Donovan Rypkema

Back in San Francisco but still mulling over the California Preservation Foundation Conference. One of the highlights of the plenary session on Friday was hearing Donovan Rypkema speak. I was inspired to re-read his The Economics of Historic Preservation this morning which I highly recommend. During his talk Rypkema made numerous predictions including a labor shortage for preservation projects, a continued lack of work force housing, more demand for public transportation and baby-boomers becoming renters, to name a few. As preservationists must spend a lot of time investigating the past, occasionally we neglect equal consideration of the future, which is just as essential for the profession. Rypkema provides a full spectrum of platforms from which preservationists can delve into.