Applied social sciences

Where’s the people-centered research funding? An historic preservation plight.

Are you a researcher, or practitioner who uses applied research, who wants to conduct work related to people-centered historic preservation? Have you tried to find funding to support your research?…

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Cultural history vs. cultural significance: Confused local attempts at increasing diversity in the preservation ordinance

Recently, changes to the City of Denver’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance became effective to allow the designation of buildings and places that have “cultural significance.” This change is, in the words…

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Local preservation ordinances: A one size fits all approach to social injustice

In a recent study, Avrami et al. (2018), found 86% of the local historic preservation ordinances sampled across the United States are nearly 100% derivative of the standards for significance…

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Human-Centered Built Environment Heritage Preservation

It is with great excitement that I share the publication of my new book, co-edited with Barry Stiefel, Human-Centered Built Environment Heritage Preservation: Theory and Evidence-Based Practice, which was officially…

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A successful example of a grassroots, justice-oriented built heritage conservation project

A recent preservation effort in England is well worth the time to understand because it relates so strongly to the future of the field. But, it's who led these efforts…

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CEQ wants to change the NEPA rules for the first time in a generation: My modest proposal

In August of last year, President Trump issued Executive Order 13807 directing the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a division of the Executive Office of the President, to review rules…

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Recognizing research excellence in practice-based environmental design: Applications for EDRA CORE open Dec. 1

The Environmental Design Research Association’s (EDRA’s) Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE) program offers professional certification for exceptional, rigorous, and impactful practice-based environmental design research studies.If you have conducted rigorous environmental design research that has value…

Continue ReadingRecognizing research excellence in practice-based environmental design: Applications for EDRA CORE open Dec. 1

What is Critical Heritage Studies and how does it incorporate the discipline of history?

At the recent meeting of the US chapter of the Association for Critical Heritage Studies, a frequent question, especially from graduate students, was “what is critical heritage studies”? There was…

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“How Are Old Places Different from New Places? A Psychological Investigation of the Correlation between Patina, Spontaneous Fantasies, and Place Attachment”

The International Journal of Heritage Studies just published my article on "How Are Old Places Different from New Places? A Psychological Investigation of the Correlation between Patina, Spontaneous Fantasies, and…

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