energy. Many…
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The Planning Lady 