This page has been constructed as part of a project for the PL 261 - Urban and Regional Economic Development course. Located below are links to various sites containing information about the use of Historic Preservation as a tool or strategy for economic development. Other pages at this site contain a brief overview of the use of historic preservation in economic development, as well as some definitions related to preservation and a bibliography. Comments or suggestions should be sent to mcmahon@email.unc.edu and would be greatly appreciated.
Historic preservation is viewed by most not as an economic development strategy, but simply as a way of restoring architecturally significant buildings. However, over the past century, the historic preservation movement has shifted from looking at individual buildings in isolation to considering preservation efforts part of comprehensive economic development strategies. As preservation has been predominantly driven by individuals and local non-profit organizations it does not have the academic base of literature common to most economic development strategies but one is slowly emerging as preservation is being looked at more extensively for economic benefits.
Most of the work currently going on within preservation is concentrated on one of three arenas: small towns/commercial districts, larger downtowns, and residential neighborhoods. The revitalization of small towns and commercial districts has been given a strong boost by the Trust for Historic Preservation's National Main Street program. Larger, urban downtown efforts have of late focused extensively on the adaptive reuse of older commercial and office buildings, often including the introduction of residential space. Finally, surrounding the arena of residential neighborhood revitalization there has been a continuing debate about the impacts this has on housing prices. Some feel that the use of local historic districts may decrease property values while others fear that the "gentrification" of a neighborhood as it is rehabilitated will drive out the current, lower-income residents.
However, regardless of these few concerns there is an increasing trend for cities, states, and the federal government to look to preservation as a source of economic benefits. The reuse of existing buildings which have valuable historic and architectural qualities, as opposed to building faceless new buildings in "greenfields," is promising for a variety of reasons. Additional arguments suggest that that rehabilitation produces more local benefits than new construction and attracts tourism.
The following definitions are from the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the treatment of Historic Properties:
(a) Preservation means the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property. Work, including preliminary measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement and new construction. New exterior additions are not within the scope of this treatment; however, the limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and other code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a preservation project.
(b) Rehabilitation means the act or process of making possible an efficient compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.
(c) Restoration means the act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other periods in its history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period. The limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and other code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a restoration project.
(d) Reconstruction means the act of process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust, created in 1949, is by far the dominant structure within historic preservation in the United States. The Trust is involved in the designation of historic districts, administers the successful National Main Street program, and has published or commissioned the bulk of the literature in the field, especially surrounding the issue of economic development.
The National Register of Historic Places
While inclusion of a building or a neighborhood on the National Register does not in any way guarantee its preservation, it is a powerful symbolic act and one with real benefits. Listing on the Register facilitates the use of federal historic preservation tax credits and once federal funds have been committed to a preservation project there is oversight of the development of a property.
The National Main Street Program
The National Main Street program has been very effective at revitalizing downtown business districts in small towns and cities and is now involved in commercial redevelopment in larger urban areas as well. The National Main Street's Washington, D.C. office provides assistance in the areas of organizational, promotion, marketing strategy, and physical renewal to state Main Street offices which in turn provide assistance to local organizations. The program has specifically focused on the use of local funding sources and supporters.
The National Register Bibliography
National Park Service Internet Resources
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
The passage of this law was the single largest step taken for the preservation of America's historic resources and it resulted in the strengthening of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's ability to actively support preservation efforts.
HUD's Gunther Blue Ribbon Practices in Historic Preservation Projects
HUD's Gunther Blue Ribbon Practices in Housing Rehabilitation
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
This agency was created by the National Historic Preservation Act and serves the federal government analyzing policy surrounding the issue of historic preservation. Likewise it advises other government agencies on the potential imact of their actions on historic properties.
Cornell University-based PreserveNet
PreserveNet contains a wealth of links to organizations and jobs within the field of historic preservation.
Cyburbia - SUNY Buffalo's Historic Preservation Links
Cyburbia is an impressive reference source for a variety of planning and design issues and has a helpful, comprehensive, and regularly updated list of relevant links.
Eastern Michigan's University's Historic Preservation Program
This site has a good explaination of the different roles of organizations and history of historic preservation.
Although there is an increasing amount of research on the economic impacts of historic preservation, this appears to be one of the first academic papers to address the direct and indirect effects of preservation efforts on a statewide scale.
The Winter '98 issue of Preservation North Carolina's newsletter describes a report they commissioned on the economic impacts of preservation. This report, by Don Rypkema, details the many ways in which historic preservation benefits local and regional economies.
NC State Historic Preservation Office
State Historic Preservation Offices serve as local administrators of federal historic preservation tax credits and, in some states, also oversee state-wide incentive programs. North Carolina has just enacted a significant increase in the amount of state tax credits given for rehabilitation of historic properties.
ArchNet's Links to State Historic Preservation Offices
National Conference of State Legislatures
1997 State Historic Preservation Laws
This site includes an impressive search engine to look up state laws from around the country relating to the issue of historic preservation.
City of New Bern: Historic District Guidelines
The City of New Bern, NC has been especially successful within North Carolina at capitalizing upon its historic assets to boost preservation tourism revenues. An analysis of the impacts of Tyron Palace and its renovation on the local economy is currently being concluded by students in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-CH.
The Charleston Preservation Field School Page
Historic Towson, Inc.'s page on the
"Economic Tool that Works for Communities"
This site covers Donovan Rypkema's book The Economics of Historic Preservation and its arguements on the fiscal benefits of preservation.
The Preservation Action Council of San Jose, CA
Katherine Elizabeth Khawaja's Historic Preservation Links
Matt Nuenke's Web Page on Historic Preservation and the Myth of the Collective Memory
This site contains a spirited arguement that preservation efforts contesting that preservation efforts are based upon a romanticization of the past and limit the rights of property owners. However, the page does not incorporate and understanding that placement of a property on the National Register of Historic Places does not impose any limitations as to the property's use. These restrictions can only come through local regulations or the use of federal funds or tax credits on a property.
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(Last updated 15 April, 1998 by Patrick J. McMahon)
E-mail comments to mcmahon@email.unc.edu