preserveokc: Oklahoma City’s Historic Preservation Plan

preserveokc: Oklahoma City’s Historic Preservation Plan - A lecture by Katie McLaughlin Friddle

Oklahoma City is a young city with a rich and unique history and a hit-and-miss relationship with historic preservation. While some important landmarks and districts have served as catalysts for revitalization, others have been lost to Urban Renewal efforts, large-scale public projects, and private development pressures. In 2015, Oklahoma City’s new comprehensive plan recommended the development of a new tool: the City’s first historic preservation plan. Illustrating the need for a proactive approach to historic preservation, the development of the plan coincided with a controversial effort to save a historic church and subsequent efforts to modify the Historic Preservation Commission’s authority.

This lecture will address Oklahoma City’s preservation program and the development of the preservation plan, which seeks to balance calls for a more integrated, proactive approach to historic preservation with concerns about property rights, development pressures, gentrification and more.

Since March 2020, Katie McLaughlin Friddle has served as the Principal Planner for Current Planning and Urban Design for the City of Oklahoma City Planning Department, overseeing current planning functions, six design review districts, and the city’s historic preservation program. Prior to assuming this role, Katie served as the City’s Preservation Officer and CLG Coordinator. Prior to her time with the City, Katie worked for the City of Boston’s preservation office and then served as the Executive Director of Preservation Oklahoma, a statewide non-profit preservation advocacy organization. A native Oklahoman, Katie holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Her thesis was in the area of Planning, on the topic of Tribal Historic Preservation Offices. Katie completed her AICP certification in 2016.

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Organized as part of the Preservation Lecture Series, an initiative of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP. Free and open to the public. Virtual events hosted on Zoom Webinar do not require an account to attend.

GSAPP is committed to providing universal access to all of our virtual events. Please contact Meredith Brull via email at hp@arch.columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.