Future Anterior

Future Anterior is essential reading for anyone interested in historic preservation and its tole in current debates. As the first and only refereed journal of its kind in American academia, Future Anterior approaches historic preservation from a position of critical inquiry, rigorous scholarship, and theoretical analysis to engage new ways of understanding and transforming material environments.

Mission Statement

Historic preservation is at an important moment of rethinking. The field has grown exponentially in America since its first academic program was founded at Columbia University in 1965. Although initially concerned only with buildings, preservation has expanded to include the management (through protection, intervention, or interpretation) of entire urban environments, landscapes, highways, cultural traditions, artistic practices, and even specific "experiences" such as historic view sheds. Most importantly, historic preservation is beginning a significant re-clarification of its purposes, sharpening and deepening its focus on the contributions old environments and artifacts make to our understanding of the human condition and to challenging our contemporary modes of life.

Future Anterior is the first and only journal in American academia to be devoted to the study and advancement of historic preservation. It brings together the interests of scholars and professionals in multiple disciplines such as architecture, art, history, philosophy, law, geography, archeology, planning, materials science, cultural anthropology, conservation, and others. Future Anterior establishes an important and much needed forum for the critical examination of this expanding discipline, to spur challenges of its motives, goals, forms of practice and results.

The appearance of Future Anterior signals a shift away from nostalgic antiquarianism toward an active involvement in the understanding and creative transformation of human environments. This turn in preservation is reflected in an increased interest in historic architecture and artifacts as expressive resources of great public importance. The destruction of patrimony is seen not just as barbarism but a source of understanding about where we are going wrong and what we need to do next. Future Anterior is a vehicle for creative individuals who produce works that engage the public in new ways of reflecting and taking on the past not as constraint but as provocation.

Visit the Official Future Anterior Site

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Columbia University 1172 Amsterdam Avenue New York, New York 10027