USE:POSITIONS with Shanon Shea Miller

The Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) in San Antonio, Texas, plays a crucial role in safeguarding the city's rich heritage. Established to protect and promote San Antonio's unique character, this office oversees the identification, designation, and preservation of significant historical, cultural, architectural, and archaeological resources.

 

As part of our use positions series, we interviewed Shanon Shea Miller, Director of the Office of Historic Preservation for the City of Antonio in Texas. We asked Shanon to share her insights on how the OHP’s programs address the impact of the climate crisis on cultural heritage and other sustainability challenges facing the city.

 

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Shanon Miller. I’m the Director of the City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation. In that role, I oversee the City’s historic preservation program which includes our Deconstruction and Circular Economy initiative and our Living Heritage Trades Academy. I also manage an innovations cultural heritage program including design review, designation, outreach and education, cultural history, and archaeology.

 

How can cultural heritage be engaged in climate action?

We cannot effectively address climate action without addressing the existing built environment. This includes historic buildings. We also know that historic and older buildings provide a disproportionate number of affordable housing units in our communities, which is an equally pressing concern. We launched our deconstruction and circular economy initiative as a way to reduce waste, reclaim valuable materials from the landfill, protect cultural heritage and cultural significance of the materials and craftsmanship reflected in older and historic buildings, and extend the life of our existing buildings through traditional trades education. Much like an organ donor, high quality building materials from buildings approved for removal can extend the life of other historic buildings. Deconstruction is also less violent than mechanical demolition and reduced other negative impacts such as air pollution in our communities.  

© City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation

 

How can climate action be incorporated into preservation planning? 

Preservation must be part of the solution for climate action. Traditional knowledge and existing buildings must be part of our climate action strategy.  

 

What is your city’s approach in integrating cultural heritage and climate action?

Preservationists have been engaging with sustainable practices including adaptive reuse, material conservation, and traditional crafts and trades for decades. The built environment of San Antonio bears the mark of centuries of hazard events including flash flooding, droughts, and violent storms. With this knowledge of past climate adaptations, OHP is addressing the challenges of climate change as it impacts the cultural heritage of San Antonio. Cultural heritage anchors social memory and cohesion, informs community identity, and instils a sense of place. This is essential in sustaining inherent resilience.

© City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation

 

Find out more about the innovative work being carried out the Office of Historic Preservation

• by reading the case study "Advancing the SDGs through Cultural Heritage" 
• by visiting the OHP webpage

 

Further Reading / Helpful Resources: 

San Antonio Reuse (City of San Antonio's Deconstruction and Circular Economy Program): www.sareuse.com

City of San Antonio Department of Historic Preservation: www.sapreservation.com

The Climate Heritage Network (CHN), a voluntary, mutual support network of government agencies, NGOs, universities, businesses, and other organizations committed to tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement: www.climateheritage.org

The Power of Preservation Foundation (PoP), a San Antonio-based nonprofit that demonstrates the economic, social, and environmental impacts of preservation through hands-on, workforce-driven projects: www.powerofpreservation.org

 

About Shanon Shea Miller:

Shanon Shea Miller, AICP, became the City’s Historic Preservation Officer and Director of the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) in November 2008. Under Shanon’s leadership, OHP implements an award-winning program that includes extensive education and outreach, technical training, a comprehensive designation initiative, design and development review, the City’s Vacant Building Program, the new Deconstruction and Circular Economy Program, and the Material Innovation Center at Port San Antonio. OHP also operates the Legacy Business program, the Living Heritage Trades Academy, and the Living Heritage Symposium.

Shanon worked with a volunteer committee in 2012 to form the Power of Preservation (PoP) Foundation. PoP hosts the annual PROM fundraising event which raises funds for hands on programs of OHP such as S.T.A.R. (Students Together Achieving Revitalization), window restoration workshops, REHABARAMA, and learning labs for trades education. Shanon co-chairs the Big Cities Preservation Network of the HPOs in the country’s 23 largest cities.  Shanon is a member of the first Climate Heritage Network Steering Committee and was appointed as the Co-Chair for the North America Region of the CHN in November 2021.  Also in 2021, Shanon was presented with the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Bush School of Government and Public Service. 

Ms. Miller came to San Antonio from the City of Franklin, Tennessee, where she served as the Historic Preservation Officer. She was involved in the designation of many new historic districts, the purchase and planning for the largest battlefield reclamation in the US, the purchase and rehabilitation of a 200-acre National Register horse farm to be opened as a City park, and the design of a comprehensive heritage tourism wayfinding system. Prior to Franklin, Shanon served as the Historic Preservation Officer in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

© Shanon Shea Miller / City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation