2021 Keeping History Above Water: Charleston Communities in Action
March 14-16, 2021
Call for Proposals
Life in Charleston, South Carolina is and always has been oriented toward the sea. Science clearly indicates that as the 21st century progresses, the city’s prosperity will be tied to its ability to manage risks associated with floods (surge, tidal, rainfall, storm water, drainage, surface, groundwater) and sea-level rise. With growing public awareness that Charleston’s historic buildings and landscapes are among the city’s most valuable and vulnerable economic and social resources, any plan for the future must consider these material assets from the past. Fortunately, stakeholders in Charleston are already taking action.
Keeping History above Water: Charleston will build upon the past successes of KHAW events in other cities. With the theme “Communities in Action,” this workshop is specifically not about climate change, per se, but rather what communities are doing to ameliorate climate-related water impacts on historic resources in Charleston, the United States, and worldwide. The workshop will feature a keynote panel, morning presentations, and afternoon tours, site visits, and hands-on projects that allow attendees to experience how stakeholders are taking on water-related preservation challenges.
We invite paper presentation and workshop proposals by preservationists, engineers, city planners, architects, landscape architects, conservationists, community organizations, legislators, insurers, historic home owners, and other stakeholders. With “action” broadly construed, we encourage presentations and workshops that propose, study, evaluate, critique, demonstrate etc. the diverse strategies that have been devised to protect historic buildings and landscapes from the increasing threat of inundation. Questions that proposals may consider (but are not limited to) include:
What lessons are we learning about the ways in which communities with historic fabric work/don’t work relative to flooding? How can we better support the idea of working with water in historic neighborhoods of all kinds (particularly those often left out of or behind preservation processes)? How should designers, planners, preservationists, and policy makers change their processes and services to fit the growing need of water management?
By October 1, 2020, please send a title, 200-300 word abstract, and whether this is a paper or workshop or case study/how-to presentation, to Jon Bernard Marcoux jbmarco@clemson.edu or B.D. Wortham-Galvin bdworth@clemson.edu. Those submitting will receive acceptance notification by November 1, 2020. Updated information will be posted to the conference website http://historyabovewater.org/2021-charleston/.
We envision an edited volume, published by an academic press, and a digital handbook of practical recommendations as the products of this work. For those pursuing the publication, final papers are required for submittal prior to the conference in order to be considered for publication. Papers must be between 3,000-5,000 words (not including citations, references). Final Papers will be due on 15 February 2021.