What the History of Diocletian's Palace Can Teach Us About Adaptive Reuse

How will the city of tomorrow adapt and reuse the city of today? I don't think we ask that question broadly enough, and our day-to-day, property-specific incrementalism can easily overshoot the greatest lessons from history. A hometown case in point transported me from Seattle to Croatia for inspiration about why we should think beyond limited geographies, time frames and lifetimes when we discuss urban redevelopment options.

Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Seattle-based Preservation Green Lab made urbanist media headlines (including Emily Badger's Atlantic Cities story) with a report stating the environmental benefits of green retrofits of historic buildings, as compared to new, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction. A local church restored as townhouses joined the list of intriguing Seattle adaptive reuse projects typical of national trends.