HART227 - 01 - Intro to Historic Preservation

Often misunderstood and occasionally maligned, historic preservation is an increasingly important profession in the United States and abroad. Encompassing an array of disciplines-from architectural history to conservation, museum work to planning-historic preservation is, broadly speaking, devoted to the preservation and/or management of the built/human-shaped environment. The professionalization of the field in the United States occurred largely in response to cultural shifts and major government initiatives like urban renewal in the decades following the Second World War, a result of a growing awareness among citizens, institutions, and governments that as our society grows and changes, consideration should be made for impacts of those changes on historic resources. The course begins with a survey of American architectural history for background/context, then introduces students to the history of the field with a focus on core issues and philosophies, followed by an introduction to preservation planning, including a look at some of the work preservation professionals undertake. The final few classes look at preservation internationally and consider some of the possible directions the field is heading.