Sustainability and Green Strategies of Conservation

In recent years there is an increasing awareness and emphasize on the importance of “greening” heritage and existing buildings in addition to new ones. Environmental concerns of sustainability need to be taken in to account in order to green these types of buildings while protecting their heritage values as an additional challenge. This paper tries to explore the principles of sustainability and also strategies that can be applied in conservation greening and adaptation of historic buildings, it will so explore the factors and elements used for reaching sustainability. It will also outline how mentioned elements can be used in the restoration and conservation of historic buildings for making them more sustainable without doing harm to their character. Key findings of this research include the need to resolve tensions between sustainability and historic preservation practice through research, evolving preservation policies, and aligning historic preservation with the goals of environmental, economic, and social sustainability.