Critical Social Inquiry 0257 - Preserving the Past and Planning for the Future: Historic Preservation, Memory, Community, and Sustainability

"Sustainability" is today an urgent concern, but how can we understand the term in its broadest sense? Historic preservation--the protection and interpretation of our built environment and cultural landscapes-is a means of both exploring our history and shaping civic identity. One contemporary challenge therefore involves the question of how to deal with "sites of conscience" and oppression: "slave-powered" plantations, Confederate monuments, sites of the Holocaust and genocides. Once associated primarily with saving the elegant buildings of the elite, historic preservation today involves vernacular as well as distinguished architecture, nature as well as the built environment, and the stories of all social groups. Rather than gentrifying neighborhoods and reaffirming old hierarchies, preservation and adaptive reuse of old buildings play a key role in both economic and environmental policy, creating livable, sustainable neighborhoods. Students will study general preservation theory and practice and visit local historic sites, document collections, and museums. KEYWORDS:History, Sustainability, Memory. Tourism, Museums

Environments and Change Students are expected to spend a minimum of 6-8 hours of work outside of class time per week