An Indicator Framework for Linking Historic Preservation and Community Economic Development

A community’s history, as represented in the cultural and built environment, can serve as an important asset for economic development and sustainable stewardship. Challenges abound in linking historic preservation and community economic development, especially in communities at risk of losing their unique character and attempting to protect their special sense of place. This conceptual paper presents an indicator framework of four categories—gauging, protecting, enhancing, and interfacing—as a useful method for communities to conceptualize, address and integrate historic resources with community economic development and sustainability. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013