This Op-ed by Di Gao "Sustaining the Ecosystem that Gives Life to Chinatown" who is leading the America's Chinatowns initiative at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, suggests that the ecosystem of a physical campus (Chinatown in this case) goes beyond the physical buildings to include "Mom-and-pop businesses, residents, cultural traditions, affordable housing and commercial space, the food economy, schools, space to practice lion dance, and places of worship" as some examples. I really enjoyed the article, and it made me think of the ecosystem at public higher education as similar. A place as large as UMass Amherst (1,450+ acres, 400+ buildings, ~32,000 students 42% of whom live on campus) has all of those components; it is a poly-system with food systems, entrepreneurs, silos of educational interest groups (i.e. deans), hospitality and cultural groups, student groups and housing, etc. The benefits of designating a public university campus as a historic cultural district is difficult for the same reasons (and more) that the author mentions - i.e. that historic preservation "policies focus too much on physical buildings and offer little benefit when it comes to preserving more vital parts of the ecosystem".
I attended the Historic Preservation symposium at A'24 and learned that there were no financial incentives available to public entities to renovate historic properties, except when they partner with a private developer. Do you practice at (or with) a public university (or institution) that has a campus on the National Register of Historic Places, and are there benefits to embarking on a historic designation? What are the drawbacks?
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Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham FAIA
University of Massachusetts
Amherst MA
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