NJ Preservation Conference on Sustainability draws 300+

The annual NJ Historic Preservation conference last week was by all measures a big success. More than 300 folks attended the day long meeting at Rutgers University, participating in workshop sessions, taking tours and meeting and greeting each other. The theme was Sustainabiilty; lots of good, informative sessions with great presenters. More detailed report forthcoming, but we’re going to post some of the speakers’ remarks or presentations here.

Plenary session speaker Donovan Rypkema – always entertaining and informative – spoke at length about Sustainability & Historic Preservation. His remarks focused on the nexus of environmental, social and cultural responsibility: “for a community to be viable there needs to be a link between environmental responsibility and economic responsibility; for a community to be livable there needs to be a link between environmental responsibility and social responsibility; for a community to be equitable there needs to be a link between economic responsibility and social responsibility.”

Download his remarks here: rypkema_2008_plenary

See a recent brief (provocative) interview with Don on Sustainability & Historic Preservation