Erica Avrami PhD, is the James Marston Fitch Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Dr. Avrami’s research and teaching focus on the intersection of heritage and sustainability, aligning goals of cultural and natural resource planning and management, promoting values-based and participatory approaches to conservation, and ensuring just outcomes of historic preservation policy. Stressing the importance of maintaining a dynamic exchange between practice and scholarship, Avrami sees important horizons to explore in the field as climate change compels fundamental shifts in the way we design, construct, and management the built environment, and in how communities play a role in decision-making about their shared past and future. Dr. Avrami’s current work with CSUD focuses on the collaborative research project, Urban Heritage, Sustainability, and Social Inclusion: A Preservation Policy Initiative, which examines preservation as an integral aspect of evolving municipal-level urban policy. Dr. Avrami earned her B.A. in Architecture and M.S. in Historic Preservation, both at Columbia, and completed her Ph.D. in planning and public policy at Rutgers University.
Research Affiliates