ABSTRACT
More fundamental is having buildings that people care about and want to preserve in the long-term, to fight for, to defend that means creating buildings where people want to be and want to return to, that they identify with, and develop a relationship with. This chapter proposes that persistence depends to some degree on mutual care; that people rather than buildings cause architecture to persist. Memorable architecture demands some building-specific character to make a building worthy of memory, and, therefore, of preservation. The bonds of shared memory not only anchor people to buildings but they also tie buildings to people. Though long-lived compared to humans, persistent architecture is not perpetual. Ruskin—a tireless advocate of preservation—does not see architecture as changeless, writing that the value of age comes from changes wrought and recorded in the fabric of the building.
