Author: American Planning Association

Publication Year:

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This is one of several briefing papers created by the APA's Planning and Community Health Research Center on how planners use arts and culture to achieve economic, social, environmental, and community goals.

Abstract:

One sign of a healthy community is its simultaneous ability to preserve and invent its culture — that is, to conserve its history and heritage while developing new expressions for current times. Often, the concept of preservation is interpreted as meaning stagnation when, in fact, heritage and history can be the basis for innovation and advancement. Moreover, heritage and history are frequently essential sources of meaning that give a place character and resonance.

In a country as diverse and complex as the United States, the histories of many communities are layered and contested. Groups settle and move away, each leaving some remnant of who they were and why they had come to that particular place. Sometimes they leave voluntarily. Sometimes they are forced to leave. Sometimes they do not leave at all.

All of these groups — present and departed, rich and poor — have stories to tell, stories that can be collected, conserved, and celebrated. The articulation of those stories can significantly contribute to the planning process by preserving, celebrating, challenging, and inventing community identity.

Arts & Intersections: History & Heritage

Categories: Heritage & Preservation, Economic Impact, Cultural Planning