Article

Pocantico Proclamation, Sustainability, and You

Steeple of the Thompson AME Zion Church in Auburn, NY. A green church steeple with yellow slats and ornamental design in front of the belfry. Weathered shingles top the steeple and the church roof around it.
Steeple of the Thompson AME Zion Church in Auburn, NY. A green church steeple with yellow slats and ornamental design in front of the belfry. Weathered shingles top the steeple and the church roof around it.

National Park Service, K. Szewczyk

Introduction

WASHINGTON D.C. (June 10, 2009) – The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Friends of the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training today published their Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation, which declares: “Historic preservation must play a central role in efforts to make the built environment more sustainable.”

The proclamation was conceived by 28 of the nation’s leading experts in sustainability, architecture, landscape architecture, green building design, and historic preservation at a two- day conference in November 2008 at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Pocantico Conference Center in Tarrytown, N.Y.

The Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation focuses principally on providing tools for policymakers who wish to incorporate principles of sustainability into their guidelines, recommendations and regulations.

The document articulates both broad underlying principles and specific action items. The proclamation also addresses the function of advocacy and education, the role of local organizations and commissions, energy management, green building rating systems, city and regional planning, economic investment, and rehabilitation.

“This proclamation reflects the broad thinking and inter-disciplinary cooperation necessary for dealing with climate change,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “At its core, historic preservation promotes the wise reuse of our built environment, which is an inescapable element of sustainability.”

Robert Silman with the Friends of NCPTT observed, “We currently find ourselves faced with economic, social, and environmental challenges on a scale never before seen. The interdependence and magnitude of these challenges require solutions that are inherently sustainable.

"In particular, the built environment is a sector of significant potential in transitioning towards a sustainable society. Within the built environment, historic preservation emerges as a prime example for sustainability.”

Discussions at the Pocantico Symposium: ‘Sustainability and Historic Preservation — Making Policy, November 5-7, 2008’ examined areas where sustainability and preservation align and, occasionally clash. The symposium resulted in two documents.

The Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation outlines the need for sustainable solutions and lays forth principles for a sustainable society. The Actions to Further the Pocantico Principles on Sustainability and Historic Preservation offers guidance on implementing sustainable solutions. The documents can be found at http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/pocantico.html (Note: URL unavailable.).

Sustainability & Historic Preservation: Making Policy

The Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation was written by participants in the Pocantico Symposium: ‘Sustainability and Historic Preservation — Making Policy, November 5-7, 2008’ based on materials developed at this symposium and the discussions that took place there. It reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The Friends of NCPTT is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation created to support the mission and goals of the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. NCPTT’s mission is to advance the use of science and technology in historic preservation. Working in the fields of archeology, architecture, landscape architecture and materials conservation, the Center accomplishes its mission through research, training, education, technology transfer, and partnerships.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (www.PreservationNation.org) is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history – and the important moments of everyday life – took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, DC, nine regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in all 50 states, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories.

Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation

Premise

The historic preservation community has a deep tradition of stewardship for our built environment, emerging as leaders in sustainable practices. Consistent with this tradition, historic preservation practitioners resolve to face head-on the global human-caused ecological crises that threaten our built and natural resources. Historic preservation must play a central role in efforts to make the built environment more sustainable. To this end, we urge all policy makers to recognize the following:

  1. The Climate Change Imperative – Human activity has increased and accelerated global warming putting the environment at risk. It is imperative that we immediately and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions to begin reversing extreme climate change patterns within a generation.
  2. The Economic Imperative – Our current economy is based upon unsustainable consumption and an overreliance on finite resources. A new green economy must rest upon a conservation-based foundation to manage natural and cultural resources in a sustainable and economically beneficial manner.
  3. The Equity Imperative – In recent years, economic inequalities between rich and poor have grown in the United States and abroad. The disproportionate levels of resource consumption and global pollution are unsustainable. Our consumption patterns must be altered to foster social equity, cultural diversity, and survival of all species.

The Pocantico Principles on Sustainability and Historic Preservation

Therefore, in order to address the three above imperatives, we advocate the following:

Consequently, we, the historic preservation community, recognize the environmental, economic, and social challenges that face us and call for policies that will result in revising our present course. We stand ready to offer an example for sustainability, while further challenging preservationists to more fully accommodate sustainable practices.

  1. FOSTER a Culture of Reuse
    Maximizing the life cycle of all resources through conservation is a fundamental condition of sustainability. The most sustainable building, community or landscape is often the one that already exists. Lessons learned from historic preservation are transferable to the entire existing built and landscaped environment.
  2. REINVEST at a Community Scale
    It is not sufficient to address sustainability on a piecemeal basis through individual building projects. We must consider the larger context of the built environment: our communities. Reinvestment in existing, more sustainable neighborhoods – especially our older and historic ones – saves resources and promotes socially, culturally, and economically rich communities.
  3. VALUE Heritage
    The design of older buildings, landscapes, and communities should inform future building practices. While new green building technology offers promise for reducing the environmental harms caused by new construction, traditional building practices provide a wealth of sustainable design solutions that are premised on sensitivity to local conditions, careful siting and planning, and long-term durability, all of which provide essential models for the future.
  4. CAPITALIZE on the Potential of the Green Economy
    Preservation economics provide a powerful model for shifting away from a consumption-based and energy-inefficient economy. Reinvestment in our existing built environment must become an indispensible part of America’s new green economy. Per dollar spent rehabilitation activities create more new jobs than new construction.
  5. REALIGN Historic Preservation Policies with Sustainability
    Today’s challenges require that historic preservation move beyond maintaining or recovering a frozen view of the past. Historic preservation must contribute to the transformation of communities and the establishment of a sustainable, equitable, and verdant world by re-evaluating historic preservation practices and policies, and making changes where appropriate.

Next Steps

Consequently, we, the historic preservation community, recognize the environmental, economic, and social challenges that face us and call for policies that will result in revising our present course. We stand ready to offer an example for sustainability, while further challenging preservationists to more fully accommodate sustainable practices.

We call for our leaders and fellow citizens to join us in taking immediate action.

The Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation was written by participants in the Pocantico Symposium: 'Sustainability and Historic Preservation -- Making Policy, November 5-7, 2008' based on materials developed at this symposium and the discussions that took place there. It reflects the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

A Call to Action

The Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation lays forth the imperative for sustainability and offers guiding principles for the use of historic preservation as a model and a partner for a sustainable society.

The future success of the Proclamation necessitates tremendous effort and work on the part of historic preservation practitioners. The Actions to further the Pocantico Principles on Sustainability and Historic Preservation represent a vast, diverse, evolving, and flexible inventory of actions aligned with the ideals of the Proclamation. We call upon preservation practitioners to assist in carrying out these and other actions to help in transitioning to a sustainable society.

Advocacy and Education (AE)

Education

Integrate sustainability into preservation education

  1. Incorporate sustainability into preservation curricula at all levels of education. (AE1)
  2. Promote service learning opportunities focused on preservation and sustainability. (AE2)
  3. Develop educational tool kits custom tailored for various needs(e.g. policy makers, historic building owners and managers, andstudents in primary, secondary, and higher education. (AE3)
  4. Challenge historic preservation research programs to expand the understanding of sustainable historic preservation (AE4).

Local Organizations and Commissions

Engage local preservation organizations and commissions

  1. Utilize the more than 3,000 local preservation organizations and innumerable local commissions to promote preservation as a sustainable solution, and to become sustainability advocates within their communities. (AE5)
  2. Provide local community-based preservation organizations and local commissions with technical, policy, and practical tools for promoting preservation as a key to sustainability. (AE6)
  3. Focus resources at the local level as this is where numerous policy decisions are made. (AE7)

Energy Management

Actively manage climate control systems

  1. Encourage property management organizations to adopt flexible indoor environmental standards that improve operating energy performance. (AE8)
  2. Promote the “behavioral wedge” – the concept that we can reduce one “wedge” (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases by altering our behavior (i.e. turning off lights, using shades, opening windows, etc.) (AE9)

Public Policy (PP)

Green Building Rating Systems

Integrate preservation into sustainability standards, codes, and rating systems

  1. Work with developers of green building rating systems to ensure the value of building reuse is recognized. (PP1)
  2. Promote the adoption of mandates for the improved energy performance of historic properties following recognized national models and timetables. (PP2)
  3. Develop performance based energy codes, so that historic properties can find non-standard methods for improved energy performance. (PP3)

Historic Preservation Policies

Update historic preservation policies to include sustainability principles and practices

  1. Identify critical conflicts between sustainable design practices and preservation and develop solutions. (PP4)
  2. Integrate green design practices into preservation guidelines as part of a fresh look at the Secretary’s Standards (i.e. The Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings) by emphasizing ways to enhance building performance while preserving historic character. (PP5)
  3. Create new Interpreting the Standards Bulletins on common issues related to sustainable design practices and historic projects. (PP6)
  4. Support research programs that explore new technologies for retrofitting historic structures and quantify the sustainability of preservation. (PP7)

City and Regional Planning

Integrate preservation with planning, community development, and transportation

  1. Illustrate America’s automobile dependence and the drastic divergence from America’s strong transit history.PP9) Encourage all levels of government to fund mass-transit infrastructure instead of personal automobiles in urban settings.PP10) Explore the use of urban growth boundaries and promote sustainable planning as seen in historic districts (e.g. walkable, transit-oriented, and livable communities) (PP8)

Funding

Develop reliable and professional funding sources

  1. Promote new sources of funding through environmental, housing, transit, and energy programs promoting sustainable solutions. (PP11)
  2. Integrate preservation into an economic stimulus plan based on the inherent sustainability of historic preservation. (PP12)

Economic Investment

Develop economic programs to reinvest in existing buildings

  1. Encourage government to offer incentives for reuse over demolition. (PP13)
  2. Encourage public and private grants for reinvestment in historic buildings and communities. (PP14)
  3. Work with the National Park Service and other review agencies to encourage expedited tax credit approval and streamlined reviews for sustainable projects. (PP15)

Technical (T)

Rehabilitations

Achieve Net Zero historic rehabilitations

  1. Utilize best practices and technologies to ensure long-term viability of historic resources through renewable energy. (T1)
  2. Aspire to “net zero” historic rehabilitations for all types and scales of historic places. (T2)

Energy

Promote and develop technologies and products that support sustainable practices compatible with historic properties

  1. Work with industry to develop energy conservation and alternative energy products and techniques that respect the characteristics of historic properties. (T3)
  2. Encourage planning for alternative energy development and distribution that properly considers the impacts on cultural and natural resources. (T4)

Demonstration Project

Launch a sustainable preservation demonstration project

  1. Design and implement demonstration projects showcasing the best sustainable design approaches and technologies while utilizing representative historic properties across America. (T5)
A group of thirty stands in front of the Pocantico Center.
Pocantico Proclamation - A group of thirty participants stands in front of the Pocantico Center.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation

Conclusion

Preservation practitioners must rise to the sustainability challenges we face to inspire and inform society at large. Building upon the Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation, the action items provide guidance in transitioning historic preservation to the forefront of the sustainability movement.

The objectives of the actions are twofold. Firstly, illustrate that historic preservation offers a model for sustainability. Secondly, challenge preservation to more fully incorporate sustainable building practices. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, partnership between government and the private sector, and diligent work on behalf of preservationists, we can transform historic preservation into a leading, relevant, and timely exemplar for a sustainable twenty-first century.

Pocantico Participants

Sustainability and Historic Preservation – Making Policy

November 5-7, 2008

Ms. Elaine Gallagher Adams
Senior Consultant, BET
Rocky Mountain Institute
Boulder, CO

Mr. John Anderson
Anton Tedesko Fellow on Sustainability
Robert Silman Associates
New York, NY

Mr. Gustavo Araoz
President of ICOMOS
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Charles Birnbaum
President
The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Lane Burt
Energy Policy Analyst
Natural Resources Defense Fund
Washington, D.C.

Ms. Jean Carroon
Principal
Goody Clancy Architects
Boston, MA

Mr. Kirk Cordell
Executive Director
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
Natchitoches, LA

Mr. Ralph DiNola
Principal
Green Building Services
Portland, OR

Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson
SHPO
Office of Historic Preservation, Department of Parks and Recreation
Sacramento, CA

Mr. Carl Elefante
Principal and Director of Sustainable Design
Quinn Evans Architects
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Andy Ferrell
Chief, Architecture and Engineering
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
Natchitoches, LA

Mr. John Fowler
Executive Director
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Washington, D.C.

Ms. Patrice Frey
Director of Sustainable Research
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Jorge L. Hernandez
Jorge L. Hernandez, Architect
University of Miami School of Architecture
Coral Gables, FL

Mr. James Hulme
Director of Public Affairs
The Princes Foundation
London, UK

Mr. Mike Jackson
Chief Architect
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Springfield, IL

Dr. Amos Loveday
Preservation Specialist
Atchley Hardin Lane, LLC
Columbus, OH

Dr. Janet Matthews
Assoc. Director, Cultural Resources and Keeper, National Register
National Park Service
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Richard Moe
President
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Washington, D.C.

Ms. Sharon Park
Chief, Architectural History and Historic Preservation
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Andrew Potts
Partner
Nixon Peabody
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Jonathan Rose
President
Jonathan Rose Companies
Katonah, NY

Mr. Les Shephard
Chief Architect
General Services Administration
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Robert Silman
Principal
Robert Silman Associates
New York, NY

Mr. Jonathan Spodek
Associate Professor of Architecture
College of Architecture and Planning, Ball State University
Muncie, IN

Mr. Paul Stoller
Director
Atelier Ten
New York, NY

Ms. Emily Wadhams
Vice President for Public Policy
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Washington, D.C.

Ms. Elizabeth Waters
Moderator
Charlottesville, VA

Mr. Drane Wilkinson
Program Coordinator
National Alliance of Preservation Commissions
University of Georgia
Athens, GA

Learn more about the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

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Last updated: September 6, 2023