Urbanist, architect, and professor Vishaan Chakrabarti talked in Urban Roots about preservation, his backstory, and his studio projects around the USA. Hosted by Vanessa M. Quirk, journalist, producer, and Deqah Hussein, historic preservationist and urban planner, in this episode, the founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism PAU discusses the seismic shift happening in preservation and planning: a move away from conserving historic buildings towards communities. The interview is part of a series of 15 episodes that deep dive into little-known stories from urban history to conceptualize what shaped our communities.
The conversation challenges the preservationist establishment and invites us to think beyond the familiar and broaden the scope of what we see as urban history. As such, Chakrabarti explains how coming from an unrepresented group in North America has shaped his paths toward community development through infrastructure, architecture, and preservation. In addition, he talks about his experience as a planner and entrepreneur around the USA in cities like Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, and New York, among others, leading him to develop a totally new concept of planner and preservation role today.
Delving the statement that our societies demand multiple services and amenities, Chakrabarti and Hussein, with vast experience in urban planning, open the conversation by pointing out that new buildings replace preexistence; at the same time, what is historically significant" is preserved. However, the lack of oral history from unrepresented communities and architectural appreciation based on privileged population narratives has dismantled local residents and their dynamics, displacing the things that made this place "home."
For instance, Boston and Francisco have lost vast amounts of native communities that have now been displaced, including historically segregated populations like people of color, women, and LGBTQ plus. "The fact that what made those cities interesting in the first place wasn't because they were filled with luxury condos and chain stores (…) It's because they were filled with culture," said Chakrabarti. That is why these cities, among others, were so unique in the first place. Therefore, urban planning and preservation need to work as interwoven practices, speaking directly with the communities and understanding that new and historic buildings stock it is a much broader discussion about what it means in a world where cities are gentrifying rapidly, and oral history is lacking.
This is also represented by how professionals preserve and plan not only buildings and the cities, but the community's story and spirit, economic well-being, and ability to stay in a place through not just what is constructed but everything around it. So, there is where project by project, place by place, community by community archeological in my mind, preservation goes beyond "freezing things in time," and urbanness remembers that cities are fundamentally about change. Social progress and preservation are part of progress.
How can we move towards community preservation? How can the community continue to be present and thrive? Although the topic presented is still an open discussion that needs to be driven interdisciplinary, Vishaan Chakrabarti wraps up the conversation by talking about the notion "of an infrastructure of opportunity that we need to build. An infrastructure of opportunity in the USA, which isn't just traditional infrastructure, but all the things that have a sense of continuity from what was before to what is today.
