| 6. Urban Design, Historic Preservation, & Downtown Revitalization:
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Historic preservation is an important concern in many communities, and no Web site offers better resources than the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A must-see site for anyone interested in preservation issues (which, we hope, includes most citizen planners!).
Although part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Main Street Center's deserves separate mention. Its focus is on strengthening the downtown cores of the nation's towns and cities. While there is not much resource information available online, you can learn about the Main Street Center's programs and find links to local Main Street programs in your state.
Most citizen planners have heard about "new urbanism" -- a movement led by architects and planners aimed at producing more compact, better designed, and "liveable" patterns of development. The heart of this movement is the Congress for the New Urbanism. Their Web site, naturally enough, provides lots of material about new urbanism. A great feature of the site is a searchable database with information about new urbanist projects across the U.S., Canada, and overseas (go to "Project Search" under their "About New Urbanism" menu).
The Project for Public Spaces is a remarkably creative non-profit organization that works with communities, focusing on making public spaces (such as parks, plazas, and public markets), work better. Take a few minutes to learn more about this excellent organization.
The National Park Service is the federal agency most deeply involved in historic preservation. It is responsible for administering the National Register of Historic Places, and also handling the federal tax incentives program, providing tax benefits for the rehabilitation of historic buildings. The National Park Service Heritage Preservation Services web site offers comprehensive information about a surprisingly large number of federal preservation programs (including programs focusing on historic landscapes). Within the Planning & Preservation section of its web site you'll find information about the "certified local government program" and the federal Standards and Guidelines for Preservation Planning. You can also find links to statewide historic preservation plans adopted by the various states.
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