ABSTRACT
When the modern preservation movement and its legal structures were established in the 1960s, the economy was building a broad middle class, climate change was not a concern, and the United States was just on the cusp of becoming far more diverse, in terms of race, immigration, and an acceptance into social and political life, obtained through great struggle, of a variety of groups. Out of this crucible of change, a new preservation movement became possible. In fact, it is in the making. Against an image of preservation as elitist, focused narrowly on architectural beauty, and a handmaiden to gentrification, a new generation of preservationists in the United States are recognizing that preservation can be a tool for more equitable economic development, a foundation for building a more sustainable world, and a vehicle for confronting painful pasts and thereby knitting together a diverse polity.
