Supported by the School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Speaker:
Sara Bronin, Cornell University Professor of Planning and Law
Lecture: February 15 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Workshop: February 15 from 1:15 pm to 2:00 pm
Biography:
Sara Bronin is a Mexican-American architect, attorney, and policymaker specializing in property, land use, historic preservation, and climate change. She is a professor of planning and law at Cornell University and has served as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Architecture, the Sorbonne in Paris, and universities in Switzerland and Korea. She has served as an advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Sustainable Development Code, served on the board of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, and founded Desegregate Connecticut. She was educated at Yale Law School (Truman Scholar), Oxford (Rhodes Scholar), and the University of Texas. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Key to the City.
about the Lecture:
Preservationists working at the local level often focus their efforts around the historic district commission, whose decisions impact designated historic properties. In many cases, that attention comes at the expense of their interest and involvement in a more important, and yet somewhat hidden, local power: zoning. Zoning affects both designated and non-designated historic places, often hindering their rehabilitation through a variety of constraints, including minimum parking requirements, use prohibitions, and more. Professor Bronin, the author of a forthcoming book on zoning, will use her experiences with the zoning code in Hartford and with zoning reform in Connecticut to expose why preservationists should think more about this hidden power.
about the Workshop:
Immediately after the lecture, following a short break, Prof. Bronin will lead a special workshop that will focus on a further exploration of preservation advocacy at the local level.