Preservation Vision Cafés are interdisciplinary dialogues between colleagues in historic preservation and allied fields. Part-guided discussion, part-networking session, each Café transforms the Neighborhood Preservation Center into that local watering hole where the bartender and a regular embark on a conversation that grows to engage everyone at the bar. 

The Preservation Vision Cafés continue the discussions initiated during Preservation Vision: Planning for the Future of Preservation in New York City and aim to strengthen the future of preservation in New York City by fostering more conversation within and outside the field.

We thank Michael Webber for his design of the Preservation Vision Café banner.

Preservation Vision Café No. 3

Preservation and the Sustainable City

What is preservation's role in a successful, sustainable megacity? On Tuesday July 26, 2011, Lisa Kersavage* and Nathan Storey** led the first Café of the season, discussing the common ground and conflict with preservation and sustainability goals.  

Some readings were referenced and discussed at the cafe:

• Preservation Vision New York City’s Statement on Environmental Sustainability
• National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Position Statement: Historic Preservation and Sustainability
• Roberts, Tristan “Does Saving Historic Buildings Really Save Energy?”
• Glaeser, Edward L. “Reservations about Landmark Preservation”
• Ourossoff, Nicolai “An Architect’s Fear that Preservation Distorts.”
• Birnbaum, Charles A. “Nostalgia 2.0: Has Historic Preservation Become a Spectator Sport
• Kersavage, Lisa "The Green Opportunity in New York City's Historic Buildings"

For the summary of the discussion and Nathan's cocktail recipe, click here.

For photos of Café No. 3 see our Picasa page or our Facebook page where we invite the conversation on this topic to continue.

*Lisa Kersavage is the Senior Director of Preservation and Sustainability at the Municipal Art Society of New York and the Historic Preservation Policy Strategy Development Consultant at the William Penn Foundation. She has served as the Executive Director of the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation; the Executive Director of Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, and was the Publications Specialist at the architectural firm Polshek Partnership.

**Nathan Storey is an urban planning graduate student at Hunter College and is the Commissioner for Institutional Responsibility for the Graduate Student Association at CUNY.  He also serves as the Communications Manager for City Atlas at the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and is a contributor to PlaNYC. Previously he was the Digital Media Fellow for ioby.org. Nathan is also a mixology consultant (nathanstorey.com/mixology).

Preservation Vision Café No. 2

On October 19, 2010, Seri Worden lead a discussion to consider the emerging guard of preservation-minded civic leaders in New York City, with presentations by Mike Webber

on One Past 5, Historic Denver and Dan Holland on the Young Preservationists

Association of Pittsburgh.

A summary of the discussion and cocktail recipes click here.

For photos of Café No. 2 see our Picasa page.

This program is made possible through the gift of an anonymous donor. We also thank Michael Webber for his design of the invitation for Café No.2

Preservation Vision Café No. 1

The Preservation Vision Cafés were launched on June 22, 2010. Simeon Bankoff demonstrated his mixology skills while he and Anthony C. Wood led a discussion with the participants about the current landscape of preservation in NYC and together the group conducted a diagnostic on preservation today by exploring several recent preservation efforts to identify what worked, what didn’t work, and what new approaches to preservation they might suggest.

For a summary of the discussion and Simeon's cocktail recipes, click here, and for photos of Café No. 1 see our Picasa page.

This program is made possible through the gift of an anonymous donor.