Historic preservation and urban renewal are often thought to be polar opposites. Where one seeks to preserve, the other generally seeks to destroy in order to rebuild. While the programs appear on the surface to be in opposition, this Thesis seeks to demonstrate that there is a fundamental connection between the underlying legal principles of historic zoning and urban renewal. To that end, the jurisprudence involving historic zoning and aesthetic regulations before and after the seminal urban renewal case of Berman v. Parker has been collected and analyzed. This analysis revealed that courts were hesitant to support aesthetic, and by extension would have been unlikely to support historic zoning, prior to the Supreme Court’s validation of urban renewal programs in Berman. For example, in 1949 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts stated that specifically stated that a zoning regulation cannot be enacted solely to preserve the beauty of a community. In Berman, however, the United States Supreme Court justified urban renewal on the basis that governments should be able to condemn and regulate property for the creation of a more attractive community. An analysis of the jurisprudence following Berman indicated that courts were more likely to uphold aesthetic or historic zoning ordinances. For example, in a 1955 opinion, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts cited Berman and stated that, because construction of aesthetically or historically incompatible structures could destroy the historic character of a town, historic zoning ordinances fell within the scope of the police power. In short, the cases identified by this Thesis ultimately indicated that Berman had an impact on the acceptance of aesthetic and historic zoning. Therefore, they suggest that the programs of historic zoning and urban renewal, while seemingly in opposition, share fundamental legal roots.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121).

The Vieux Carré in New Orleans is the second oldest locally designated historic district and serves as a prominent example of local historic preservation efforts; however, the Vieux Carré has a high vacancy rate. This thesis examines the effects of land use policy, including the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and the design review process in the Vieux Carré, on attempts to return vacant buildings to commerce. The author examines three cases of redevelopment attempts of vacant properties in the Vieux Carré. In two of the three cases, constrictions from the Zoning Ordinance not the design review process held up the redevelopment process. The other case identified owner negligence as the cause for failure in the redevelopment attempt.

The Cedar Street Historic District, located in Manistee, Michigan, is a neighborhood that has retained many of its historic residences which serve as reminders of the city's heyday. Manistee, Michigan, located on Lake Michigan in the northwestern region of the lower peninsula, had a prosperous past as a major lumber manufacturing city. At the turn of the century, it was the third largest shipping port on the lake next to Milwaukee and Chicago. Manistee residents who made their fortunes in lumber built some of the finest houses in the region. A large majority of thoseresidences are located in the Cedar Street Historic District. Two of the mansions in the neighborhood were designed by the renowned Chicago School architect William LeBaron Jenney; unfortunately, they were razed in the 1920s.The boundaries of the district were determined in a preliminary survey of the architecture of the neighborhood. The survey, combined with the historical account of the area and its residents, shows that the Cedar Street Historic District is an excellent candidate for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, guidelines are included to show how the character of the district can be maintained.The possibility of the placement of the Cedar Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places may create more awareness of the city's additional historical resources. If the other historic businesses, residences, and public buildings in Manistee are surveyed and documented, there may be enough resources to merit the designation of a Multiple Resource Area. This may allow for greater protection of the city's historic properties. / Department of Architecture

The North Meridian Street Historic District, in Indianapolis, Indiana, is an area which still reflects the tastes and lifestyles of earlier decades in a contemporary urban setting. Listed in 1986 on the National Register of Historic Places, the district has been regulated by the Meridian Street Preservation Commission since 1971. The Commission, created through state legislation, was conducting design review in the district through nationally established guidelines, the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. In order to more effectively protect and preserve the district, the Commission wished to establish a set of design guidelines specifically tailored to the North Meridian Street Historic District and its particular built and natural- characteristics. This project involved developing a set of design guidelines that would fulfill the needs and desires of the North Meridian Street Historic District, its preservation commission, and its property owners. Each district has its distinct resources and needs. A district's unique built and natural features are guidelines in themselves, but unless the principles and relationships that they represent are translated into words and pictures, many people will not recognize them as such. After researching and analyzing the architectural and environmental qualities of the district a draft set of design guidelines was developed and presented to the Meridian Street Preservation Commission for review. In response to comments and expressed concerns made at a series of public hearings held from March 1992 to August 1993, several rounds of revisions followed the initial presentation of the guidelines. The August 1993 version of the guidelines was adopted by the Commission in September 1993 and is currently in effect. / Department of Architecture

La concertation est un phénomène récent, de plus en plus répandu. Elle s’applique à de nombreux domaines notamment en urbanisme et plus récemment à la protection du patrimoine. Elle semble être un outil approprié pour les autorités municipales afin de faire face aux conflits autour des projets d’aménagement particulièrement ceux liés à la protection du patrimoine. Notre questionnement porte sur l’apport de la concertation dans le domaine de la préservation du patrimoine et sur la pertinence des moyens mis en place pour atteindre un tel objectif. Les tables de concertation, en tant que processus de concertation, sont-elles appropriées pour la gestion des sites patrimoniaux ? À la lumière d’une discussion théorique sur le concept de la concertation en aménagement, nous faisons l’analyse comparative de deux Tables de concertation, celle du Vieux-Montréal et celle du Mont-Royal. Notre analyse porte sur l’évaluation du processus de concertation et sur la construction d’une vision globale pour le devenir des secteurs patrimoniaux concernés. L’objectif est de caractériser le processus de concertation utilisé à Montréal et d’en apprécier l’apport dans le domaine de la protection du patrimoine. L’analyse de nos deux cas d’étude révèle l’existence d’un processus de concertation propre à Montréal, avec ses caractéristiques spécifiques, mais qui reste à parfaire pour son optimisation. Notre recherche se conclut sur la nécessité d’améliorer le processus de concertation, tel qu’étudié, à travers un certain nombre de pistes à explorer. / Consensus building is a recent and increasingly widespread phenomenon. It is used in many areas, including urban planning, and more recently heritage protection. Consensus building appears to be an appropriate tool for municipal authorities to handle conflicts in development projects, especially those projects that are related to heritage protection. Our research focuses on the contribution of consensus building in the area of heritage preservation, and on the means put in place to achieve such a goal. Are round tables, as part of the consensus building process, appropriate in managing heritage sites? Based on a theoretical discussion on consensus building in development issues, we compare two case studies, namely the Old Montréal and the Mount Royal round tables on consensus building. This analysis focuses on assessing the consensus building process and on developing a global vision for the future of the two heritage sectors under study. Our goal is to characterize the consensus building process used in Montréal and to evaluate its contribution to the field of heritage protection. The analysis of our two case studies reveals the existence of a distinctive consensus building process specific to Montréal, a process which however needs to be optimized. We conclude our research with the need to improve the assessed consensus building process through a number of avenues to explore.

La concertation est un phénomène récent, de plus en plus répandu. Elle s’applique à de nombreux domaines notamment en urbanisme et plus récemment à la protection du patrimoine. Elle semble être un outil approprié pour les autorités municipales afin de faire face aux conflits autour des projets d’aménagement particulièrement ceux liés à la protection du patrimoine. Notre questionnement porte sur l’apport de la concertation dans le domaine de la préservation du patrimoine et sur la pertinence des moyens mis en place pour atteindre un tel objectif. Les tables de concertation, en tant que processus de concertation, sont-elles appropriées pour la gestion des sites patrimoniaux ? À la lumière d’une discussion théorique sur le concept de la concertation en aménagement, nous faisons l’analyse comparative de deux Tables de concertation, celle du Vieux-Montréal et celle du Mont-Royal. Notre analyse porte sur l’évaluation du processus de concertation et sur la construction d’une vision globale pour le devenir des secteurs patrimoniaux concernés. L’objectif est de caractériser le processus de concertation utilisé à Montréal et d’en apprécier l’apport dans le domaine de la protection du patrimoine. L’analyse de nos deux cas d’étude révèle l’existence d’un processus de concertation propre à Montréal, avec ses caractéristiques spécifiques, mais qui reste à parfaire pour son optimisation. Notre recherche se conclut sur la nécessité d’améliorer le processus de concertation, tel qu’étudié, à travers un certain nombre de pistes à explorer. / Consensus building is a recent and increasingly widespread phenomenon. It is used in many areas, including urban planning, and more recently heritage protection. Consensus building appears to be an appropriate tool for municipal authorities to handle conflicts in development projects, especially those projects that are related to heritage protection. Our research focuses on the contribution of consensus building in the area of heritage preservation, and on the means put in place to achieve such a goal. Are round tables, as part of the consensus building process, appropriate in managing heritage sites? Based on a theoretical discussion on consensus building in development issues, we compare two case studies, namely the Old Montréal and the Mount Royal round tables on consensus building. This analysis focuses on assessing the consensus building process and on developing a global vision for the future of the two heritage sectors under study. Our goal is to characterize the consensus building process used in Montréal and to evaluate its contribution to the field of heritage protection. The analysis of our two case studies reveals the existence of a distinctive consensus building process specific to Montréal, a process which however needs to be optimized. We conclude our research with the need to improve the assessed consensus building process through a number of avenues to explore.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)