Navigating the Non Sequitur City

Critical Perspectives on Preservation Practice

Book Description




Navigating the Non Sequitur City explores historic preservation as a creative discipline rather than solely a regulatory mechanism. In many cities, the gradual erasure of historic context creates architectural non sequiturs that offer a fragmented interpretation of the past. By embracing unexpected juxtapositions and subtle connections, preservationists can construct new narratives and gain a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the city. The book’s central thesis is that preservation practice can embrace creative thinking while maintaining its core mission of stewarding the historic built environment. Rather than abandoning proven policies, the book advances new methods for understanding how historic structures relate to contemporary architecture, climate adaptation, social equity, and evolving urban development patterns. Interviews with leading preservation practitioners and theorists are woven into each chapter, expanding the frame of reference for deciding what gets preserved, what vanishes, and who makes these decisions.
What’s new about this book?

  • First comprehensive critique of preservation methods since the field’s foundational texts.
  • Integration of climate adaptation and social equity into preservation decision-making frameworks.
  • Inventive tools for evaluating contextual infill development and preservation approaches.
  • Interviews with preservation practitioners and researchers will incorporate diverse perspectives into the book.
  • Interviews with preservation practitioners and researchers will incorporate diverse perspectives into the book.
  • Framework for understanding preservation as both regulatory tool and creative practice.

Biographies





Terry Schwarz, FAICP
is a city planner, community designer, and urban researcher working for the betterment of urban communities.
As the director of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Terry worked with community development  organizations, government agencies, and private sector partners on a wide range of land use planning and community design projects. Through her research and community engagement work, she has influenced
affordable housing, climate justice, and transportation policies at local and regional levels. She edited the CUDC’s award-winning journal, Urban Infill and contributed chapters to numerous books including Sketches on Everlasting Plastics (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2023), An American City: Eleven Cultural Exercises (Front International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, 2018), Third Coast Atlas: Prelude to a Plan (Actar, 2017) and The Arsenal of Exclusion/Inclusion (Actar, 2017).
Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, PhD 

is a professor at the Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs in Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Public Affairs and Education. Her research examines the intersections of historic preservation and urban development, with particular focus on preservation in legacy cities, the use of historic rehabilitation tax credits, and the synergies and tensions between preservation and community development. She is the author of “Preserving the Vanishing City: Historic Preservation amid Urban Decline in Cleveland, Ohio” (Temple University Press, 2023) and co-editor of “Legacy Cities: Continuity and Change amid Decline and Revival” (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019). She earned a master's in historic preservation from the University of Maryland and a PhD in city and regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania. In the proposed project, she contributes expertise on the evolution of preservation practice and its role in shaping equitable and resilient urban futures.
Contacts: Terry, Stephanie