Trust for Architectural Easements Sponsors Sustainability and Historic Preservation Panel Series

Feb. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- Washington, DC -- A series of discussions sponsored by the Trust for Architectural Easements, Island Press and the US Green Building Council brings together experts from the financial, real estate, architecture, preservation, planning, and policy worlds to discuss how to create a future that is environmentally, financially, and socially sustainable. The first panel tackled the question “how policy influences development.” On Monday, February 23, 2009, a second panel contemplates “how we regulate development”.  

Mixed-use, high density, walkable development, which minimizes carbon emissions and fuel use, is often not possible thanks to current zoning regulations. New evidence of the value of walkable, transit-oriented communities has surfaced in the sub-prime mortgage meltdown as auto-dependent suburbs have become foreclosure wastelands and high density walkable areas have retained their value.

New tools are available such as Smart Codes, but how far can they take us? How can we work within existing zoning restrictions while trying to change how we regulate and zone for the long term? How do we encourage the re-use of existing buildings, making use of vast quantities of embodied energy, rather than promote tear-downs and continued sprawl?  Experts Chris Leinberger (real estate developer, professor and author of The Option of Urbanism) and other panelists will engage in a lively discussion of the current regulatory climate and the options for change and adaptation.

The adaptive reuse of existing buildings should be a critical component of any sustainable growth strategy. The Trust for Architectural Easements president, Steven L. McClain, notes that “the process of recycling and rehabilitating existing buildings is almost always more environmentally efficient than tearing down and building new structures.  The positive attributes of rehabilitating older buildings is increased when one considers their protection results in the continued use of community infrastructure.”

The panel series is free and open to the general public.

Sustainability and Historic Preservation Thought Leader Discussion Series
How We Regulate Development
February 23, 2009, 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Choate room,
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW at Dupont Circle on the red line
Please RSVP by sending an email to: kgraves@islandpress.org.

The Trust for Architectural Easements is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit organizations dedicated to voluntary preservation through easement donations. Island Press was established in 1984 to stimulate, shape and communicate the ideas that are essential for solving environmental problems.

# # #

The Trust for Architectural Easements is one of the nation’s largest non-profit organizations dedicated to voluntary preservation through easement donations. The Trust protects more than 800 historic buildings across the United States.