The preservation movement has one great curiosity. There is never retrospective controversy or regret. Preservationists are the only people in the world who are invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact. While the negative effects of urban renewal programs began to be realized as early as the 1960s, new and exciting things are taking place in the development of historic preservation. The work of preservation is evolving and is no longer concerned primarily with the past.
Preservation is the business of saving special places and the quality of life they support.
In this evolutionary process, the connections between historic preservation and economic development have begun to be realized.