Historic Preservation and the Livable City

The essential guide to creating livable cities through historic preservation for preservationists, planners, developers, architects, and other professionals

Preservation of individual buildings and historic districts is a key ingredient in the success of vibrant and thriving cities. Historic Preservation and the Livable City clearly shows how the preservation of a city’s heritage supports the goals of the livable and sustainable city. The authors demonstrate the many ways in which historic preservation can benefit a community when included as part of a comprehensive planning and economic strategy.

This book covers such issues as:

• Preservation’s contribution to the economy of the livable city
• The economic and environmental benefits of restoring and reusing historic structures
• The link between affordable housing and historic preservation
• The importance of preserving our vernacular architecture and existing building stock

Key features of the book include:

• A livable city checklist for the preparation of proposals and plans for preservation, planning, and urban design projects
• A robust set of illustrated recent examples, including the revitalizations of Lower Downtown (LoDo) in Denver, Colorado, downtown Austin, Texas, and Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, Canada. The examples demonstrate that historic preservation is a key component in developing livable cities

Historic Preservation and the Livable City offers compelling evidence that cities, towns, and rural environments that implement historic preservation actually compete at a higher level economically and are more sustainable. They are more attractive to both prospective and current residents as well as visitors. In a world where cities must attract visitors and residents, historic preservation is an important and often overlooked tool.

ERIC ALLISON, PhD, AICP, is the founder and coordinator of the graduate historic preservation program at Pratt Institute in New York City, where he has taught city planning and historic preservation since 1996. He was president of the Historic Districts Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to New York City preservation, from 1990 to 2000. In 1998, Allison was appointed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as a Centennial Historian of New York City. He is currently the Chair of the National Council for Preservation Education, the organization that certifies historic preservation programs in the United States. He holds a PhD in urban planning and historic preservation from Columbia University.

LAUREN PETERS is an architectural designer and historic preservation specialist at Walter B. Melvin Architects, a New York–based, award-winning firm that specializes in exterior restoration. She received a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and holds both a master of architecture and a master of science in historic preservation from Pratt Institute in New York City.