Historic Preservation and its Cultured Despisers: Reflections on the Contemporary Role of Preservation Law in Urban Development

Byrne, J. Peter

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2013278

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Our study is not a comprehensive assessment collective memory intersects with urban development: other contexts surely produce different political configurations, different assessments of historical value, and diverse architectural choices. That said, the three architectures of memory examined here are indeed central ways that urban planners engage with local history (Baldwin 2016;Byrne 2012). Preservation, understood as the retention of some aspect of the existing built environment, and typically symbolizing an "antigrowth" agenda in the public imagination and in the minds of developers, often makes a strong statement about the cultural salience of historical built environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…And these joint motives of preservation and growth are by no means limited to our case. In examining the contradictions inherent in urban redevelopment, we build on the emerging scholarship that has critically examined the relationship between historic preservation and urban growth (Byrne 2012;Halle and Tiso 2014;Listokin, Listokin, and Lahr 1998;Reichl 1997), as well as work at the intersection of urban studies and collective memory (Boyer 1994;Loughran et al 2015). Our aim is not to resolve the tension between preservation and growth in general terms, nor do we aim to do so in the context of the Philadelphia case study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Architectures of Memory: When Growth Machines Embrace Preservationists

Loughran

Fine

Hunter³

2018

Sociological Forum

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Studies of urban redevelopment demonstrate how growth coalitions and city residents use ideas about local history and culture to facilitate or oppose interventions in the built environment. Building on this literature, we introduce the concept of architectures of memory to describe methods of remaking urban space, relying on historical representations. We argue that preservation, demolition, and reproduction are practices that are often conflated but that have different dynamics in the relationship between growth and preservation. Although each advances urban planners’ visions of a historicized cityscape, they recapture that past through different design processes. Using case studies of redevelopment in Philadelphia—Independence National Historical Park and the adjacent Society Hill neighborhood, both of which were transformed through urban planning interventions post–World War II—we examine how interpretations of the built environment's economic and symbolic value influence redevelopment projects. The multiple interpretations and collective memories about the built environment create frameworks that advance, as well as contest, strategies of redevelopment. We argue that growth machines and preservationists do not inevitably have contradictory goals and strategies, but on occasion preservation and reworking of public spaces through a historical imaginary can support both growth and memory, two components of an urban elite.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%