While preserving historic buildings is generally popular, a panel yesterday pointed out that it actually may do some harm.
This point of view, however, was only one of many presented in a debate hosted by the Penn Urban Studies Center yesterday. The conversation focused on the range of effects of preserving historical areas on communities.
The event was hosted by the Penn Urban Studies center and was moderated by Randall Mason, associate professor of Architecture in the Department of Historic Preservation.
Expert panelists from across the country joined Mason in looking at the future of the preservation movement, and the problems that confront it.
Susana Almanza, a representative from the Austin, Texas-based People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources, spoke of the gentrification that preservation can bring.
She said property prices in her community doubled or tripled when buildings were deemed historic landmarks, which caused the displacement of 70 percent of the African American and Hispanic residents. Houses that were previously seen as shacks are now advertised as cute bungalows, she added.
Almanza said she did not oppose preservation, but said she wondered if the priority was "preservation of houses or preservation of people," saying that one should never "leave out the race issue."
The "vicious history" of segregation and deprived areas were discussed by Jeff Chusid, associate professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. He said that there are virtually no benefits for poor people to live in areas classified as historical.
And while panelists said it is important not to preserve old structures for simply sentimental reasons, communities' "intangible cultural heritage" is also valuable.
Royce Yeater, Midwest director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, opened the discussion by raising the dilemma of the preservation movement, where decision-makers are often influenced by businesses, and those who want to preserve are left on the outside.
He concluded that preservationists "can't stand alone" but must work with "business and government . in that order" instead of merely looking to City Hall to solve problems.
