Enduring Culture

Supporting, celebrating, and preserving diverse cultural heritage throughout NYC

The latest MAS Initiative aims to develop an expanded and multivocal historic preservation vision for New York City, where intangible heritage and places that contribute to a neighborhood’s history and culture are protected and celebrated. Historic preservation, as traditionally structured and practiced, protects physical places and buildings with a focus on material architectural integrity and strict rules for maintaining a structure in time. However, defining a sense of place involves a larger set of layered histories, narratives, cultural traditions and practices, and community anchors — from legacy businesses to public artworks, to the havens of urban gardens. These stories, practices, and sites are intimately related to community identity, yet often lack resilience in the face of change. And as our policies and practices shift to adapt our built environment to meet the needs of our climate crisis, address our housing crisis, and deconstruct the legacy of racist planning and marginalizing policy, the field of preservation also has the opportunity to evolve to do more than one thing for more than one purpose.

How can preservation practiced in non-traditional forms provide the opportunity for our urban fabric to be flexible, adaptable, and reflect layers of history to support multiple communities over time? How can preservationists better use data to represent cultural legacies to advocate for innovative & inclusive change? What city policies and practices, in addition to landmark status and historic designation could support the preservation of intangible culture and sites that provide neighborhoods with unique character, history, and a sense of place? How can our systems better support practitioners across New York City who are creatively building ways to support historical and cultural heritage in the ever-shifting landscape of our city?

Shifts in urban policy and frameworks for support will ensure that the benefits of preservation are broadly and equitably distributed, celebrating a fuller understanding of New York City’s diverse cultural heritage and making communities more resilient.