Second-Order Preservation

The work of historic preservation sits at the intersection of the arts and humanities, material science and technology, economic and political interests, cultural agency and community activism, and public policy. The last of these—public policy—serves as an important mediator of government authority versus individual freedoms, influencing how the preservation enterprise claims space and narrative, and who has power in the process.

In her latest book, Second-Order Preservation: Social Justice and Climate Action through Heritage Policy (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), Erica Avrami interrogates this public policy landscape and associated practices of governance, asking:

• Whose stories and places are represented?

• Who participates in decision-making?

• Who benefits or is burdened by these decisions?

These questions and their implications become more complicated as the climate crisis compels decarbonization and adaptation of the existing built environment. Confronting these challenges will involve critical reflection on the part of the preservation enterprise as well as policy and governance reform. This talk will discuss some of the social and environmental consequences of preservation, as part of that critical reflection. It will also explore avenues for the next generation of policy action, moving beyond the first-order work of saving heritage sites and buildings to considering the second-order effects on people and their environments.

Erica Avrami, PhD, is the James Marston Fitch Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and a research affiliate with the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia’s Climate School. A preservationist and planner, Erica’s research and teaching extend the heritage enterprise beyond a practice focused on sites and building, exploring preservation as a form of public policy that functions across geographic scales and diverse demographics.

Erica has published and co-authored a number of volumes, articles, and professional reports, including Preservation, Sustainability, and Equity (2021), Preservation and Social Inclusion (2020), Preservation and the New Data Landscape (2020), Values in Heritage Management (2019). She has critically examined preservation policy using New York City as a didactic lens in her co-authored studies Energy and Historic Buildings: Toward Evidence-based Policy Reform and Confronting Exclusion: Redefining the Intended Outcomes of Historic Preservation.

Erica formerly served as the Director of Research and Education for World Monuments Fund and a Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute. She earned her B.A. in Architecture and M.S. in Historic Preservation, both at Columbia, and her Ph.D. in planning and public policy from Rutgers University. She has also taught in the preservation programs at the University of Pennsylvania and Pratt Institute. Erica was formerly an expert member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and a Trustee and Secretary of the US Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS), and she currently serves on the editorial advisory board of the journals Future Anterior and Change Over Time.

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.