Authenticity, Value, and Change: Deconstructing the Differences and Intersections Between Historic Preservation and Cultural Sustainability

In illustrating the differences and intersections between historic preservation and cultural sustainability this research supports the efforts of those who have tried to save something meaningful, yet found that their arguments have no forum. Conditions in the United States are such that traditional frameworks addressing historic preservation, rooted in material historic and aesthetic significance, are not designed to consider active cultural production. Moreover, these frameworks are not especially well prepared to deal with challenges to historic narratives and changing community values. In context of both historic preservation and cultural sustainability, this research deconstructs the concepts of authenticity, attributed community values, and change, in order to reveal the problems that occur when the two pursuits are conflated. This is necessary in order acknowledge their diverging pursuits, and to develop frameworks that address their complementary but different requirements.