When Old Buildings Ripen for Historic Preservation: A Predictive Approach to Planning

Preservationists have not looked at the long-term effect of their goals for historic preservation. Nor have planners addressed historic preservation in their long-range plans, despite considerable activity in the field of preservation. Yet structures have been long in place when their potential to be preserved claims attention. We can forecast the architectural style and number of structures that will ripen for preservation long before the event. We can also estimate the effects of saving different percentages of the stock from the past and incorporate the implications of these effects into our plans. There are a number of approaches to doing long-range planning that can be used for historic preservation.