The Georgia Archives January Lunch and Learn virtual presentation “Future Places Project: Redefining Historic Preservation in Atlanta” by Doug Young, Assistant Director for the Historic Preservation Studio in the City of Atlanta’s Office of Design in the Department of City Planning, is on Friday, January 14 from noon until 1 p.m.
Register for the program by visiting, https://tinyurl.com/2p88nspa.
The City of Atlanta has a well-established historic preservation program that was originally created in the 1980s – a program that needed a new road map for the next 30 years. While there had been successes in the past, the City did not think that the program was well-positioned to address the recent and likely future trends in the historic preservation world. To respond to this concern, the City of Atlanta launched the Future Places Project – the first comprehensive assessment of the City’s historic preservation program in nearly 40 years.
The goal of the Future Places Project, in the simplest of terms, was to ensure that Atlanta retains its historic identity as the City moves forward. More so, the Future Places Project was an attempt to reposition historic preservation within the on-going City and community dialogue about authenticity, design, development, the “Story of Atlanta,” and who decides what is historically significant. As a result, the Future Places Project included traditional preservation planning elements, such as peer city analysis and windshield survey work, approached in a different way, as well as somewhat unconventional elements, such as market analysis-style survey, branding and messaging, and an in-depth parks system study. Learn about how this project was conceived and implemented (including lessons learned along the way), as well as what action items have already been undertaken by the City of Atlanta to have an impact on the City’s historic resource landscape.
Young’s interest in history and historic places began in Virginia, where he grew up and attended Virginia Tech. He moved to Atlanta in 1992 to attend Georgia Tech and received his master’s degree in city planning from the then College of Architecture. After helping the City get ready for the Centennial Olympic Games, he came to the City of Atlanta’s Department of City Planning to focus on historic preservation work and to make it an integral part of Atlanta’s city planning and community development work. In 2010 Young became the Assistant Director for Historic Preservation within the Office of Planning (now the Office of Design) and Director of the Urban Design Commission. Since that time, he has managed all aspects of the Historic Preservation Studio’s work, including strategy, policy, operations, communications and community engagement, design review, grants, and technical assistance, as well as all operations associated with the Atlanta Urban Design Commission. In particular, he initiated and is now implementing the City’s first comprehensive assessment of the City’s historic preservation program in over 30 years – the Future Places Project. He believes that every address in the City has a story to tell and looks to learn about as many of those stories as possible.
Download the free Microsoft Teams app prior to the event and register through the link above. The link to this presentation will also be available on the Georgia Archives webpage at www.georgiaarchives.org.
The Georgia Archives is a unit of Board of Regents of the University of Georgia. The Georgia Archives identifies, collects, manages, preserves, provides access to, and publicizes records and information of Georgia and its people, and assists state and local government agencies with their records management.
