As we’ve been saying all month, the benefits of deconstruction reach far and wide. In particular, we love how deconstruction initiatives and ordinances spur creative and socially-minded business and nonprofit models that benefit preservation, local economies, workforce training, and the environment. The following three stories about the Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse just outside of Chicago, IL; … Continue reading “Deconstruction & Social Enterprise”
By Donovan Rypkema, President I am extraordinarily lucky. In 2004, I made the decision to spend as much of the second half of my career as possible working beyond the United States. I formed Heritage Strategies International as a companion company to my domestic firm, PlaceEconomics. In the 15+ years since then, we’ve been able … Continue reading “The Rewards of International Engagement”
For several years Donovan Rypkema has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching a class on the economics of historic preservation. Last year he added an international praxis course and took 10 graduate students to Shanghai. The course was held in collaboration with the World Heritage Institute for Training and Research … Continue reading “Shanghai, China”
In March 2015, Donovan Rypkema travelled to New Zealand on behalf of the Civic Trust of Auckland, an NGO which focuses on quality of life issues in New Zealand’s largest city and historic preservation in particular. As part of the trip Rypkema also traveled to Christchurch and Wellington. In all three cities he toured heritage … Continue reading “What We’re Up To: Auckland, New Zealand”
PlaceEconomics, our US arm of Heritage Strategies International, has just released a 2016 report for the New York Landmarks Conservancy on historic preservation’s impact on New York City. To analyze preservation’s impact on the City, we used a range of metrics including heritage tourism, demographics, population density of historic districts, presence of small firms and creative industries, and the resiliency of … Continue reading “What We’re Up To: New York, NY”