Document Type
Article
Comments
This article predates the author's affiliation with Cornell Law School. It was published July 5, 2019 in CQ Researcher.
Abstract
Many people fail to realize that land use policies like historic preservation involve big trade-offs. The most important one is that if you want to protect existing structures from demolition and modification, you can’t replace them with bigger ones that could house more people.
Cities that want to encourage entrepreneurship and affordable housing should deploy historic preservation and other restrictive land use tools thoughtfully. Otherwise, those cities will be inhabited by comparatively rich folks who complain about the sterility of their current lives and who are nostalgic for “the good old days” when cities were diverse and hotbeds of creativity.
Date of Authorship for this Version
7-5-2019
Keywords
Historic preservation, Affordable housing, Land use policy
Recommended Citation
Reiss, David J., "Historic Preservation: Can The Past Escape The Wrecking Ball?" (2019). Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers. 188.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clsops_papers/188