Contemporary Design in Historic Cities: New Challenges to the Conventional Wisdom

Architects, designers and planners have been exploring how to best ensure the sensitive insertion of contemporary structures in historic urban settings for several decades now. Proposals for new buildings in World Heritage cities around the world have challenged conventional definitions of “appropriate” and left heritage advocates scrambling to find tangible ways to measure visual impacts and visual integrity. Professor Stovel will discuss this evolving debate with recent case studies and offer some reflections on emerging ways to both encourage good new design and to protect the qualities of historic settings.

Herb Stovel is one of the foremost national and international experts in the heritage conservation field today. He has written more than 1200 books, papers, articles and report on conservation, and lectured in 32 universities and is currently the Coordinator of the Heritage Conservation Program at Carleton University while continuing to work on heritage issues at an International level.