The workshop was hosted by SUNY Syracuse, the official Northeast Regional Your Town Center, and cosponsored by the Preservation League of New York State, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, revitalizing, and celebrating the state’s historic buildings, neighborhoods, and cultural heritage. The keynote address, titled “Special Places: Celebrating Heritage in an Age of Sameness,” was delivered by Jeff Soule of the American Planning Association.

Between June 12-14, regional leaders gathered for design lectures, group engagements, a tour of a local historic site, case study presentations, and the culminating Your Town workshop based on a hypothetical small town in rural New York. Historic roads were the theme of the weekend. Several lectures and case study presentations focused on the significance of preserving historic highways in the context of agricultural landscapes. In addition, key downtown development leader Norman Mintz led a workshop on Main Street design principles, presenting case studies from across New York state.

Learn more from Cazenovia Workshop Notebook.

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