Preservation Futures: History

This roundtable will consider historic preservation’s engagement with public history, and with the humanities more generally. We will begin by looking back in time, asking how the historic preservation field has deployed history to identify and bound which buildings and landscapes matter. In parallel, how has the field embraced more expansive and layered conceptions of history in order to serve broader publics with thicker narratives? Who are these publics, and how should we engage them? How well do our existing tools work at documenting and preserving history, particularly in the face of ongoing threats posed by development? At a moment when history itself has come under increased public scrutiny and debate, we seek to consider opportunities for historic preservation to lead the way in showing how and why the natural and built environment matter.

This event is the second installment in the Preservation Futures Roundtable Series, dedicated to understanding how the preservation field has changed – and is changing – in light of urgent calls for social and environmental justice and  better science. Building on the growing discourse around preservation and heritage futures, the PF Roundtables explore the direction of our department in light of these conversations.  

To attend virtually, please register via Zoom.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.