What is Preservation of Community Assets?

I recently read a series of articles on the subject of Preservation of Community Assets (PCA). The idea for this started out as a way to take my mind off of waiting for my advisor to return my final thesis revisions and has now become something that is quickly moving to the forefront of my brain. Essentially what a PCA is an attempt to create or revive meaningful surroundings for communities, especially in underprivileged ones that often lack the architectural resources that can connect a community's memory to its living culture. This is acutely important in fast growing urban areas that are populated with immigrants. Thus, a multi-disciplinary approach is needed that takes into account multi-cultural awareness, professional transparency, social responsibility that come together to form the foundation of the PCA approach. The potential for this method in heritage preservation projects in underserved communities is ripe. In addition to serving a social purpose, it can provide means for economic development by creating an attractive and unique sense of place while fostering local arts, site specific public art, and ethnic traditions. This sounds like a rather lofty goal but it seems like it has merit. The reality is in historic preservation, there has been a shift from saving monuments from the wrecking ball to the vernacular and landscape. I believe that this shift acknowledges the fact that the everyday is just as important as the boldface because it is often in the commonplace where history is made. For example, who would've thought that a log cabin in the middle of nowhere could be the birthplace of one of America's greatest presidents (Abraham Lincoln)? Certainly, not the Lincoln family at the time. Contemporary ethnic communities are often populated by newly arrived immigrants who put their imprint on the everyday landscape. These communities sometimes lacke the necessary material assest such as tangible artifacts or the physical settings which can serve as an anchor for communal heritage. This lack of tangible assets for heritage preservation is part of the characteristics that make up a rapidly growing population, specifically communities living around the newly created surroundings of expanding metropolises. Often, these marginalized neighborhoods consist of immigrants or refugees that deliberately move closer to the urban areas for better opportunities. In the West, immigrants and refugees are aided by social and government policies that attempt to address the social, legal, and economic needs of the newly arrived. In the United States, the "melting pot" concept has had particular resonance. This utopian ideal seeks to blend immigrants from diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural background into one, new, secular nation with a common identity, history, and culture. This has gained traction in the policies enacted by the Federal government since the end of the Civil War and has seen fruition in the American Civil Rights Movement, the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and the Fall of the Soviet Union. This has given way to a "salad bowl" metaphor in which every distinctive culture blends together to form a whole. Delores Hayden offers a different approach which celebrates the historic urban landscape and its ethnic diversity as a source of self-identity, (re)construction, and socio-political empowerment. It follows that issues of urban identity can be met at the local level by involving communities in urban policy making, education and creativity, and by maintaining multi-culturalism as the normal human experience. This can be accomplished through a knowledge and art-based intervention in the built surroundings, couched in preservation practices and directed towards the enhancement of the community's identity where material-architectural assets are lacking. These practices have the capacity to anchor a community's assets through the combination of field work with community (research, identification, documentation, and recordation); architectural, urban, or environmental design as well as other design practices. The focus is on the past history of the community as interpreted in its current location, not on folklore or commemorations of the past. Thus far, the definition of a PCA has not addressed the issue of disney-faction or what if a new immigrant community with a completely different culture than the previous one, supplanted the previous resident-i.e an Asian community taking over a previously Latino neighborhood? PCA focuses on the impermanence of tangible architectural resources-low architectural value (the vernacular?)/artistic value of an artifact, and the likely probability it will need some framework to highlight it. This begs the question, who makes this decision and based on what criteria? In the broadest sense, PCA can convey community heritage and spirit even when there exists not physical base for preservation. Another question, how is that spirit and heritage filtered? Community assets from local, social, and cultural sources can be preserved and promoted through a new built environment. Great but can this new built environment respect the integrity of the asset? PCA requires an investment and has a modest economic potential. PCA has the potential to be part of urban renewal projects, help communities develop financial institutions that support a wide range of immigrant and low-income programs, be part of Main Street programs, and enhance the development of cultural and heritage tourism, but the greatest contribution is likely to be felt in social and educational programs. This last statement, the greatest impact of PCA is likely to be felt in social and educational programs can be geared towards second, third, and succeeding generations of immigrants whose ties to community have weakened and are seeking to reconnect with their parents and grandparents' generations. PCA as part of an urban renewal project is fraught with certain issues that will be addressed in future posts as will the development of financial institutions and case law.